EMMY SHOW RATINGS DIP IN TOUGH TV SLOT.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ Staff Writer

Airing against stiffer competition than usual, ratings for Sunday's Emmy Awards telecast were down 15 percent from last year, NBC confirmed Monday.

The total number of viewers who watched at least part of the awards was 35.2 million, while the average minute of the three-hour telecast had 16.1 million viewers.

But the kudofest did finish stronger than it did in 2004 when the Emmys suffered their second-lowest ratings ever.

Among the factors working against the ratings was the late August airdate and having to compete with formidable competition from the other broadcast networks. They historically have given wide berth to the Emmys by not counterprogramming.

``Given the competition and the August airdate, we're impressed with the performance of the Emmy telecast,'' an NBC spokesman said. ``The numbers suggest there continues to be a great deal of interest in this event and that the academy and (host) Conan (O'Brien) put together a terrific telecast.''

ABC aired ``Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl'' opposite the award show and the movie scored the highest ratings of any network movie since the Dec. 26, 2004, broadcast of ``Ocean's Eleven.'' CBS also earned solid ratings for an original episode of ``Big Brother 7'' while HBO aired the series finale of ``Deadwood.''

ABC had given the telecast a free ride last year with a screening of ``Pearl Harbor'' when the Emmys aired on CBS. But, perhaps piqued over the lack of nominations for its hit shows ``Lost'' and ``Desperate Housewives,'' which took home top honors last year, ABC pounced.

Another reason for the overall audience erosion could be due to the plethora of shows now airing on cable.

``As television gets more and more fragmented, it's going to be harder and harder to get people interested in the Emmys,'' said Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University. ``Before cable kicked in, you had all these shows that everyone was seeing, so when the Emmys came out, you knew all the nominees and the winners.''

While best drama series and best dramatic actor winners ``24'' airs on Fox and best comedy series ``Office'' is on NBC, many of the winners were from cable such as the HBO miniseries ``Elizabeth I,'' which had nine wins. Overall, HBO won 26 Emmys followed by NBC (14), ABC (11), FOX (10) and CBS (9).

The four biggest broadcast networks, after a bidding war with HBO, agreed in 2002 to pay $52 million to rotate the Emmys through 2010.

In addition to lower ratings, NBC also found itself under fire for an Emmy skit that included a mock plane crash on the same day as a fatal jetliner crash in Kentucky that killed 49 people.

The opening filmed segment of the show had host O'Brien boarding a private plane on his way to Los Angeles. O'Brien said he wasn't nervous about his hosting duties asking, ``What could possibly go wrong?'' At that point, the plane crashes and the host is stranded on an island looking much like the one on ABC's ``Lost.''

In a statement released Monday, NBC said ``the timing was unfortunate and and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused.''

``Our hearts and prayers go out to the many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday and to the entire community that has suffered this terrible loss,'' the network added. ``In no way would we ever want to make light of this terrible tragedy.

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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