CMT (U.S. TV channel)

Early years (1983–1991)

CMTV, an initialism of Country Music Television, was founded by Glenn D. Daniels, the owner of Video World Productions in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Daniels put together the ownership group of Telestar Corporation and the Blinder Robinson & Company investment bank in a three-way split. Daniels also served as the program director and the first president of the network.

The network launched on March 5, 1983, at 6:19 p.m. CT, beating its chief competitor, TNN, to air by two days. The first video clip to air on CMT was Faron Young's 1971 hit "It's Four in the Morning". The following summer, MTV filed a trademark infringement lawsuit over the initials CMTV, and the network changed its name to simply CMT.

Gaylord years (1991–1997)

In 1991, Opryland USA and its owner Gaylord Entertainment Company acquired CMT in a $34 million deal. The network was sold by a group led by radio station owner Robert Sillerman and record producer James Guercio. Opryland USA and owner Gaylord also owned CMT's competitor The Nashville Network.

In October 1992, CMT launched its first international channel, CMT Europe, as part of the Sky Multichannels package. By 1998, Gaylord reported $10 million in losses from CMT Europe and decided to cease broadcasting the declining network on March 31, 1998. Gaylord had planned to emulate the successful model created by E!, by selling large programming blocks to other European channels, but these plans never occurred.

In 1994, Gaylord made its first major format change for CMT by adding several new music video programs, including Big Ticket, Jammin' Country, The Signature Series, CMT Delivery Room, and CMT Top 12 Countdown. All shows eventually were cancelled by 2001.

In 1995, CMT dropped all videos by Canadian artists without U.S. record contracts in response to the network being replaced in Canada by Calgary, Alberta-based New Country Network. By March 1996, CMT had eventually returned the dropped videos to its playlist after reaching an agreement to acquire a 20% ownership of New Country Network, in addition to renaming it CMT.

CBS/Viacom years (1997–present)

In 1997, both CMT and TNN were sold to Westinghouse, then-owner of CBS for a reported $1.5 billion. The acquisition of the two country-themed networks, along with the formation of the ill-fated CBS Eye On People network, and two regional sports networks (the Baltimore-area Home Team Sports, now Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest Sports Channel in the Twin Cities, now Fox Sports North) formed the CBS Cable division, based in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry and a Charlotte office at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

In 1999, Viacom acquired CBS, assuming ownership of CMT and TNN and folding them into the MTV Networks stable. The resulting moves in 2000 led to the closing of the CBS Charlotte office, while Viacom changed the format of TNN, eventually renaming it The National Network and then reformatting it again as Spike. Viacom also changed the format of CMT, modeling it after sister networks MTV and VH1 to include series and movies, in addition to music videos. Over time, the number of music videos on the network had steadily decreased with the late May 2006 rebranding of digital cable network VH1 Country to CMT Pure Country, with music video programming on CMT eventually being relegated mainly to the overnight and morning hours (similar to MTV and VH1).

Despite the decrease in music videos, CMT has experienced significant ratings gains since its acquisition by MTV Networks in 1999. By 2007, the channel was available in more than 83 million homes. As of 2009, the network now reaches 88 million homes.

On April 4, 2012, CMT announced its first cartoon series, Bounty Hunters, featuring the voices of Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall who also serve as executive producers. CMT also announced that it would air Trinity 911, a 10-episode "workplace docu-comedy" that follows the police force in a small Texas town. Trinity 911 was later renamed Big Texas Heat and removed from the schedule after airing four episodes.

On June 10, 2016, CMT announced that they would pick up the primetime network series Nashville after ABC's cancellation of the series, and renewed the series for a fifth full season of 22 episodes; it will continue to be streamed beginning the day after an episode's first airing on Hulu.

Programming

CMT's current programming consists of general entertainment programming, movies and reality shows. A significant portion of current non-music programming is not related to country music. Music videos are still shown, but are usually aired during late night/early morning hours.

Of Viacom's various mainline channels (not counting its suite of all-music digital channels), CMT currently devotes the most time to music videos, with at least six hours of the daily schedule set aside for them during the overnight and morning hours. CMT's music mix is primarily focused on mainstream hit country songs, but also includes occasional videos from crossover, Americana and alternative acts (dubbed "CMT Edge").

One of the most popular programs to be aired on CMT is the CMT Music Awards. These awards are aired live every year from Nashville, Tennessee. The show consists of awards in various categories and performances by country music artists.