CableACE Award
| CableACE Award | |
|---|---|
| Description | Cable television |
| Country | United States |
| First awarded | 1978 |
| Last awarded | 1997 |
The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming.[1][2][3][4]
History
The CableACE was created to serve as the cable industry's counterpart to broadcast television's Primetime Emmy Awards. Until the 40th ceremony in 1988, the Emmys refused to honor cable programming. For much of its existence, the ceremony aired in a simulcast of as many as twelve cable networks in some years. The last few years found the ceremony awarded solely to one network, usually Lifetime or TBS.
By 1997 however, the Emmys began to reach a tipping point, where cable programming had grown to hold much more critical acclaim over broadcast programming, and met an even parity, a position that would only hold for a short time before cable programming began to dominate the categories of the Primetime Emmys. With that, in April 1998, members of the NCTA chose to end the CableACEs.[5]
Judging
Professionals in the television industry were randomly selected to be judges. A Universal City hotel would be selected, where several rooms would be rented for the day. Individual rooms would be designated for each award category. Judges were discouraged from leaving the rooms at any time during the day-long judging. There were usually eight to 12 judges for each category. Depending on the submissions being presented, facilitators would play anywhere from 10 minutes per show – to the entire show – for the judges' award consideration. Judges would mark their ballots privately and were told to not discuss their selections with other judges. The awards standard tallying by a certified public accounting firm was done to keep the results of the ballot secret until the time of the announcement of the award's winner.
Ceremonies
References
- ^ MARGULIES, LEE (20 September 1995). "HBO Leads the Pack With 89 CableACE Nominations : Television: Nods for 'Larry Sanders,' 'Dream On' push network ahead of Showtime, which garners 36". Retrieved 10 August 2017 – via LA Times.
- ^ James, Caryn (17 November 1997). "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; An Awards Show Is Therapy for Cable's Complex". Retrieved 10 August 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "Television". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
- ^ The Associated Press (12 August 2001). "Alan Rafkin, 73, a Top Director Of Popular Television Comedies". Retrieved 10 August 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "Cable Industry's Success Kills Cableace Awards". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
