Emmy Awards add New York broadcast

LOS ANGELES -- The Emmy Awards will go bicoastal, adding a broadcast from an NBC studio in New York for nominees who want to avoid traveling to California for the ceremony, which airs tonight.

Once an Emmy staple, the East Coast-West Coast simulcast was discontinued by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences more than two decades ago.

"We're doing it this year in light of the terrible events" of Sept. 11, said incoming TV academy chairman Bryce Zabel. "We're reaching out to our friends in New York to give them as much comfort and security as possible." New York-based nominees and presenters who prefer not to leave "loved ones and families" can gather in NBC's Studio 6A, where "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" is taped, Emmy executive producer Don Mischer said.

"We think it's the right thing to do," Mischer said Friday. "Linking New York and Los Angeles is very appropriate given what we've been going through in the last few weeks." About four to five of the 27 total prime-time awards will be presented in New York, with any winners there able to accept their award on camera, Mischer said. Locally, the program airs on KFVS-12 TV, a CBS affiliate.

There are more than 100 nominees on the East Coast, he said. That includes most of the cast and production team for HBO's drama series "The Sopranos," a leading Emmy contender.

Acknowledging President Bush's call for Americans to resume air travel, Zabel said anyone coming to the Los Angeles ceremony will be warmly welcomed.

"But our sense was that if we wanted to put on a telecast that had the highest possibility of involving men and women who deserve to be honored" the dual broadcast was the best approach, he said.

The awards, which were scheduled for Sept. 16, were immediately postponed following terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

In changes aimed at creating a subdued and respectful ceremony, attendees are being encouraged to wear business attire instead of tuxedoes and gowns.

Veteran newsman Walter Cronkite will make opening remarks, and tributes tovictims are planned.