Troll
02-04-2006, 10:05am
CMT pulls away from its roots
Feb. 03, 2006
By Andrew Wallenstein
The "Miss America Pageant" won't be the last we'll see of beautiful women on CMT.
Fresh off the contest's successful transition to cable TV, the Viacom-owned channel has greenlighted two unscripted series that blend sex appeal with the CMT brand's focus on iconic Americana.
The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, previously glimpsed in a CMT special in November, will have their audition process turned into an eight-episode series, produced by Triage Entertainment, later this year.
CMT also will spin off another series from a previous special, "Inside the Real Coyote Ugly," which crowns the best bottle-slinging dancer drawn from Coyote Ugly saloons across the country. Eight episodes from Touchdown Television will begin airing in April.
The new series demonstrate how far CMT is stretching from its roots as a source of country-music videos to target viewers in the heartland of America. In recent years, MTV Networks has been intent on broadening CMT through original programming in the same fashion as its other formerly video-centric channels, MTV and VH1.
Just take a gander at the new series premiering Friday on CMT, "Trick My Truck." Big rigs are treated to makeovers -- not unlike the format of a certain other auto-themed hit that reigned on MTV not too long ago, "Pimp My Ride."
"I don't think that there's a conscious effort to mimic our other networks," said Paul Villadolid, vp programming and development at CMT. "But you can't deny there's been great success at our sister networks -- at MTV, and then VH1 -- in developing programming that's unique and breakout that appeals directly to their audience. There is an effort at CMT to emulate that and follow that same path."
In its 23rd year in operation, CMT is now in 80 million homes. The channel experienced slight primetime ratings growth last year, up 3% to 324,000 total viewers and 7% to 160,000 viewers 18-49.
CMT is hoping for even more momentum out of "Miss America," which delivered 3.1 million total viewers to CMT on Jan. 24, making it the channel's most-watched program ever. "Miss America" helped propel CMT to increase its total-viewer primetime delivery for the month by 60% over January 2005 -- tops among fully distributed cablers.
With the median age of CMT's viewership at 39, MTV Networks Music Group president Brian Graden sees it as an older-skewing offering complementing MTV and other Viacom cable channels in the advertising market. "We have enough services going toward 18-34," Graden said. "Hopefully, the originality of the content demonstrates some of its MTV DNA."
CMT has learned an important lesson from its sister channels: Music videos deliver inconsistent ratings. That's why MTV, the pioneer of the genre, has moved videos to the margins of its schedule in favor of a broader array of series offerings for teens. VH1 has followed suit, catering to the 18-49 demo with its "Celebreality" unscripted block.
But making such a transition involves never entirely cutting the channel's connection to country music. "As a network, we're looking for the proper organic ways to expand from just music and concert programming into more longform programming," Villadolid said. "To figure out how to get there, we're using the music as our road map."
Music offerings from concert series "Crossroads" to tentpole special "CMT Music Awards" aren't going anywhere any time soon. But music performance has given way to documentary series like "American Revolutions," which chronicles the lives of artists in the manner VH1 once did with "Behind the Music."
Music gets a different twist in "Unsung Stories," another CMT series premiering in May, in which songwriters pen a country song based on real stories ripped from the headlines.
But CMT also has been experimenting in the past year with programming that has a less direct connection to country music. Last October, unscripted series "Man vs. Vegas" featured Daren Leverenz, who haunts the casinos of Las Vegas in search of strangers to give thousands of dollars to gamble on his behalf. Music wasn't part of the series, but Villadolid noted the show plumbed a theme plucked right out of country music.
" 'Man vs. Vegas' is a man going up against the system," he said. "Country music is so much broader than a stereotype. What 'Man vs. Vegas' does is tap into that broader interest."
CMT is also mining wish-fulfillment reality series like "Popularity Contest" and "Cowboy U." The network acquired rights to "Three Wishes," a reality series NBC premiered in the fall but isn't likely to bring back next year.
CMT is attempting what could be a tricky balancing act: It wants to widen its appeal beyond just country music fans -- a massive base in their own right -- but not alienate them, either.
Great American Country, a competing cable channel acquired by Scripps Networks in November 2004, has called into question CMT's country bona fides, running ads lampooning "Miss America" with a bearded cowboy wearing a crown and sash above the tagline, "We're not here to win a beauty contest."
"We've done research in the marketplace since acquiring the network and when given a choice, the core fans want to see music videos," said Ed Hardy, president of GAC, which is in 40 million homes.
At CMT, Villadolid has to worry about more than just a cable channel. Like many cable operations, the brand is becoming a multiplatform play, from the Internet, where CMT does robust business selling ringtones, to theaters, where CMT Films is producing "Broken Bridges," a film featuring country star Toby Keith, to be distributed this summer by Paramount Home Entertainment.
But Villadolid knows that what will really put CMT on the map is a successful original series.
"It's all about a hit, the huge breakout," Villadolid said. "That's the big goal, that's what we're going after."
Hollywood Reporter
(taken from velvetrope.com)
Feb. 03, 2006
By Andrew Wallenstein
The "Miss America Pageant" won't be the last we'll see of beautiful women on CMT.
Fresh off the contest's successful transition to cable TV, the Viacom-owned channel has greenlighted two unscripted series that blend sex appeal with the CMT brand's focus on iconic Americana.
The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, previously glimpsed in a CMT special in November, will have their audition process turned into an eight-episode series, produced by Triage Entertainment, later this year.
CMT also will spin off another series from a previous special, "Inside the Real Coyote Ugly," which crowns the best bottle-slinging dancer drawn from Coyote Ugly saloons across the country. Eight episodes from Touchdown Television will begin airing in April.
The new series demonstrate how far CMT is stretching from its roots as a source of country-music videos to target viewers in the heartland of America. In recent years, MTV Networks has been intent on broadening CMT through original programming in the same fashion as its other formerly video-centric channels, MTV and VH1.
Just take a gander at the new series premiering Friday on CMT, "Trick My Truck." Big rigs are treated to makeovers -- not unlike the format of a certain other auto-themed hit that reigned on MTV not too long ago, "Pimp My Ride."
"I don't think that there's a conscious effort to mimic our other networks," said Paul Villadolid, vp programming and development at CMT. "But you can't deny there's been great success at our sister networks -- at MTV, and then VH1 -- in developing programming that's unique and breakout that appeals directly to their audience. There is an effort at CMT to emulate that and follow that same path."
In its 23rd year in operation, CMT is now in 80 million homes. The channel experienced slight primetime ratings growth last year, up 3% to 324,000 total viewers and 7% to 160,000 viewers 18-49.
CMT is hoping for even more momentum out of "Miss America," which delivered 3.1 million total viewers to CMT on Jan. 24, making it the channel's most-watched program ever. "Miss America" helped propel CMT to increase its total-viewer primetime delivery for the month by 60% over January 2005 -- tops among fully distributed cablers.
With the median age of CMT's viewership at 39, MTV Networks Music Group president Brian Graden sees it as an older-skewing offering complementing MTV and other Viacom cable channels in the advertising market. "We have enough services going toward 18-34," Graden said. "Hopefully, the originality of the content demonstrates some of its MTV DNA."
CMT has learned an important lesson from its sister channels: Music videos deliver inconsistent ratings. That's why MTV, the pioneer of the genre, has moved videos to the margins of its schedule in favor of a broader array of series offerings for teens. VH1 has followed suit, catering to the 18-49 demo with its "Celebreality" unscripted block.
But making such a transition involves never entirely cutting the channel's connection to country music. "As a network, we're looking for the proper organic ways to expand from just music and concert programming into more longform programming," Villadolid said. "To figure out how to get there, we're using the music as our road map."
Music offerings from concert series "Crossroads" to tentpole special "CMT Music Awards" aren't going anywhere any time soon. But music performance has given way to documentary series like "American Revolutions," which chronicles the lives of artists in the manner VH1 once did with "Behind the Music."
Music gets a different twist in "Unsung Stories," another CMT series premiering in May, in which songwriters pen a country song based on real stories ripped from the headlines.
But CMT also has been experimenting in the past year with programming that has a less direct connection to country music. Last October, unscripted series "Man vs. Vegas" featured Daren Leverenz, who haunts the casinos of Las Vegas in search of strangers to give thousands of dollars to gamble on his behalf. Music wasn't part of the series, but Villadolid noted the show plumbed a theme plucked right out of country music.
" 'Man vs. Vegas' is a man going up against the system," he said. "Country music is so much broader than a stereotype. What 'Man vs. Vegas' does is tap into that broader interest."
CMT is also mining wish-fulfillment reality series like "Popularity Contest" and "Cowboy U." The network acquired rights to "Three Wishes," a reality series NBC premiered in the fall but isn't likely to bring back next year.
CMT is attempting what could be a tricky balancing act: It wants to widen its appeal beyond just country music fans -- a massive base in their own right -- but not alienate them, either.
Great American Country, a competing cable channel acquired by Scripps Networks in November 2004, has called into question CMT's country bona fides, running ads lampooning "Miss America" with a bearded cowboy wearing a crown and sash above the tagline, "We're not here to win a beauty contest."
"We've done research in the marketplace since acquiring the network and when given a choice, the core fans want to see music videos," said Ed Hardy, president of GAC, which is in 40 million homes.
At CMT, Villadolid has to worry about more than just a cable channel. Like many cable operations, the brand is becoming a multiplatform play, from the Internet, where CMT does robust business selling ringtones, to theaters, where CMT Films is producing "Broken Bridges," a film featuring country star Toby Keith, to be distributed this summer by Paramount Home Entertainment.
But Villadolid knows that what will really put CMT on the map is a successful original series.
"It's all about a hit, the huge breakout," Villadolid said. "That's the big goal, that's what we're going after."
Hollywood Reporter
(taken from velvetrope.com)