MTV Movie & TV Awards, CMTs and more just got shelved. Why Paramount is hitting pause on marquee shows.

For the second 12 months in a row, the MTV Film & TV Awards present are on ice.

The choice follows final 12 months’s cancellation, which got here after the 2023 version pivoted to a pre-taped format when Drew Barrymore withdrew as host in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.

The newest pause comes as Paramount International — which owns CBS, Paramount Photos and cable networks equivalent to Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV — undergoes important restructuring forward of its anticipated merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, a deal anticipated to shut within the first half of this 12 months, in accordance with the Hollywood Reporter.

As a part of that shake-up, a number of marquee awards reveals, together with the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and the CMT Music Awards, have been shelved whereas the corporate reinvents its tentpole occasion technique.

A Nickelodeon spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo Leisure that the annual Youngsters’ Alternative Awards within the U.S. will transfer ahead as deliberate, with an official date anticipated to be introduced “within the subsequent month or so.”

Whereas the Paramount-Skydance merger has been extensively cited as a driving power behind these choices, an enormous query stays: What does the longer term maintain for these awards, and are they vulnerable to disappearing altogether?

Which awards reveals are affected?

In a companywide memo despatched final month, Paramount president Bruce Gillmer framed the choice to cancel a number of awards reveals as a part of a broader effort to “reimagine and optimize our occasions slate going ahead,” in accordance with the Hollywood Reporter.

Among the many reveals underneath overview are:

• The MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs)

• Nickelodeon’s Youngsters’ Alternative Awards Mexico

• The MTV MIAWs (previously the MTV Millennial Awards), which honors Latin American music and youth tradition

Paramount’s highest-profile occasions — the Video Music Awards (VMAs) and the U.S. version of the Youngsters’ Alternative Awards — stay unaffected, in accordance with the outlet.

Company merger or deeper issues?

Gillmer’s memo got here amid Paramount’s aggressive cost-cutting measures, which have reshaped the corporate over the previous 12 months.

In August 2024, Paramount introduced plans to slash its U.S. workforce by 15% in a bid to avoid wasting $500 million. That very same month, Selection reported that the corporate posted a large working loss, writing down $5.98 billion on the worth of its cable TV networks.

The primary spherical of layoffs quickly adopted, resulting in the closure of Paramount TV Studios and the departure of a number of high-profile executives. A second wave within the fall hit main divisions like CBS Information, with extra restructuring anticipated because the merger progresses.

Yahoo Leisure contacted representatives at Paramount however have had no response.

Rankings for MTV and CMT Awards

The MTV Film & TV Awards, which launched in 1992 as a celebration of blockbuster movies earlier than increasing to incorporate tv in 2017, is at the moment on indefinite pause.

The final reside occasion, in 2023, noticed a slight scores enhance, drawing 2 million viewers throughout numerous platforms, up from 1.6 million in 2022, in accordance with the Wrap. The 2021 broadcast, hosted by Leslie Jones, introduced in 1.3 million viewers. In 2020, the occasion was canceled because of the pandemic and changed with a Best of All Time particular hosted by Vanessa Hudgens.

As of now, there are not any plans to convey the present again or to formally retire it, in accordance with a number of retailers.

Equally, the CMT Music Awards have additionally been positioned on maintain as Paramount reassesses its awards present technique.

Nevertheless, in contrast to MTV’s present, the CMTs have remained a powerful scores performer. The 2024 broadcast drew 5.38 million viewers on CBS, following 5.43 million in 2023 and 5.16 million in 2022, in accordance with Selection.

What this implies for future reveals

Paramount isn’t scrapping all of its awards franchises, together with the VMAs, which drew greater than 4 million viewers final 12 months.

Nevertheless, as the corporate navigates its merger with Skydance and seeks to chop prices, it’s unclear whether or not the awards reveals will return of their earlier kind. Whether or not that’s as a result of monetary necessity or just a case of reimagining its method stays to be seen.