EXPENSIVE NO-SHOW MILLIONS LOST IF EMMYS NOT AIRED.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - As the financial toll from the cancellation of Sunday's Emmys ceremony mounts, the TV academy and CBS have struggled to find a way to present the 2001 awards on the air and recoup some of those losses.

After two postponements, it has been suggested that the telecast of the 53rd annual Emmys presentations be dropped this year. The original broadcast was set for Sept. 16 but was moved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The rescheduled date was Sunday but just hours before the revised show was to be broadcast live, it was again canceled due to the retaliatory bombing of Afghanistan.

But the show must go on: There are tens of millions of dollars at stake.

CBS President Leslie Moonves appears intent on carrying some type of Emmy program on his network this fall, and has been meeting with academy officials and programming executives toward that end. CBS already had paid most of its $3.5 million rights fee long before the ceremony's original airdate.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences executive board was expected to meet Thursday to discuss how and when to present statuettes in 27 categories. The winners' names remain under seal at the offices of Ernst & Young.

Academy publicist Jennifer Price said organizers are looking at Nov. 11 and Nov. 18 as possible new airdates, although she emphasized that no dates have been set.

A military base is among the new locations being proposed for the ceremony, show sources told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Among the many plans under consideration is onethat would turn the TV ceremony into entertainment for troops at a California military base, the sources said. It was unclear whether military cooperation had been sought yet.

Sources say CBS had spent about $4 million for the first Don Mischer production and the revised, understated one that was to have aired Sunday. The network and its affiliates also will have to answer to advertisers who paid premium rates for the Emmys special, only to have their spots run in ``60 Minutes'' or ``Everybody Loves Raymond.''

And the books surely would bleed red ink at the North Hollywood-based TV academy without some sort of awards show. The nonprofit organization relies on Emmys-related income for a large portion of its annual operations, including its lease, its payroll for about 50 staff members, its bimonthly Emmy magazine, and various education, restoration, archive and industry service programs.

``It's huge. They live off of it,'' one source close to the academy said of the Emmys income.

The academy, in fact, had been hoping for strong ratings this year to improve its position in upcoming TV rights negotiations as the current four-year network rotation pact expires in 2002. The Emmys' U.S. audience generally is smaller than the Oscars' by about 20 percent, but they are miles apart in their income. The Emmys mean about $3 million a year to the TV academy, while the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences reaps nearly $50 million from the Oscars.

In addition to American television rights payments from the rotating networks - ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC - the academy takes in an additional $2 million or so from broadcast rights in nearly 100 nations, the source said. Those countries probably will demand refunds if there is no 2001 show.

The TV academy also earns income from ads in its glossy Emmy program, distributed this year only at the less-noticed Creative Arts ceremony Sept. 8.

``There's a huge hunk of a bath they would take from the tickets, too,'' one source said, estimating that a package of an orchestra seat at the Shrine and a desirable table at the post-ceremony ``unity dinner'' went for $600-$1,000. ``There is some speculation people would ask for refunds.''

``It's going to be a tough year for us,'' said Bryce Zabel, who was installed just last week as the academy's chairman and CEO. ``And the impact at this point cannot be accurately measured.''

The amount already spent is vast, with crew wages and set materials, Shrine Auditorium rental for two rehearsal periods and show dates, security costs and caterers and florists with huge tabs. Sequoia Productions, which coordinated the unity dinner, employed or supervised 850 people on that job alone.

On Sunday, Patina Catering of Burbank dispatched some 2,500 dinners of lobster salad, beef fillet and Italian layer cake to area missions after the ceremony's cancellation. Stephanie Edens, Patina's catering director, would not say whether the academy would be billed for the meals.

In an Oct. 2 news conference, Zabel indicated there are ``insurance issues'' that apply to event cancellations, but details were not available.

The ripple extends to businesses and individuals who lost money because of their exclusion from the Emmys aura. Dress designers who donate custom couture to stars in exchange for valuable red-carpet publicity have lost potentially millions in sales and are likely to feel the pinch until awards shows gear up again in January. Limo companies have felt the loss, as have waiters and bartenders hired by the job.

Staff Writers Barbara DeWitt and Natalie Haughton contributed to this report.

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Photo:

(color) Stage technicians bring down an Emmy statue from the show that never was. Producers of the 2001 Emmy Awards are still hoping to recoup some of their losses.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer