Is MTV losin' it?

Like many other people my age, or probably more for those slightly older than I, MTV has long been a staple of society. However, in the last few years - when was the last time you watched a music video on the channel who's most famous for...you guessed it...their music videos? (This excludes watching a music video on the MTV website, which is full of videos.)

Lately it seems the only thing getting constant air time is crappy reality shows, such as "Next" and others like it. The network has lost 1.77% of its daily viewers over the past year. Looks to me like MTV needs to change something and with Monday's firing of Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston, it appeared that maybe MTV network, also operated by Viacom, would be in for some management changes.

That proved not to be the case. Instead, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone called MTV's Judy McGrath to make sure that she stayed with the network to ensure stability within the company. So how will MTV get back the lost audiences? Is anything changing without a change in management?

It appears that they are expecting MTV to fall back on what it has always done when audiences get bored with the same old entertainment. Reinvent itself. Let's hope so.

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MTV Networks has "one of the strongest hands in media" and that MTV has proved time and again that it can reinvent itself.
-New Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman

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