Entertainment is in a pretty harrowing place right now. More and more, studios and networks are callously disposing of their properties, erasing projects and the hard work of countless folks all for like a .000045th% bottom line increase. It’s putrid, it’s short-sighted, and it’s really, really dumb.
Completely unrelated, Paramount has recently gone on a killing spree of its longtime websites and blogs, stripping them of important archival material and accessible content that, you know, promotes the properties they own.
Paramount slashes MTV's web presence
Among the more notable slashes to its own history, someone at Paramount decided to redirect links to mtvnews.com and mtv.com/news to MTV's homepage, eliminating access to work from the news site’s founding in 1996 that documented the emergence and development of nearly every music artist since then.
@theamandaflores Stand by for an MTV News update….that it no longer exists! 880s990s80skids #90skids#musically #genx #millenials #xennialsoftiktok #xennials #musictrivia
♬ original sound - Amanda Flores
This comes after MTV News was shut down as part of a round of layoffs in 2023 by Paramount, which touched their entire workforce.
@producerpatrick So many journalists are frustrated that their years of blood sweat and tears… decades of articles, archives and work just erased overnight #news#mtv
♬ Breaking News Background Music (Basic A)(1001538) - LEOPARD
Oh, but that’s not all, sports fans.
Comedy Central archives disappear
The online archives of little-known television programs The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have been completely wiped. These included clips from every single episode of each, dating back to 1999.
One thing though. Most of the shows and clips previously offered are completely MIA on Paramount+. You know, the service that charges $12.99 for access to the vast Viacom library? Heck, iconic shows like The Colbert Report are nowhere to be seen.
It's not just MTV News, Paramount also nuked the entire Comedy Central archives and videos. I get that they are trying to sell and have a lot of debt, but the AWS bill can't be that high for this stuff! This is awful! https://t.co/4PwBD8lybz
— Christina Warren (@film_girl) June 27, 2024
Now, links to the old Comedy Central site just redirects users to Paramount+, with a message reassuring us, “while episodes of most Comedy Central series are no longer available on this website,” fans can still watch the channel through their TV providers and—great news, everyone—“many seasons of Comedy Central shows” on Paramount+.
Additionally, the websites for both TV Land and CMT seem to have suffered the same fate.
Social media users react to the news online
The changes come after a town hall meeting Tuesday held by Paramount’s co-CEOs — George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins, who indicated that they were focused on cutting costs. These include layoffs and “looking at selling certain Paramount-owned assets—in fact, we’ve already hired bankers to assist us in this process—and we’ll use the proceeds to help pay down debt and strengthen our balance sheet.” (Not mentioned as cost-cutting measures: their own salaries, bonuses, etc.) Good stuff guys, great work.
It goes without saying that most people are not happy about this. Many of those same people? On the internet!
Wiping a news brand and its full archive from existence is deleting historical records, with MTV News that’s decades of music & youth culture history. A huge loss to society, future research and devastatingly cruel to journalists who suddenly have no record of all their hard work
— Jillian Sederholm (@JillianSed) June 25, 2024
Hey @paramountco: This is cultural devastation for a huge demographic. You were sitting on a goldmine of cultural relevance. Gen-X’ers are one of the spendiest consumer groups around. You could have done something with this but nope. Instead: https://t.co/GlpZTpcqGU
— ミルキージェームズ ? @milkman.bsky.social (@wireframejames) June 27, 2024
There’s simply no reasonable explanation for this decision. The entirety of MTV News should be restored immediately. https://t.co/qb9UXh20zt
— Lee Edwards (@Mario_Demiuex) June 24, 2024
What’s the upside of destroying digital archives like MTV News and Comedy Central? Will they come back as paywalled content or are they really gone? No one kept a backup?
— Ben Greenman (@bengreenman) June 27, 2024
Every day there are more examples of "parent companies" deciding to gut their archives. First MTV News disappears, now Comedy Central is getting hollowed out... who's next? We just don't care for a business model that isn't trying to offer as much variety as possible! https://t.co/FhCkfp0WiK
— Movie Madness (@MovieMadnessPDX) June 27, 2024
I know Paramount has legitimate financial issues, but there’s no way deleting the Comedy Central and MTV News archives saved that much money.
— Kip Mooney (@kipjmooney) June 27, 2024
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