By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) --Starz network has found an avid audience targeting what its boss regards as "underserved" viewers like women and African-Americans with high-quality series.
But much to Chris Albrecht's exasperation, Emmy doesn't notice.
"I was part of the team that invented how to campaign for Emmy awards," the Starz CEO told TV writers Monday at the Television Critics Association meeting. "Trust me, it's not a level playing field. I spent years inside the TV Academy, working it. It took a lot of money, and there's a certain momentum that goes along with that."
Starz, which has won audiences and critical acclaim for such series as "Outlander," ''Power" and "Ash vs. Evil Dead," routinely gets the cold shoulder from the Television Academy.
It is happening again this year. Starz' only 2016 Emmy nods amount to four technical nominations.
"We couldn't be more proud of the work that is being done by the people on these shows," said Albrecht. "They are award-worthy. Whether it's an Emmy award or not is not the point."
Albrecht thinks it's the Television Academy that's missing the point, failing to recognize what he called "an unprecedented time in our industry" with an explosion of deserving programs and mushrooming numbers of channels.
The Academy, he said, "should be finding a way to platform the diversity, to have something that reflects this expansion, and not have what is continually, by these sheer numbers, something that ends up with a longer list of losers and the same number of winners.
"I don't worry about that," he insisted. "I know my staff worries about it. I know the people who work on these shows like to see their names included with the names of their peers (at award time)."
And sooner or later, there will be a Starz show that breaks through and scores Emmy love, Albrecht predicted. "You won't know which one it is, and all of a sudden it will be the one."
But there won't be a better reason for that show's reception than there would have been for "Outlander" or "Power" or "Survivor's Remorse," he declared: "It'll just be a reason.
"This is all, this is all," he summed up haltingly, trying to find an acceptable way to sum up how he sees Emmy's snubs – "silly."
Amazon reports boost in quarterly profits, exceeds revenue estimates as it invests in AI
Amazon reported a boost in its quarterly profits Thursday and exceeded revenue estimates, sending the company's stock up in after-hours trading.
For the three months that ended on Sept. 30, the Seattle-based tech giant posted a revenue of $158.9 billion, higher than the $157.28 billion analysts had expected.
Amazon said it earned $15.3 billion, higher than the $12.21 billion industry analysts surveyed by FactSet had anticipated. Amazon earned $9.9 billion during the same period last year. Earnings per share were $1.43, higher than analysts' expectations of $1.14.
Net sales increased 11% compared with the third quarter of 2023, Amazon said.
Thursday's report offers a last look at Amazon's business before the start of the holiday shopping season, the busiest time of year for the retail industry.
"As we get into the holiday season, we're excited about what we have in store for customers," said Andy Jassy, Amazon's president and CEO. "We kicked off the holiday season with our biggest-ever Prime Big Deal Days and the launch of an all-new Kindle lineup that is significantly outperforming our expectations; and there's so much more coming."
The company said it expects revenue for the fourth quarter to be between $181.5 billion and $188.5 billion, compared with the $186.29 billion forecast by analysts.
The better-than-expected earnings come after Amazon missed revenue estimates last quarter,.
Amazon reported its core online retail business pulled in $61.41 billion in revenue this in the third quarter. Those figures include sales from the company's popular Prime Day shopping event held in July. Though Amazon does not disclose how much revenue comes from the 48-hour shopping bonanza, it said this year's event resulted... Read More