Earlier today, reports surfaced via TMZ that MTV’s TRL was being pulled from the network and cancelled, but it turns out that’s not the case after all. According to Billboard, who spoke with the network's President Chris McCarthy, TRL is actually planning on growing the franchise to include three different day parts. The network has secretly been working on a morning & night edition of the show over the past couple month that's dropping this Summer.
"It's thriving. We're expanding the franchise and will have three TRLs by summer," McCarthy tells THR. (The revival's October premiere drew just 166,000 live same-day viewers.) "TRL has delivered incredible growth on linear, and we've experienced two to three times the growth in our video streams, and TRL is big piece of it — and that's why we're expanding it; we want more.”
Having taken a break from March, TRL’s afternoon show will return to the air April 9 as planned as a two-hour block with its roster of rotating hosts and social media stars serving as correspondents.
“We’ve always had the March hiatus planned,” McCarthy says of the flagship afternoon edition. “We’re expanding to target different demographics and dayparts. … All three [versions of TRL] will be airing by June. We have no plans of not having TRL on our linear network; there won’t be a time when we don’t have it on. The show has been killing it for us.”
So while you thought TRL was being cancelled, it’s quite the opposite and it’s dropping more shows come this Summer. Stay tuned.