The VMAs Go Back to New York

After two years of fun in Miami, MTV has decided to take its annual Video Music Awards back to New York, the network announced late Tuesday night. The show will air live from Radio City Music Hall on August 31.

''The idea was never to move the VMAs to Miami permanently, no more than they're permanent in New York or L.A.,'' said executive producer Dave Sirulnick. "We just felt the best place to be was New York to explore and express ideas."

MTV is headquartered in New York. That could make it easier for the network to put into action its big plan for 2006's VMAs: a live multiscreen production that can be watched simultaneously, in different versions, on two TVs, computers and cellphones.

Showing images of South Florida around the world, the VMAS were a global advertisement for Miami in general and the AmericanAirlines Arena in particular. However, in 2004, the show narrowly missed the series of hurricanes that bombarded Florida. Last year, VMA week was drenched, and some activities canceled, because of Hurricane Katrina.

And another big disturbing of the event was when notorious hip-hop impresario Suge Knight was shot in the leg at a celeb-filled party for Kanye West at the Shore Club, early in the morning on the day of the VMAs. There was also an on-stage and behind-the-scenes spat between two rap groups, Terror Squad and G Unit, in 2005.