New media will get Emmy of their own

The New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will announce today that it is creating an award for Outstanding Achievement in Content for Non-Traditional Delivery Platforms -- and the first one will be handed out at the 33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on April 28, airing on ABC.

It will be the first time that content produced for new platforms will be honored with the traditional television award -- a sign of how rapidly the media landscape is changing and the revolution in TV presentation and programming that the industry is just starting to comprehend.

The award will recognize excellence in entertainment programming created specifically for viewing online or via cellphone, Ipod or video-on-demand. (In other words, no repackaged episodes of "Desperate Housewives.")

Peter Price, president of the television academy, said the organization decided to create the new category after watching the speed with which content has been migrating to new platforms.

"The timeline of going from our analog world to the digital world has collapsed into months rather than years," Price said. "The question is, 'How do we as an academy respond to that?' "

Independent content producers welcomed the announcement, calling it a sign of how the industry is embracing the new technology.

"Mobile media has arrived -- in a limo," said Frank Chindamo, president of Fun Little Movies, a Los Angeles-based company that produces comedic sketches for mobile phone viewing.

"The real question is, 'How is the public going to take to this?' " he added, saying that a relatively small number of consumers have video-enabled devices.

The Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, an affiliated organization that presents the general Emmy Awards for prime-time programming, has not decided whether to incorporate a new media category into its fall awards ceremony.

But the national academy, which presents the awards for news, documentaries, business, sports and daytime programs, decided to launch a category on its own.