The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were postponed for a second
time Sunday, but Academy of Television Arts & Sciences executives are vowing
to hold 'some sort of ceremony' to hand out statuettes.
Whether or not the new ceremony will be televised is still being determined.
Insiders said a small-scale event might be moved to the Beverly Hilton Hotel
within the next month.
CBS president Les Moonves and Academy chairman Bryce Zabel met Monday morning
at CBS' Los Angeles headquarters to discuss future plans and the financial
fallout.
The Academy was due $3 million in license fees from CBS for the telecast, and
the networks that have carried The Emmys recently have all generated more than
$20 million in advertising revenue. And both the Academy and CBS were forced to
shell out an extra $500,000 apiece when the ceremony was rescheduled, sources
said.
Both CBS and Academy officials called off Sunday's planned ceremony at Los
Angeles' Shrine Auditorium shortly after learning of U.S. and British military
action in Afghanistan.
The Emmys had originally been scheduled to take place Sept. 16, but they were
postponed until this past Sunday. It's the first time in the 53-year history of
the event that the show didn't go on.
Academy president Jim Chabin said actors and producers deserve some
recognition, and there will be an Emmy event.
'I think just sending the Emmys in a box or an envelope is inappropriate,' he
said. 'We need a ritual or some sort of ceremony to congratulate these people
and have their awards presented by their peers or with their peers. And whether
that's a dinner that's televised or not televised is really unimportant to us.
That's the network's decision. But one way or another, we need to have a way to
give these awards out, and we will do that at the right time, sooner rather than
later.'
A CBS spokesman said, 'No decision has been made at this point, it's too
early.'
As for the financial fallout, it is unclear whether the Academy will get its
$3 million from CBS. 'We have reserves, and we are financially very stable and
solvent,' Chabin said. 'It never was that kind of an issue in deciding whether
or not to go on with the show.'
