...and away from its historical white roots

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/01/country-music-stands-moment-great-racial-change-or-so-its-biggest-cable-network-believes/

Executives at Country Music Television are hopeful that the summer of Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" is a sign that country music is looking to diversify. CMT isn't trying to abandon its core country demographic -- just broaden its appeal. "At the heart of CMT's shift is a question bedeviling much of Hollywood: how to deliver content for an underserved red-state audience while satisfying an impulse for progressivism," reports Steven Zeitchik. “We’re saying: ‘Let’s look at the programming slate. Let’s look at shows that appeal to the audience of CMT,'" says Chris McCarthy, the president of MTV, VH1 and Logo who began overseeing CMT last October. “But let’s not do it through residual eyes...We’re not leaving country’s traditional audience behind — we’re taking them with us."

Chris McCarthy, the president of MTV, VH1 and Logo who began overseeing CMT last October

I dont watch CMT but reading that I feel sorry you for y'all who do.

Chris McCarthy, the president of MTV, VH1 and Logo who began overseeing CMT last October

I dont watch CMT but reading that I feel sorry you for y'all who do.

CMT is pretty much the outcast at Viacom at this point. Two years ago, Viacom under Bob Bakish cut their budget and removed them from the MTV group, putting them into a smaller, less important group with TV Land. Then last year, Bakish fired Kevin Jays (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/viacom-restructure-cmt-tv-land-moved-kevin-kays-global-entertainment-group-971007), the guy who was in charge of that group.

On the bright side, country music is a big priority at CBS. They've had a great partnership with the Academy of Country Music over the years. They also have a strong partnership with the Grammys. So this combination may be good for CMT, since Viacom apparently has no use for them.

In a nutshell, CMT has to deal with two fronts though a shifting demographic and also how to cater to CBS leadership once the Viacom/CBS deal is finalized.

When CMT was launched in the 90's as a competitor to TNN country music videos were just beginning to get popular and while VH1 and MTV ruled the pop music scene TNN and CMT were starting a new music video trend the country music audience was gaining solid ground. With music videos from country artists such as Trisha Yearwood Wynonna Toby Keith Alan Jackson Leann Rimes Garth Brooks Vince Gill and other country singers CMT gave fans their money's worth and was one of the first music video channels to give you the sneak peek of a new single from the artist's upcoming album. Take for example whenever CMT would have music videos they would have a banner saying "STAY TUNED FOR THE DEBUT OF VINCE GILL'S NEW SINGLE I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU FROM HIS UPCOMING ALBUM IN STORES SOON" and it was a smart way for CMT to promote successful artists and some videos were even used for contests like CMT would sometimes have a banner that said "THINK YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT GEORGE STRAIT ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN TICKETS TO SEE GEORGE STRAIT AT CMT FEST" and contests like this helped CMT earn a devoted fanbase. But if you look at CMT today you'll see few country music video shows and now CMT focuses on reality shows and country music entertainment news shows and reruns of Reba and Mom and what I can see is CMT will get a bigger audience due to this new image. But if you want channels that are a whole lot better than CMT try the Great American Country channel and RFD TV which also focuses on country music
Bestie