CMT Pledges Even Split On Video Airtime For Female & Male Country Artists

Greg Evans

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CMT passed something like its own ERA today, pledging to evenly split the video airtime on its country music channels between female and male artists.

The previous split was 40/60, favoring the men.

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“Time is really up in 2020,” said Leslie Fram, SVP of Music & Talent, CMT, in a statement. “All the talk around what can be done to support females in country music needs to transform into action, once and for all.

“At CMT, we are stepping up our own commitments, in addition to our work through the CMT Next Women of Country franchise, and will be announcing a new initiative in the coming weeks that will spark this much-needed change in our industry.”

The new policy will be standard on CMT and CMT Music channels, splitting the full 29-hour primetime video hours across platforms into equal male-female ratios.

The subject of sexism in country music was raised last week on TBS’ Full Frontal With Samantha Bee. Fram appeared on the segment filmed at CMT’s Next Women of Country event with Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker, and included interviews with Margo Price and Mickey Guyton.

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