Is CBS Simulcast of VMAs the Final Blow to MTV?

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This year, the MTV Video Music Awards will air on … CBS?

Indeed, the MTV Video Music Awards scheduled for September 7, 2025 will still be aired on MTV as normal. However, starting this year, the awards show will also be simulcast live on CBS, a part of Paramount Global’s broadcast network, and their streaming platform, Paramount+. (Last year’s VMAs were made available for viewing the day after on Paramount+.)

Given that the VMAs were essentially MTV’s last remaining asset, this event marks a significant milestone in the drawn-out decline of the once-popular cable channel. Music videos are long gone, and original programming followed suit years ago. In 2023, after a run of 36 years, MTV News ceased operations permanently. The same year, due to the writers’ strike, MTV’s other awards show, the MTV Movie & TV Awards, was reduced to a pre-recorded shadow of its former glory. It hasn’t regained its footing since then.

In 2024, the MTV Movie & TV Awards were unexpectedly called off, without any clear plans for a comeback, coinciding with the announcement of a merger between Paramount Global and David Ellison’s Skydance. This merger led to significant layoffs, the closure of Paramount TV Studios, and a cost-cutting initiative worth $500 million. In an effort to revamp and streamline their event schedule, the 2025 MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and the CMT Music Awards will not take place, as stated in an internal memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. This seems to be one of the strategies they are employing.

Today, the joke about MTV just showing reruns of Ridiculousness seems as outdated as a typical CBS viewer, and the addition of CBS and Paramount+ to the VMAs simulcast might signal the end for the once-legendary cable channel. However, it’s not necessarily a poor decision – it was more or less inevitable. By 2024, MTV had fallen to 55th place in terms of viewers (with an average of 169,000), while CBS ranked second (with 3.9 million). While the typical CBS viewer might not be a typical VMAs fan, there is still a potential opportunity for viewers. (MTV claims that the 2024 VMAs had their largest multi-network audience in four years.)

Additionally, it’s worth noting that the Oscars were live-streamed on Hulu this year, thereby increasing ABC’s viewership among those who have cut their cables (and those who never had them in the first place). So, here’s an interesting point for Generation X: CBS might be the network to save the VMAs.

As a devoted fan, I find myself contemplating the uncertain future of Paramount’s TV properties under Ellison’s leadership, with the exception of CBS, which appears to be more stable. Paramount+ seems to have a fighting chance, while Pluto TV might be up for sale. The numbered days for MTV, the cable channel, seem to have been further reduced by today’s changes, and if they can manage to preserve the MTV brand, it will certainly be for the better. If not, the Video Music Awards may follow in the footsteps of the old radio music video stars.

Reps for MTV did not immediately respond to THR‘s request for comment on this story.

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2025-04-04 01:25