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Just a few weeks after announcing a date change to September 13 to avoid broadcast competition with the NFL, CBS and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences have backed down on their move, opting to go with the original plan of a September 20 ceremony for the 2009 Emmy Awards. The partners cite a conflict with MTV's Video Music Awards as the reason for switching back.

"After we announced plans for September 13, MTV informed us they were locked into the same day for the Video Music Awards, with venue and sponsorship agreements in place," CBS executive vice president of specials, music, and live events Jack Sussman told Variety. "We had the flexibility to move; they didn't. It's best for the industry and the audience that these events not compete against each other."

CBS and MTV are corporate cousins of a sort; although CBS is no longer owned by Viacom, MTV's parent, both are controlled by Sumner Redstone. MORE >>

Emmys, CBS, MTV, MTV Networks, MTV Video Music Awards, Viacom, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, HBO, Comedy Central

Q & A 10.02.08 6:16 PM

MTV's Kelley Electa on Launching a North American Tour to Promote Rock Band

Panic at the Disco performing at a Rock Band 2 party
Photo: Jordan Strauss/WireImage

FROM LOS ANGELES MTV Games senior director of promotions Kelley Electa is overseeing the Rock Band Live Tour—a traveling concert program to promote the video game Rock Band—which kicks off this weekend in San Diego. A new marketing concept for MTV Games (a division of MTV Networks that creates interactive products for its target audience) and partner AEG, the tour will visit 28 cities across the U.S., plus Toronto, ending in Texas in November. Before the kickoff weekend, we asked Electa about the strategy behind the new program.

Why did you pick the tour format to market the game?
We really feel that Rock Band is an authentic music experience, and we wanted to give fans and families a chance to really experience what it's like to perform live rock 'n' roll. We think that can be achieved by partnering up with some great bands whose songs are featured within our game and have a pretty broad appeal to our consumer base and let our consumers get involved with the show from playing Rock Band in their living rooms to playing Rock Band in an actual arena. MORE >>

MTV, MTV Networks, MTV Games, AEG Live, Rock Band, The Cab, Plain White T's, Dashboard Confessional, Panic at the Disco, Pepsi, Best Buy

NEWS 06.20.08 4:52 PM

MTV Expected to Confirm Video Music Awards' L.A. Move Next Week

FROM LOS ANGELES It looks like MTV is indeed taking its Video Music Awards show to Los Angeles, as we previously reported, but not to the venue we originally named.

While our previous report suggested a move to the Shrine might be in the works for this year, we now hear that another venue has been selected. We also hear that the network will make a formal announcement on the decision next week, perhaps as early as Monday.

The move marks the VMAs’ first L.A. stop in a decade (the event took over the Gibson Amphitheatre in 1998). The show took over multiple areas within the Palms in Las Vegas last year. —Alesandra Dubin

MTV, MTV Video Music Awards, Viacom, MTV Networks

NEWS 05.08.08 6:41 PM

TV Upfronts Schedule Takes Shape With Notable Lack of Parties

Fox's 2007 party
Photo: Mark Yumkas

The upfronts are proving to be a hotter topic than usual this year, though most of the attention is focused on the presentations’ departure from tradition and not the content they plan to unveil. As we reported last week, there just aren’t as many pilots to announce in the wake of the writers strike.

The New York Times Magazine went so far as to call the upfront concept “kind of dumb” this past Sunday. Columnist Virginia Heffernan wrote, “They are overblown tributes to a bygone style of salesmanship, and from the point of view of advertisers, they are almost pointless.... Today, when media buyers can screen shows online and study a network’s demographics and ad platforms, the upfronts function chiefly as an ostentatious corporate week on the town.” Networks might be noticing this themselves, because this year’s schedule is even more pared down than previously expected. Here's a rundown of the week.

Monday, May 12: “The NBC Universal Experience,” which is rumored to be anything from a quiet branding initiative to an actual carnival, finally reveals itself at 30 Rockefeller Center throughout the afternoon. A limited number of media buyers are invited to the presentations that will take place in small groups and not one large event. A reception at Rockefeller Plaza’s Rink Bar will follow. MORE >>

Upfronts, Upfront Week, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW, NBC Universal, MTV Networks

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