• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 14, 2007

After two years on CMT, the Miss America pageant is moving to TLC. Pageant organizers said Monday that the event, which was broadcast on ABC for years until 2006, will be carried on the Discovery-owned network as part of a three-year deal.

The event delivered the most-watched telecast in CMT history in 2006 (3.1 million viewers), but saw a 23% decline this past January. CMT then declined to pick up an option to continue carrying the event until 2011.

Like CMT, the pageant's new home will try to build reality programming around the competition. TLC will offer a series seeking to profile the 52 contestants leading up to the Las Vegas event in January.

In advance of this year's competition, CMT ran the special "Pageant School: Becoming Miss America" that focused on the contestants gathering in L.A. pre-pageant training. (The show also aired on sister networks MTV and VH1.) Plus, CMT ran a one-hour look at 2006 Miss America Jennifer Berry's life with the crown. Its CMT Mobile operations attempted to generate additional revenues by selling the ringtone of the "There She Is, Miss America" tune.

The pageant's top executive, Sam Haskell, said TLC will give the event "the proper promotion and attention it deserves." He said the deal represents a "multimillion-dollar partnership."

William Morris represented the Miss America Organization in securing the deal.

On CMT, the pageant moved from its traditional September airing and Atlantic City base to a January date and a Las Vegas locale.