Television can be great, good, or mediocre. Maybe the perception is there are too many shows in the last category. Apparently we need more awards shows to change viewers' minds.
The
Emmys, Golden Globes, and a host of other network-centric awards programs -- ESPN, TV Land, MTV and others -- honor the best in TV, either exclusively or as part a broader effort to honor other
entertainment content as well.
But apparently this isn't enough. The Paley Center for Media wants to create another awards show. There's money to be
made.
At the top level, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences can pull in $65 million from a single night of TV from the fees it gets from ABC to air the Oscar show. That's
essentially AMPAS' operating budget for the entire year.
Money is only one reason for Paley to enter the fray. Few are saying it out loud, but there seems to be a growing number of
executives pissed off at how the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences runs its own show, the Emmys.
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The Emmys surely need another makeover -- especially when multiple winners in a
single category grab ever more trophies. Boring. Or when HBO grabs a truckload of hardware for programming few viewers have seen. More boring.
TV awards shows can make lots of money
for networks themselves. Two of MTV's biggest nights of the year come from its MTV Movie Awards and Video Music Awards.
For many TV marketers, these two events are a necessary lynchpin for
bigger advertising deals with MTV. Media executives say they are like "mini-upfront" deals with the network.
Paley, of course, has its own strategy to get more spin for its brand, perhaps as
an alternative to ATAS.
Finally, supporters of another TV awards show will tell you it's about better marketing for the TV industry as a whole, to give those hard-working executives their
due -- along with some shiny metal to put on their shelves.
Do we need another awards show? No way. But do we need a better TV awards show? I'm all for that.