Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Viacom Inc.’s MTV Networks is looking at new studio spaces in and around Manhattan as the lease of its flagship building on Times Square is set to expire.

MTV made the announcement in an e-mail yesterday. The cable television network will probably move out by the end of the year, said Melanie Keenan, an outside spokeswoman for SL Green Realty Corp., the landlord. SL Green, Manhattan’s biggest office-building owner, would look for another tenant, Keenan said in an e-mail.

The second-floor studios overlooking the street at 1515 Broadway, where the network taped “Total Request Live” until last year, have drawn throngs of teenagers looking for a glimpse of pop stars. The 30-year-old building also houses the Minskoff Theatre, which runs Broadway shows.

Several national retailers and broadcast companies have looked at the 24,240 square-foot (2,252 square-meter) space, Steven Durels, SL Green’s director for leasing, said in a telephone interview yesterday, without identifying the companies.

“We’re going to be very selective,” Durels said. “You get a shot at this kind of space once in a blue moon. We’re going to take our time.”

The music-television pioneer, which first occupied the space in 1997, could still renew its lease, the New York Post reported yesterday. SL Green is asking about $11.6 million in annual rent for the studio and its ground-floor store, the newspaper said.

Viacom, controlled by Sumner Redstone, fell 70 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $24.51 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The shares have gained 29 percent this year.

SL Green fell $1.37, or 4.2 percent, to $31.08. The shares have climbed 20 percent this year.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 12, 2009 03:41 EDT