Cable Technology Feature Article
March 03, 2010
TLC Drops Pretty Pageant Ladies, Miss America Has No Home
By Kelly McGuire, TMCnet Editor
All the pretty pageant girls in their tiara’s and evening gowns may have no place to flash their pearly whites and claim their fame to wanting peace for the world anymore.
Once again, the Miss America pageant has no network. On Monday, Reuters (News - Alert) reported that TLC dropped the broadcast event, saying that while it was happy to be part of the modernization and revitalization of the pageant, it declined to renew its contract.
The show, which has been around since 1921, is no stranger to cancellations though. While it used to be the highest-rated TV event in the 1960’s time period, but since 1996, when NBC cancelled its long running contract, the program always hopped from network to network, without a permanent home.
After NBC released it from the air, and cancelled its contract in 1996, ABC ran the pageant from 1997 to 2005, then the country-music channel CMT in 2006 and 2007, before TLC picked it up in 2008.
However, the 2010 pageant, won by Miss Virginia, Caressa Cameron, was watched by 4.5 million people in January, a record for the competition since it moved to cable.
Once again, the Miss America pageant has no network. On Monday, Reuters (News - Alert) reported that TLC dropped the broadcast event, saying that while it was happy to be part of the modernization and revitalization of the pageant, it declined to renew its contract.
The show, which has been around since 1921, is no stranger to cancellations though. While it used to be the highest-rated TV event in the 1960’s time period, but since 1996, when NBC cancelled its long running contract, the program always hopped from network to network, without a permanent home.
After NBC released it from the air, and cancelled its contract in 1996, ABC ran the pageant from 1997 to 2005, then the country-music channel CMT in 2006 and 2007, before TLC picked it up in 2008.
However, the 2010 pageant, won by Miss Virginia, Caressa Cameron, was watched by 4.5 million people in January, a record for the competition since it moved to cable.
Kelly McGuire is a TMCnet Web editor, covering CRM and workforce technologies, and anchor of its daily TMC Newsroom video broadcast. Kelly also writes about eco-friendly "green" technologies and smart grids, compiling TMCnet's weekly e-Newsletters on those topics, as well as the cable industry. To read more of Kelly's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Kelly McGuire
