In an effort to cut costs, Paramount Global announced the closure of the MTV News website. The announcement temporarily followed Paramount’s resolution to shut down cable properties’ websites; CMT, Comedy Central, TV Land, and Paramount Network are cutting all online content. According to several reports, users trying to access the internet sites were asked to access or subscribe to Paramount’s SVOD service.
In a statement, Paramount said: “As part of broader tweaks to Paramount’s website, we’ve brought more streamlined versions of our sites, bringing enthusiasts to Paramount to watch their favourite show. Paramount also discussed that content from its cable networks will be delivered through its TV provider.
At the end of the first quarter of 2024, Paramount, launched in 2021, had 71 million subscribers worldwide, a quarterly increase of 3. 7 million. Despite this stable growth, the streaming unit is still not profitable. In the first quarter of 2024, Paramount’s streaming unit lost $286 million. On a positive note, losses have decreased. In the first quarter of 2023, Paramount’s direct-to-consumer department posted a loss of $511 million. According to Nielsen’s May report, Paramount had a 1. 2% TV audience share, lower than that of competing streamers; YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney, Tubi, and Roku and comparable to Max and Peacock.
Paramount Global recently announced a fee increase for Paramount. Paramount’s charge with Showtime will increase from $1 to $12. 99 per month. Paramount’s monthly charge with classified ads will also increase from $1 to $7. 99. The Paramount Essential plan will increase from $2 to $7. 99 per month for new subscribers. Paramount expects its streaming unit to be successful until the end of next year. The fee increases will take effect later this year.
The closure of the MTV News online page comes more than a year after Paramount, amid layoffs, shut down the MTV News division. MTV News was introduced in 1987 with Kurt Loder as host of the show. At first, MTV News hosted a weekly show on the cable network before airing every night. The MTV News online page was introduced in 1996. As a result, decades of news, interviews, and other pop culture articles are suddenly no longer available.
The move comes at a time when the average cable network is in a gentle decline, slowed by accelerating cable cuts and shrinking program budgets. As of May 2024, MTV was averaging 154,000 prime-time audiences, a fraction of that generated through the cable network at its peak.
The abrupt closure of the MTV News site and the thousands of documents preserved in its archives were not well received. According to Deadline, Michael Alex, concerned about the release of the online page, posted on Facebook: “This is a huge loss and gives you something incredibly valuable to anyone who cares about the history of wonderful music. Lew Nuzzie posted on Facebook: “MTV. com has disappeared. Dammit. Erased from the face of the Tierra. Es as if MTV had never existed. There is no precedent for this, nor for any valid reason. Simply little courage and stupidity. In addition, the other people who work on the online site have not been notified of Paramount’s decision.
The online page of Comedy Central, another pop culture source, has been shut down. The online page provided access to 25 years of content from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, as well as excerpts from South Park between the shows. In addition, TMC’s online page, which stored years of archival data on the country music industry, was also affected.
There have been reports of merger talks between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, a film production company, with a deal likely imminent. However, on June 11, National Amusements, which owns a majority stake in Paramount Global, suddenly announced that negotiations were over. This announcement comes on the heels of another surprise: In late April, amid ongoing negotiations with Skydance Media, Bob Bakish stepped down as president and CEO of Paramount Global. Bakish had held the position since 2019. Bakish, who was replaced by a trio. Paramount Global executives; George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins.
Like many other classic media companies, Paramount Global is saddled with debt while its profits are declining. At the end of June, Paramount Global had a market capitalization of about $7 billion, a decline of about 35% year-over-year. At the end of the first quarter of 2024, Paramount Global’s debt amounted to $15. 8 billion. Paramount will reportedly cut prices by as much as $500 million, which could also lead to more layoffs.
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