MTV moves up Video Music Awards to avoid Obama conflict

NEW YORK (AP) - MTV has moved up the start of its annual Video Music Awards so its fans won't have to choose between pop stars and President Barack Obama...

Adam Howard

Sep 5, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) — MTV has moved up the start of its annual Video Music Awards so its fans won’t have to choose between pop stars and President Barack Obama.

The show is airing Thursday, the night Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for another term as president. But MTV said Tuesday it will run the show an hour earlier than it usually does to not conflict with Obama’s speech.

The show will run from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time. The president is scheduled to speak from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., after 10 p.m.

The video awards are a considerable draw for young viewers and usually run around Labor Day. MTV often uses the awards show to introduce new programming in the hour afterward but will not do so this year.

Last year’s show was seen by 12.4 million people, more than anything on the broadcast networks that week and likely MTV’s largest audience ever. The highlight of last year’s show was Beyonce’s announcement that she was pregnant.