Just as Billboard announces it's looking to expand into Nashville with a Billboard Country Music Awards, the unconfirmed gossip mill spits out this rumor to us: Fox is dropping the regular Billboard Awards.

After 17 years of broadcasting the awards show, a source with knowledge of the network's decision making claims Fox is terminating their arrangement after 2006's show posted the worst numbers ever: 6.1 million viewers, or a 2.7/7 share. Blame is on the Britney-Paris fiasco or the fact that the awards show market is blatantly supersaturated (Big in '06, anyone?).

VNU's Billboard is "trying desperately to salvage the situation by proposing a more limited country awards show," we're told. "Fox is reportedly mulling the idea over, but television is already thick with country music award shows," like the Country Music Awards.

No firm decision has been made whether or not to drop the broadcast, but "Fox is expected to announce shortly what it plans to do." May we suggest … creating a MySpace profile?