"It's tough for the networks because of the economy," McKenzie said. "They're running fairly scared... (but) when we heard that the Daytime Emmys was having trouble getting on TV, we stubbed our toes on this and said, 'That's just not right.' We called in a lot of folks we've known for a long time and told them, 'We don't want this to go away, don't you agree?' "
That's when ATI's Jim Romanovich contacted the NATAS to see if there was a way to help. ATI then brought MGM onboard.
MGM made sense because it already controlled a block of primetime, at least until the end of summer: the CW's Sunday night, where it runs a movie package. As a result, the CW isn't paying a traditional license fee for the Daytime Emmys but instead has a unique advertising relationship with NATAS, ATI and MGM for the telecast.
Because of the 11th hour save, the Daytime Emmys had to be pushed from its traditional early summer home to Aug. 30 -- which puts it smack in the middle of Emmy season for NATAS' Los Angeles rival, the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences.
But McKenzie believes that could benefit the Daytime Emmys (which take place a night after ATAS throws its annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards show), as some of the Primetime Emmy hoopla potentially rubs off.
"This is not a bad time for it," he said. "We'll be interested to see how it does. Maybe it goes back to May or June; that remains to be seen. But I've seen in my years of marketing that when you group something like this together, for some reason they feed one another."
As for next year, ATI and MGM are already onboard, while the CW has the first option to bring it back. But should the Dub pass on it, McKenzie said he's confident he'll be able to find another home for the show -- or even clear it in syndication.
Read the complete article at Variety.com.
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