CMT will not exercise an option to televise the Miss America Pageant next year as it goes through a programming makeover. While the network is "very proud" of its work with the event, Brian Philips,
general manager of CMT, says the net is now in a position in which it can be aggressive in programming "more original series and music-centric special events." Pageant executives say they have begun
looking for a new TV home for 2008 and beyond, but this is the second time in four years that Miss America has been jilted by a broadcaster--as ABC threw her under the bus in 2004 after its telecast
fell to an all-time-low rating of 10 million viewers. This year's pageant on CMT averaged 2.4 million.
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