The Emmy show may go on—at a military base

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — A third time might just be the charm.

Television officials, looking for a new place to stage the twice-postponed Emmy awards are considering moving the ceremony to a California military base.

CBS and the Academy of Television Arts &Sciences are working on a plan for the ceremony to air before the end of the year, although details remain unsettled, awards show sources said Tuesday.

The goal is to settle on a ceremony and location that would be unaffected by outside events, one of the sources told The Associated Press. A plan could be announced after the Academy of Television Arts &Sciences’ executive committee meets Thursday.

A wide variety of plans are under consideration, including one that would turn the TV ceremony into entertainment for troops at a California military installation, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was unclear whether military cooperation had been sought yet.

Other settings such as hotel ballrooms were being weighed by Emmy organizers. A taped, packaged version of the ceremony, which is traditionally broadcast live, also was among the ideas floated.

The show, originally scheduled to be broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium on Sept. 16, was rescheduled after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It was called off again on Sunday, just hours before showtime, after the United States and Britain launched air attacks on Afghanistan.

Some in the industry are jittery now about taking part in a ceremony at a visible and well-known landmark like the Shrine Auditorium, although academy officials said unprecedented security measures were in place for Sunday’s ceremony and no threats were received before the event was postponed.

Both CBS and the TV academy have much at stake. The network, which has paid a license fee of more than $3 million to the academy for the telecast, stands to lose advertising revenue if a show doesn’t air.

The academy, which hands out the awards, relies on the license fee and ticket sales for a substantial portion of its annual budget.