The Paley Center Creates Televised Awards Show

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES: The Paley Center for Media has slated its first awards program for May 2012 in New York City, merging with its annual fundraising gala to create a single televised event.

In March, The Paley Center formed a television awards planning committee, comprised of leading executives in the worlds of television, advertising and new media. The committee is headed by Steve Mosko, the president of Sony Pictures Television; Tony Vinciquerra, the chairman and CEO of the Fox Networks Group; and Dick Lippin, the chairman and chief executive of the Lippin Group.

“We believe the awards committee has made significant progress in identifying the ways to achieve our objectives, and we will continue to carefully refine our plans to leverage those assets as we further define the nominations process, voting, judging and award categories in the months ahead,” said Pat Mitchell, the president and CEO of the organization.

Frank A. Bennack, Jr., the chairman of The Paley Center, added, “The Paley Center has considerable curatorial expertise and occupies a unique position at the intersection between the industry and the viewing public. Our goal is to put our own distinctive stamp on honoring the great work being done by so many in the media community.”

Mosko also noted: “We have already received considerable interest from television networks and advertisers, and now that we have announced the time and location of our first show we will begin right away to translate this interest into substantive discussions.”

The May date in New York was selected to coincide with the upfront presentations. “The networks, advertisers and much of the top talent will already be in New York at that time and this venue should make it easier for top talent and industry leaders to participate in the show,” Vinciquerra added.