Sunday, May 1, 2016

The Daytime Emmy Awards Ceremony Is Not Being Televised Live, Will Be Posted Online Monday

We Love Soaps has received a number of inquiries this weekend from soap opera fans who want to know where they can watch tonight's 43rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony. You might have seen the recent announcement about the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) teaming with the live-streaming channel, Parachute TV, to bring Daytime Emmys red carpet coverage to fans as well as backstage access. That is indeed happening today, with the red carpet scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.   Be sure to follow Parachute TV on Periscope and Twitter. You'll also want to keep tabs on the official Daytime Emmys Facebook page.

Sadly, the actual ceremony will not be broadcast live on TV or the Web.

As a daytime fan who also happens to produce an annual awards show (the Indie Series Awards!), it's difficult to understand why NATAS failed to secure a streaming partnership.   Perhaps they felt there wasn't enough time, resources or money to put on a broadcast quality streaming event to the level they envisioned?   Since I didn't travel from New York to Los Angeles this year, I would have personally appreciated the opportunity to watch "live" even if the stream consisted of a single camera pointed toward the stage.  I'm sure there are many fans who would also be happy to see their favorites possibly win an Emmy.  The flip side of that argument, I suppose, is if NATAS streamed a less than "awards show worthy" telecast, many critics and fans would likely be just as unhappy about the lack of productions values as I would be thrilled to see the ceremony at all.

Having just gone through this process myself with last month's ISAs, I can tell you that it's not that hard to live-stream an event.  Sure, if you are trying to reproduce the Oscars with 20 or more cameras and complicated technical direction it becomes exponentially harder, but a 3 camera setup (with 1 camera used for audience reaction) is pretty simple.  NATAS could have easily found a streaming partner that could have brought the ceremony to a worldwide audience online.  The ISAs partnered with AfterBuzz TV, and they did a great job with our stream.

I guess the question is: Are you like me and would rather see the Daytime Emmys ceremony live, even if means the production is scaled down with less cameras and shots, or would you rather the event not be streamed at all unless it is produced at the highest possible level?

I've heard rumblings today that the ceremony would show up online on Monday, but that is 100% rumor at this point unconfirmed by NATAS.  That would be great news for fans if it actually happens but I'm struggling to think of a good reason the Daytime Emmys can't be streamed if someone is shooting the ceremony.  Obviously there is a lot more that went into the decision than we know.

Having said all that, I want to give kudos to NATAS and Parachute TV for the Periscope broadcasts at Friday night's Creative Arts Emmys.  Being able to actually watch that ceremony and the backstage interviews live was a step up compared to what was available in the past.  Hopefully the backstage Periscope interviews today will add an exciting new dimension to the Daytime Emmys.

After you watch the red carpet on Periscope from 5 to 8 p.m. ET, the best place to get information about what's happening at the ceremony (8 to 10 p.m. ET) and who's winning is probably Twitter. Be sure to follow the #DaytimeEmmys hashtag.

This post will be updated if any new information arises today.

UPDATED:
NATAS has confirmed they plan to record the ceremony and post it Monday on its website (emmyonline.org).

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