Now the TV broadcast networks are getting as savvy about Emmy campaigning as the cable channels.

Starting the week of August 20, ABC-TV will air the actual episodes of nominated series that are currently being evaluated by Emmy judges.

Cable networks like HBO, Showtime and FX have employed similar programming ploys in the past, but usually during the nomination voting stage, not the final round when winners are decided.

HBO, for example, often launched new episodes of "Sex and the City" (winner, comedy series, 2001) in June, just as the TV academy voted on the previous season. This year most episodes of the last season of "The Sopranos" conveniently coincided with the final days of voting eligibility. The last few episodes dangled into the next few weeks when nomination ballots were being filled out. The notorious final episode of the celebrated mob series landed on June 10 — smack-dab at peak voting time.

Decades ago PBS was famous for re-running miniseries during nomination voting time, often with spectacularly successful results. On occasion the other broadcast networks reaped big rewards for showing repeats of Emmy-worthy made-for-TV movies too, but those were isolated individual cases, not a large programming scheme.