Netflix, 'House of Cards' trump traditional media on Emmy nominations

Netflix, ‘House of Cards’ trump traditional media on Emmy nominations

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Running the gantlet. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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The great escape. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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In force. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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The promised land. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Hooray for Hollywood? (David Horsey/Los Angeles Times)

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Director Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf of Wall Street” presents filthy greed and wretched excess in a way that seems to excite moviegoers. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Heading into the Super Bowl, big mouth Richard Sherman may be the most famous, or infamous, football player in America. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Two women in the news this week -- Katie Couric and Miley Cyrus. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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The A&E cable network may have laid an egg over its “Duck Dynasty” controversy. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Gunplay in PG-13 movies has tripled since 1985, a study shows. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Netflix has been making further strides into mainstream Hollywood, irritating TV networks and theater owners with talk about changing the rules of the movie and TV distribution game. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Now that Charlie Hunnam has dropped out, the race is on to find a male lead for “Fifty Shades of Grey.” (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Should there be a special line of undergarments to prevent awards show slip-ups? (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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The celebrated Kardashian glam-fam is in the news again, this time over a holiday card shot by celebrity photographer David LaChapelle. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is the host and star of his own reality show, blurring the lines separating politics, journalism and entertainment. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Neither right nor left, the CNN viewer is more interested in national disasters than national affairs. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Sandra Bullock could be experiencing the weightlessness of Oscar. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Horsey on Hollywood: Summer blockbusters (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Horsey on Hollywood: Comic-Con (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

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Movie moguls and their lawyers are fighting about who owns what parts of the movie rights to J.R.R. Tolkein’s timeless novels. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

By David Horsey

July 31, 2013 5:05 AM PT

Anyone who has recently been in a college dorm room or the home of a twentysomething may have noticed there is something missing: a television. More and more young people are accessing TV content on their computers, iPads or cellphones.

Somebody is going to profit from this and, right now, Netflix seems well positioned to be the chosen one.

Having entered the high-stakes business of creating original entertainment programs, Netflix has been rewarded with 14 Emmy nominations this year. The reborn “Arrested Development” got three nods in the comedy category. Nine nominations went to the darkly cynical but wonderfully acted political series “House of Cards.” Lead actor Kevin Spacey has been nominated for outstanding lead dramatic actor, his costar, Robin Wright, is up for outstanding actress in a drama, and the show itself is contending for best drama series.

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There are skeptics who say the Emmys are no predictor of business success. Wall Street is holding back from investing in Netflix, in part because Netflix will not reveal just how big -- or tiny -- the audience is for their original shows. The broadcast networks look at this upstart rival in the entertainment game and remind the world that they still have plenty of Emmy nominations, plus many of Nielsen’s top-rated shows. The cable companies feel just fine in their position with a big share of the most honored series coming through their pipeline, especially from HBO.

But in the latest issue of Time magazine, Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Inc., a Silicon Valley tech industry analysis firm, says Netflix is proving itself to be the new HBO.

“Regardless of whether ‘House of Cards’ or ‘Arrested Development’ actually win any Emmys, Netflix has already become a winner at this year’s show by nature of this giant endorsement of its labors and vindication that its bet on creating original programming panned out,” Bajarin says. “This nod from Hollywood allows Netflix to play with the big guns in the cable world and, more importantly, cements its position as the industry leader in providing OTA (over the air) services that will eventually change the way most of us receive our TV and video content in the future.”

Just see how the twentysomethings are getting their TV and it is obvious change is well on the way.

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