MISS AMERICA There it goes: Pageant gets cut by ABC

Sinking ratings may have prompted the decision.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- ABC has dropped Miss America, leaving the famous beauty pageant without a TV outlet for the first time in 50 years.
The network, which had carried the annual telecast since 1997 with a series of one-year contracts, notified Miss America Organization officials that they will not pick up the option this year, the pageant's acting president and CEO, Arthur McMaster, said this week.
"We are now free to pursue other parties who have expressed interest in our organization, and we are excited at the limitless opportunities that are now available for us to grow our brand," he said.
The move, which comes after the Sept. 18 pageant drew a record low 9.8 million viewers, could jeopardize the foundation of a program that grew from an Atlantic City publicity stunt into a highly rated TV staple, largely on the strength of the contest and crowning beamed into millions of living rooms each September.
Since Lee Meriwether was crowned Sept. 11, 1954, in the first televised pageant, Miss America has grown into a nonprofit corporation that makes available more than $40 million annually in scholarship aid and oversees 52 local pageants.
Without network television, Miss America faces an uncertain future.
ABC, which took over Miss America after 30-year sponsor NBC lost interest in 1996, has had rocky relations with Miss America officials in recent years, in part because of sinking ratings.