Viacom is betting on ’90s nostalgia as ratings tumble among its bundle of cable networks, which includes MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Spike, and TV Land. In particular, music-centric MTV, which revolves around 12-to-34-year-olds, has struggled to fit in with today’s youth, who are cutting the cable cord, watching music videos online at sites like YouTube, and aren’t as captivated by the network’s reality series as generations past had been.

The announcement of MTV Classic’s arrival prompted grumbling on social media by critics who accused MTV of resting on its laurels and failing to create new quality programming, while other still-kids-at-heart sounded pretty stoked to see their favorites return to the TV screens. But will they tune in?

Ancillary networks like the soon-to-be MTV Classic will need to pull their weight now that they’re being left out of basic TV packages, as a result of cord cutting and a growing preference for so-called “skinny” bundles.

We’ll see if the classics still have enough pull with nostalgic millennials and Gen-Xers to float the revamped network.

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