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CMT has decided to keep making music with “Nashville,” announcing a sixth-season pickup for the show to debut in early 2018



The announcement of the renewal came via a Facebook Live video with star Charles Esten Monday afternoon. The second half of the current season returns June 1, and Season 6 is set for an early 2018 premiere. The new season will run 16 episodes.

“Nashville” moved to CMT this season after being canceled on ABC following four seasons there. Ratings in its new home have predictably been a fraction of what they were on broadcast, but the show’s numbers have been a pretty big upgrade for CMT, which is carried in about 20 million fewer homes than ABC.

The show averaged a 0.2 rating among adults 18-49 and 909,000 viewers the night it aired on CMT; simulcasts on Nick at Nite bumped that number up a little bit more, and CMT says the show averages 2.1 million viewers in Live +7 ratings. That makes it the channel’s highest-rated and most-watched original show ever.