Echostar held the 6th Annual Interactive TV Awards last week in Englewood, Colorado, and my project CNN Enhanced (nominated previously for two Emmys) won for ‘Best ITV News Program.’ Echostar – which runs the DISH Network service – offers over 40 virtual and enhanced channels, including entertainment, news, shopping, sports, user support and games.
Well, it’s deja vu all over again, folks! CNN Enhanced on Echostar (launch, interview) has 
been announced as an Emmy Finalist for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Non-Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content, this time by the National Television Academy. As those regular readers of this blog are aware, this project I spent over a year of my life managing was also nominated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for that bodies’ similar award for interactive television over the summer. Sadly (for me anyway), the award went to TiVO. But hey, at least I can say I’m a ‘two-time Emmy nominee,’ no? And maybe, just maybe, the judges will see just how spiffy our application is and give it the nod. ‘twoud be nice, indeed. And as they say, the nominees are:
The awards will be presented at the opening evening event of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday, January 8, 2007. You’ll note that we’re up against the Sopranos this time, as well as some friends over at BIAP. May the best app win!
Although it was an honor to be an Emmy finalist, the CNN interactive television project I led for Dish Network called CNN Enhanced lost out to the entry from TiVo. Having never won an Emmy, Tivo was announced as the 2006 Emmy Award for outstanding achievement in enhanced television programming. This year’s Interactive Television Emmy Awards recognize original interactive television programming content, applications and services that have been deployed in the United States between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006 and that have demonstrated creative excellence.
Other finalists include AOL Music on Demand and DirecTV Interactive Sports. The awards will be presented at the Creative Arts Awards Ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, August 19.
And while I won’t be getting a statue, I did take home a nice certificate for our project. As a special bonus, I was able to meet both Julie Brown (of Earth Girls are Easy and many other flicks) who was attending the AFI event with Richard Cardran of ZeTools and Sharon Lawrence (of NYPD Blue fame) who was the lead on one of the AFI’s recent Digital Content Lab projects.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the groundbreaking business model shown by ABC was also honored in the new broadband category by the Academy. Their full-length, ad-supported video player (designed by the smart team at Schematic) was simple and elegant. There was also coverage on Engadget and Gizmodo – take a look there for more info.
Wow – I’m thrilled this morning to learn that one of the big projects I directed for roughly 18 months has been announced as a finalist for the 2005-06 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Television (exclusively reported Tuesday morning by [itvt]). 
CNN Enhanced on Echostar/Dish currently reaches over 11M households; I blogged the launch back in February, and the extensive interview by Interactive TV Today last month. Winners will reportedly be announced at the AFI event on July 26th, followed by the awards ceremony in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium on August 19th. Full list of nominees for the Award for Outstanding Achievement for Enhanced or Interactive Programming – Television:
The nominees for the Award for Outstanding Achievement for Enhanced or Interactive Programming – New Delivery Platforms are: