NBC moves Emmys to clear path for 'Sunday Night Football'

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2006 | by Theresa Howard

NEW YORK -- While network TV needs all the promotion it can get to stem viewership and ad erosion, NBC has booted the industry's prime-time awards show from its traditional mid-September kickoff of the fall season.

NBC pushed the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards show forward to Aug. 27 because of the start of its six-year deal with the National Football League to air Sunday Night Football. Regular season Sunday games start Sept. 10.

"The Emmys are getting the short shrift this year," says Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research, TNS Media Intelligence, which will release a study on Emmy ad and audience trends today. "It's odd for a TV show to honor the best TV programming to be shunted off to the sideline."

The show, which rotates among the big...