Entertainment

TV bigs plotting rival to Emmys

The Emmys could be facing some stiff competition.

The Paley Center has approached the networks about creating a new TV awards showcase.

The effort is being led by Sony Pictures Television president Steve Mosko, a former president of the TV Academy foundation.

According to Variety, the new awards show is an effort to curb the growing power of cable networks and their bulging awards shelves — and to counteract the eight-year, $52 million deal the four networks grudgingly inked with the TV Academy.

That deal is in its final year, and insiders say the networks are still angry over how it was handled.

“HBO went in and made a big offer the networks had to match,” says one source, alluding to HBO’s five-year, $50 million offer. “The current deal is an expensive deal — and it still lingers in everyone’s craw.”

The Paley Center, formerly known as the Museum of Television & Radio, has branches in New York and LA.

“We’re in very exploratory stages of setting up awards for excellence on TV, called The Paley Awards,” a Paley Center spokeswoman told The Post yesterday.

“We’re not envisioning it as competition for any other existing awards. That’s not part of our agenda.”

The Paley Awards would be akin to the Golden Globes, “more of a fun, upbeat, industry-insider event that’s really glamorous and really does honor the best shows,” says one insider.

“You look at the shows that win [Emmys] every year — they’re shows no one watches but that are creatively great, like ‘Mad Men.’ ”

One scenario under discussion is “hybrid” voting that would combine voting by viewers with input from industry types.