The 43rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards have already gotten off to an exciting start. Following the announcement of this year's official nominees came the jaw-dropping news that the ceremony won't be televised. Thousands of soap opera fans were surprised by the turn of events, considering the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) secured a two-year deal with POP (the CBS and Lionsgate-owned cable network) for telecast of the show in 2014, which came to fruition for at least the 2015 awards. So what happened to change the fate of this year's event?
According to NATAS senior vice president David Michaels, who spoke with TV Insider, it all came down to finances. "Pop has been our champion and was absolutely willing to air the awards again but there was a money issue," he explains. "Last year, NATAS paid for the entire production and we just can't do that again. We're a non-profit. Nobody could have made a greater effort to try to work a deal than [NATAS president] Bob Mauro, but we fell short on the money and our board decided not to go ahead with [a telecast] this year."
Michaels goes on to explain that scaling back and televising a less-expensive production just wasn't an option. "Doing it on the Warner Bros. lot [in 2015] was very expensive but what it comes down to -- no matter how you scale it -- is that the cost of a live broadcast, with the trucks and the satellite and the humongous crew, is huge," he says. "You can't do it with just two cameras. To do it right -- to do it at all -- is very expensive. But this year our two ceremonies [the Creative Arts portion of the awards takes place April 29] will be spectacular and world class and, believe me, everyone who attends will be thrilled. Michael Levitt, who did a terrific job for us last year, is once again producing the show, and it will be just as good or even better than the 2015 show. We will honor the daytime community, which is really what our job is. We are not TV producers. We are the TV Academy."
As for whether or not there are plans in the works to stream the ceremony online as was done in 2014, the exec says he's not allowed to comment, but he does say, "We will see what we can do for the fans."
Concerned champions of the genre can rest assured, however, because no matter what NATAS plans in terms of streaming the ceremony, daytime followers can count on Soap Central to provide unequalled coverage of the event, from the Red Carpet to the Gifting Suite and backstage with the winners. And guess what? We've already started this year's coverage! Head on over to our official 43rd Annual Daytime Emmy homepage for reaction interviews with this year's nominees, early award statistics, and more!
How disappointed are you that this year's Daytime Emmy Awards won't be televised? Does it change your outlook on the ceremony? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
