TV Academy is working to make the Emmys more entertaining amid declining viewership

Deadline

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are on the verge of signing an eight-year deal that would keep the Emmy Awards on broadcast TV for the next eight years, rotating between the Big Four broadcast networks. But before the deal can be made official, the TV Academy is working to streamline the broadcast, "to package differently some categories during the main Primetime Emmys telecast to free up time for more entertainment content," according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. While it was proposed last year that the number of awards during the ceremony be trimmed, says Andreeva, "the TV Academy and the networks can’t force a reduction of the categories awarded during the main telecast, and I hear that is not something being pursued. Instead, I hear the TV Academy has been discussing with the guilds — as well as TV networks — changes that would keep the number of categories the same, getting all guild members recognized, while presenting some more efficiently to help make the telecast more entertaining and commercial." The problem, as Andreeva points out, is that the process is very political. The Writers Guide of America and the Directors Guild of America have threatened steep fees for use of show clips if writers and directors are excluded from the broadcast. Yet the TV Academy and the networks feel like something has to be done since the last two Emmy broadcasts were tied for all-time low viewership.