It probably isn’t coincidental that CBS and the Academy of Country Music Awards have recently gone through a fairly public breakup, creating the opportunity for the network to look no further than within its own ViacomCBS house for a rebound romance.
The CMT Awards were traditionally held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on the eve of the city’s annual CMA Music Festival, but the ability to easily draw a live audience on that June date may have little reason for continuing given larger considerations at play in the move to CBS.
ViacomCBS had recently been boasting about ratings wins for this month’s CMT Awards, which were seen not just on the titular network but MTV, MTV2, Logo, Paramount Network and TV Land.
NBC is being seen as the most likely landing place for the ACMs, as ABC already has the highest-rated of the annual country awards shows, the Country Music Association Awards, and Disney and the CMA announced less than two weeks ago that that deal was being renewed through 2026.