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CMTâs flagship show, the Hot 20 Countdown, will conclude at the end of the year, Billboard has learned from sources.
The program, hosted by Cody Alan and Carissa Culinar, has run on CMT since 2013. The show counts down the 20 hottest country music videos and features appearances by country artists.
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The Hot 20 Countdown is the last original regular music programming on the channel, which has experienced continual cutbacks in staff and programming over the past year and a half. This spring, for the first time since its debut in 2002, the CMT Awards were paused as parent Paramount Global merged with its new owner, Skydance Media. That deal closed in August.
Though non-music related, CMT does still air original programming, with the Taylor Sheridan-produced The Last Cowboy, a horse-reining rider talent competition. The sixth season premieres on Friday (Nov. 7). Last week, it was announced that Yellowstone creator Sheridan will leave Paramount in 2028 for a new deal with NBCUniversal.
As with the other Paramount-owned linear channels, there has been a massive talent drain at CMT over the past 18 months, including Leslie Fram, senior vp of music strategy and talent, who left last fall, as did director of music and talent Stacy Cato, vp of production; Quinn Brown, vp of production; Ray Sells, senior director of production and Darrell Hughes, senior producer of Hot 20 Countdown, among others.
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This fall, there have been more cuts and buyouts, including Donna Duncan, vp of CMT music and talent, who left in September. Last week, as around 1,000 people were cut across Paramount, Margaret Comeaux, the highest-ranking executive still at CMT, who serves as senior vp of production, music & events, announced she will leave the company in December after 24 years. (Comeaux also serves as an executive producer on Hot 20 Countdown.) Melissa Goldberg, who had been CMTâs vp of digital and social, left the company to join sports and entertainment company Teton Ridge in October.
Even before the merger, Paramount Global had been chipping away at original content on CMT and other websites. In June 2024, Paramount stopped producing original content for many of its cable channelsâ websites, including CMT.com, which had been a robust site for years, and began directing visitors to content on Paramount+ and other sister outlets.
CMTâs daytime programming consists primarily of classic sitcoms, including Reba, Roseanne, Mamaâs Family, King of Queens and Golden Girls, as well as movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Music videos run overnight between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. In addition to new episodes premiering on Saturday mornings, the Hot 20 Countdown repeats on Sunday mornings.
In broader Paramount Skydance news, the company announced today that George Cheeks, chair of TV media, who oversees CBS, will now also oversee the cable networks. Laurel Weir, who reports to Cheeks, will oversee programming for Paramount TV Media, including CMT.
Billboard has reached out to Paramount for comment.
Paramount will pause a handful of awards shows for 2025, including the CMT Music Awards, the MTV Europe Music Awards and more, Billboard has confirmed. Other awards shows being impacted are the Nickelodeon Kidsâ Choice Awards Mexico and the MTV MIAWs (previously known as the MTV Millennial Awards).
As The Hollywood Reporter first reported, the news came as part of a memo from the office of Bruce Gillmer, Paramount Globalâs president of music, music talent, programming and events, media networks/chief content officer, music, Paramount+. According to the memo, the changes come as the company seeks âto reimagine and optimize our events slate going forward.â
Gillmerâs memo added, âOur world-class events remain a key component of Paramountâs music offering as we continue to raise the bar in delivering iconic, unforgettable performances and moments that drive pop culture.â
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In 2022, the CMT Music Awards shifted from CMT to CBS; the annual event had aired on CMT since 2002. In 2023, the show relocated from Nashville to Austin. Last yearâs big winners during the CMT Music Awards included Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson and Dan + Shay.
At the 2024 MTV EMAs, held in November, artists including Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter emerged as top winners.
The memo follows rounds of layoffs that began last year after Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy noted plans for the company to reduce its U.S.-based workforce by approximately 15%, including at CMT. In August, Paramount also shuttered Paramount TV Studios amid the restructuring and layoffs. The shifts came after Paramount Global agreed to a merger with David Ellisonâs Skydance in July 2024.
See Gillmerâs memo to staffers below.
Team,
We want to share some news. We are pausing a few events for 2025, as we look to reimagine and optimize our events slate going forward. These include the MTV EMAs, MTV MIAWs, Nickelodeon Kidsâ Choice Awards in Mexico, and CMT Music Awards.
Our world-class events remain a key component of Paramountâs music offering as we continue to raise the bar in delivering iconic, unforgettable performances and moments that drive pop culture. We have the best team in the business, and we are grateful for your hard work and dedication in bringing these events to life.
Thank you,
Bruce
A number of staffers at CMT, the Nashville-based country music and lifestyle programming network, have been let go as part of a broad swath of staff cuts taking place at Paramount Global.
Billboard has learned that among the music and talent team leaving are Stacey Cato (director of music and talent), Quinn Brown (vp of production), Ray Sells (senior director of production), Jennifer DeVault (senior producer), Jordan Walker (senior manager of music and talent), Abbi Roth (senior manager of music and talent) and Bryana Cielo (executive assistant), as well as Heather Graffagnino, vp of production management.
Among those remaining are Margaret Comeaux (senior vp of music and events production), Donna Duncan (vp of music and talent), Melissa Goldberg (vp of digital and social), Yasmin Mohammed (producer) and David Bennett (creative director).
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Sources say that Paramount will continue to support CMT and is positioning the outlet for the future, but what that looks like is unclear.
This week, Paramount Global began a second round of staff cuts, as it continues its aim of reducing its U.S. workforce by 15%, seemingly in preparation for the companyâs planned merger with Skydance Media. In a memo to staffers on Monday (Sept. 24), Paramountâs co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins stated, âLike the entire media industry, we are working to accelerate streaming profitability while at the same time adjusting to the evolving landscape in our traditional businesses. In order to set Paramount up for continued success, we are taking these actions. Days like today are never easy. It is difficult to say goodbye to valued colleagues, and to those departing, we are incredibly grateful for your countless contributions.â
The cuts come as the company, like many legacy media companies, is seeing a decline in linear television viewership and advertising, and consumers continue to move toward streaming video and digital.
In June, Paramount cut nearly all the content roles across its CMT, MTV, Comedy Central and TV Land websites, while storied news site MTVnews.com was taken down. During a town hall on June 25, McCarthy noted that Paramountâs revenue had grown by 13% between 2018 and 2023, while the companyâs operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) has fallen 61% during that same time frame. Thus, they are aiming at cutting $500 million in costs.
Country radio trade publication Country Aircheck first reported a number of the layoffs.
Reps for Paramount Global had not responded to Billboardâs request for confirmation by press time.
The merger between entertainment giant Paramount and media company Skydance is set to go ahead after Edgar Bronfman Jr. withdrew a competing offer.
Bronfman, executive chairman of streaming service Fubo, told Paramountâs special committee of directors Monday night that he would not proceed with his bid.
âWhile there may have been differences, we believe that everyone involved in the sale process is united in the belief that Paramountâs best days are ahead,â he said.
Bronfman, the former chairman and CEO of Warner Music, had intitially offered $4.3 billion for Shari Redstoneâs National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, according to multiple media reports. He then upped that bid to $6 billion.
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Paramount agreed last month to a merger deal with Skydance that will inject desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape.
Since then, during whatâs known as a âgo shopâ period, a special committee of Paramountâs board had reached out to more than 50 third parties to determine whether they were interested in making offers. The go shop period was extended for Bronfman, but has now closed.
Shari Redstoneâs National Amusements has owned more than three-quarters of Paramountâs Class A voting shares through the estate of her late father, Sumner Redstone. She had battled to maintain control of the company that owns CBS, which is behind blockbuster films such as âTop Gunâ and âThe Godfather.â
The deal signals the rise of a new power player, Skydance founder David Ellison, the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, who founded the software company Oracle.
Skydance, based in Santa Monica, California, has helped produce some major Paramount hits in recent years, including Tom Cruise films like âTop Gun: Maverickâ and installments of the âMission Impossibleâ series.
The proposed combined company of Paramount and Skydance is valued at around $28 billion. The deal is expected to close in September 2025, pending regulatory approval.
Paramount, founded in 1914 as a distributor, is one of Hollywoodâs oldest studios and has had a hand in releasing numerous films â from âSunset Boulevardâ and âThe Godfather,â to âRaiders of the Lost Arkâ and âTitanic.â
The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape.
It also signals rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle.
Shari Redstoneâs National Amusements has owned more than three-quarters of Paramountâs Class A voting shares though the estate of her late father, Sumner Redstone. She had battled to maintain control of the company that owns CBS, which is behind blockbuster films such as âTop Gunâ and âThe Godfather.â
Just weeks after turning down a similar agreement with Skydance, however, Redstone agreed to a deal on terms that had not changed much.
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âGiven the changes in the industry, we want to fortify Paramount for the future while ensuring that content remains king,â said Redstone, who is chair of Paramount Global.
The new combined company is valued at around $28 billion.
Skydance, based in Santa Monica, California, has helped produce some major Paramount hits in recent years, including Tom Cruise films like âTop Gun: Maverickâ and installments of the âMission Impossibleâ series.
Skydance was founded in 2010 by David Ellison and it quickly formed a production partnership with Paramount that same year. Ellison, if the deal is approved by U.S. regulators, will become chairman and chief executive officer of whatâs being called New Paramount.
The on-again, off-again merger arrives at tumultuous time for Paramount, which in an annual shareholder meeting in early June laid out a restructuring plan that includes major cost cuts.
Leadership at Paramount has been volatile this year after its CEO Bob Bakish, following a number of disputes with Redstone, was replaced with an âoffice of the C.E.O,â run by three executives. Four company directors were also replaced.
Paramount, however, has struggled to find its footing for years and its cable business has been hemorrhaging. To capture todayâs growing streaming audience, the company launched Paramount+ back in 2021, but losses and debts have continued to grow.
Sumner Redstone used National Amusements, his familyâs movie theater chain, to build a vast media empire that included CBS and Viacom, which have merged and separated a number of times over the years. Most recently, the companies re-joined forces in 2019, undoing the split consummated in 2006. The company, ViacomCBS, changed its name to Paramount Global in 2022.
Under Sumner Redstoneâs leadership, Viacom became one of the nationâs media titans, home to pay TV channels MTV and Comedy Central and movie studio Paramount Pictures.
It is a company with a rich history, as well as a deep bank of media assets, ankd Skydance wasnât the only one to gun for Paramount in recent months â Apollo Global Management and Sony Pictures also made competing offers.
Late last year, Warner Bros. Discovery also made headlines for exploring a potential merger with Paramount. But by February, Warner had reportedly halted those talks.
Following the unexpected shuttering of the MTV News website earlier this week, Paramount has now largely cleaned house on the sites for several more of its cable channels, in a potential cost-cutting move.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the sites for Comedy Central, CMT, Yellowstone airer Paramount Network and TV Land were instead directing users to the media conglomerateâs streaming platform Paramount+. On Monday, MTVnews.com was taken down, purging some 20 years of stories from the web.
A pop-up window on the Comedy Central site reads, âWhile episodes of most Comedy Central series are no longer available on this website, you can watch Comedy Central through your TV provider. You can also sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of Comedy Central shows.â Similar language shows up on the CMT, Paramount Network and TV Land sites, as well as that of MTV (which was separate from MTVnews.com).
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aramount said in a statement, âAs part of broader website changes across Paramount, we have introduced more streamlined versions of our sites, driving fans to Paramount+ to watch their favorite shows.â
As noted by LateNighter, the cleaning out of the Comedy Central site in particular wipes out a huge trove of archival material from The Daily Show and other late night series, along with clips from South Park, Key & Peele and Workaholics, among many others. Some of that material is available on YouTube, but itâs not as easily searchable or accessible as it was on the network page. (The oldest video on the Daily Show YouTube channel, for instance, is from 2016, while the showâs history stretches back 20 years before then.)
On Paramount+, only the two most recent seasons of The Daily Show are available. The platform has several South Park specials and the 1999 feature film Bigger, Longer and Uncut, but the showâs primary streaming home is on Max. Paramount+ does have the full runs of Key & Peele and Workaholics.
As of publication time, sites for Paramountâs BET, Nickelodeon and VH1 were still active, while MTV.com offered some episodes and clips.
The website changes come on the heels of Paramountâs co-CEOs â George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins â telling employees at a town hall meeting Tuesday that they were embarking on a cost-cutting mission as profits have dropped for the company. Paramount is looking for $500 million in reduced costs, which will mean layoffs for some employees. Cheeks also said at the town hall that âWeâre looking at selling certain Paramount-owned assets â in fact, weâve already hired bankers to assist us in this process â and weâll use the proceeds to help pay down debt and strengthen our balance sheet.â
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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The two-part docuseries How Music Got Free officially premieres on Tuesday (June 11), exclusively on Paramount+, in the U.S and Canada. The series provides an in-depth and behind-the-scenes look on how technology rapidly transformed the music industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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Starting Wednesday (June 12), viewers in the U.K., Australia, Latin America, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy can also enjoy the series.
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The series was produced by Eminem & LeBron James and directed by Alexandra Stapleton, also known for her work on the HBO docuseries God Save Texas, and for her documentary on baseball icon Reggie Jackson, Reggie.
Keep reading to learn how to watch the new docuseries below.
How to Watch How Music Got Free Online for Free
The docuseries is classified as a Paramount+ Original, indicating that itâs available solely through the platformâs streaming service. If youâre already a subscriber to Paramount+, you can watch the docuseries at no extra charge.
Not subscribed? Paramount+ is currently offering a 7-day free trial when you sign up for either of its plans: Paramount+ Essential and Paramount+ with Showtime, which means you can watch How Music Got Free for free. For those seeking budget-friendly options, the most cost-effective option would be Paramount+ with Showtime. This subscription not only grants access to Paramount+âs extensive library of shows and movies but also allows streaming of Showtimeâs entire catalog for just $11.99 per month after the free trial period ends.
Paramount+ Essential is also a simple alternative. After the free trial, itâs only $5.99 per month and gives you access to over 40,000 episodes and movies, along with CBS News, NFL on CBS, and the UEFA Champions League.
Shows and movies you can look forward to watching are Behind The Music, As We Speak: Rap Music On Trial, Let the Canary Sing, The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLeanâs American Pie, Bob Marley: One Love, and more. With Showtime, you can stream original shows and movies such as Yellowjackets, The 12th Victim, Dexter, Dexter: New Blood, George & Tammy, Homeland, Ziwe, Penny Dreadful, Buried and more.
After at least five months of deliberations, Paramount Global has decided against selling a majority stake in its BET Media Group, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The move to take down the âfor saleâ sign for the unit â which includes the BET channel, streamer BET+ as well as VH1 and BET Studios â follows publicly expressed interest from the likes of moguls Tyler Perry, Byron Allen, Sean âDiddyâ Combs and others in acquiring a majority interest. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Paramountâs decision to end the bidding process for BET.
Perry is already in business with Paramount via a multiyear content partnership struck in 2019, while Allen has been aiming to expand his TV station empire that counts The Weather Channel and Combs has a TV presence with his Revolt network.
During Paramountâs latest earnings call, on Aug. 7, CEO Bob Bakish was asked about the status of the potential sale and didnât address BET by name, but replied: âWeâre always looking for ways to maximize shareholder value. And as we said before, that might involve divesting, acquiring or potentially partnering on assets all of which weâve done. But other than that, Iâm not going to comment on anything specifically.â
The company has owned BET since 2000, when the Sumner Redstone-led firm then named Viacom snapped up Black Entertainment Television for $2.3 billion in stock and $570 million in debt. At the time, the BET channel was carried in 62.4 million households domestically.
For the past several years, Paramount has been looking to slim down its collection of assets in order to scale up in streaming and burnish its core entertainment portfolio (Paramount Pictures as well as CBS, Showtime, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET and streamers Paramount+ and Pluto TV). That effort has boosted Paramount+ to about 61 million subscribers globally, but the streaming division still isnât profitable, tallying $424 million in losses in the second quarter.
Earlier this month, the company struck a $1.62 billion deal with private equity giant KKR to sell off major book publisher Simon & Schuster. That sale (a yearslong effort after its first attempt was blocked by a judge over antitrust concerns) followed Paramount selling tech site CNET for $500 million in 2020, CBSâ New York BlackRock headquarters building for $760 million and CBSâ Studio City lot for $1.85 billion in 2021.
Paramount, with its large collection of linear channels, has been subject to headwinds in the industry amid the march of cord-cutting as consumers look beyond pay-TV packages to subscription streaming offerings. In the last quarter alone, more than 1.7 million subscribers were shed by the major pay-TV and cable companies (including Comcast, Charter and DirecTV), per a tally from Leichtman Research.
Affiliate and subscription revenue at Paramountâs TV Media unit was off 2 percent in its most recent quarter, the company disclosed Aug. 7, noting that the decline was âprimarily reflecting the impact from subscriber declines, partially offset by pricing increases.â
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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Streaming has taken over our TVs and smart devices, but having so many streaming options can add up over time. Thankfully, Verizon is offering a bundle that can save you up to $70 a month.
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Through Verizonâs myPlan +play, you can enjoy Netflix, Paramount+ and Showtime for only $25.99/month, offering up to $70 of savings per month (based on the monthly costs of Netflix and Paramount+ alone). To be eligible for the deal you just need to be a Verizon mobile, 5G Home or LTE Home Internet customer. And Verizon offers deals on a multitude of entertainment all in one place.
âWith partners like Netflix and Paramount+ with Showtime on +play, weâre leading the industry in offering customers the content they want, with never-before-seen bundles they canât get anywhere else,â Erin McPherson, chief content officer at Verizon Consumer Group said in a statement. âAnd now with +play as a perk offered with myPlan, weâre looking forward to even more customers taking advantage of the savings we have to offer. This marks a milestone for both Verizon and the streaming industry, and weâre grateful and excited to be in it with these partners.â
Verizon +Play
$25.99/month
What is +play? Consider it an all-in-one platform for tracking your subscriptions and payments as well as discovering new entertainment. You can also choose to add other streamers to your myPlan such as Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, AMC+, NFL+, NBA League Pass, Max, Netflix, A+E Networks, Starz, Duolingo and more â with additional platforms planned to be added throughout the year.
Whatâs streaming on Paramount+? The platform is home to a myriad of exclusive shows, movies and sporting events, along with live access to local CBS channels (when you subscribe to the Paramount+ Plus Essential plan). Paramount+ starts at $4.99/month after a free trial for the first week.
Some of the original shows on the Paramount+ roster include Joe Pickett, iCarly, 1883, 1923, RuPaulâs Drag Race AllStars, New Moon Rising, The Family Stallone, Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New World.
Showtime features shows and movies that youâll be able to enjoy through the Verizon deal or a regular subscription for $11.99/month. The list of shows include Yellowjackets, Vice, George & Tammy, WACO: The Aftermath, Billions, The Most Dangerous Man The World Has Ever Known, Billions, Couples Therapy, The 12th Victim, The Affair and Dexter: New Blood.
Netflix plans start at $6.99/month. The streaming giant carries tons of must-watch shows and movies like Fubar, Queen Charlotte, Never Have I Ever, Manifest, You, Stranger Things and Love Is Blind.
Andrea Von Foerster, Brian Schwartz, Dani Rose of Honey County, Hayes Carll, and Sabrina del Priore sat down with the SVP of Music & Talent at Viacom/CMT, Leslie Fram, to discuss the use of music in Paramountâs âYellowstoneâ at the 2023 Billboard Country Live.
