NATAS still aghast

By VARIETY STAFF

NEW YORK --- The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which lost an earlier bid to force its West Coast counterpart to drop the new Emmy category for TV commercials, is trying again.

NATAS said Wednesday it has requested a second arbitration panel to rule that the Hollywood-based Academy of TV Arts & Sciences should rescind the commercial Emmy awarded Sunday to Home Box Office and the BBDO Worldwide ad agency.

Last month, an arbitrator ruled against NATAS' claim that the commercial Emmy would "demean" the awards presentation; that decision allowed ATAS to proceed with naming a blurb winner at Sunday's non-televised creative arts presentation.

But NATAS, dissatisfied with the ruling, sought another loophole to exploit: It claims that because HBO's spot first ran during sports programming, which NATAS honors, ATAS has no right to award it an Emmy.

In a statement, NATAS said ATAS "brazenly" awarded HBO the Emmy for a spot it said first ran on Fox Broadcasting's weekend NFL coverage, and therefore "aggressively and improperly went beyond its jurisdiction."

In response, ATAS said the earlier ruling on commercial Emmys makes no mention of where a TV spot premiered, and states only that it is required to have aired between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. at some point during the eligibility period. ATAS said it was "shocked and dismayed" at NATAS' move, adding that "all of the issues on this question were thoroughly explored" during the earlier arbitration proceeding.

Despite NATAS' earlier claim that the commercial award "demeans" the Emmy, which is given for programming achievements, NATAS on Wednesday night in New York rewarded several non-programming achievements at its own news and docu Emmys, including promos, teases and opens.

And NATAS last month hosted an entire ceremony for public-service announcements, regardless of the daypart in which they had aired.

"This is one of those silly things that on the playground we call bad losers," said Sheila Manning, ATAS' governor for the commercials branch.

Asked about the controversy, a spokesman for BBDO, the winning spot's creator, said "we were delighted to win, and we hope we keep the Emmy, and we hope East meets West when it comes to the Emmy organization."