HBO sweeps the boards at the Emmy Awards (Photo : REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON)
Cable network HBO has dominated the weekend's Emmy Awards with awards for "Veep" and "Game of Thrones." The network has demonstrated its capability of withstanding challenges posed by digital upstarts that have created a buzz in traditional Hollywood.
The "Game Of Throne" fantasy saga won the best drama series for the first time in the show's run of six seasons. The show beat stiff competition from nine rivals including the popular "Mad Men." The HBO series also beat the record-holder, "The West Wing" series, which won nine awards in 2000, according to the Guardian.
The show was the highest award earner taking home 12 awards out of its 24 nominations, the most to be won by any show in a year. Topping the networks Time Warner's HBO channel outdid streaming rivals in bid to take home more than 40 awards.
The award was the first time that at cable network in 13-years took home accolades in both the comedy and drama categories, according to Reuters.
A surprising entrant to the high profile awards was online retailer Amazon for laying claim to five Emmy awards including "Transparent" a transgender series where the best actor award for the show was taken home by Jeffrey Tabor.
In addition, Netflix, pioneers in the streaming genre earned for themselves Emmy wins when young actress Uzo Aduba was named winner of the best supporting actress for a drama role for her role as "Crazy Eyes" in "Orange Is The New Black" prison series.
In terms of TV viewership an Emmy win for a show on a network can support leaps in viewership, thereby increasing advertising revenue earned by the channels that depend on commercials to draw profits.
At the same time cable channels that require subscriber revenues an Emmy nod has the tremendous power to draw in new customers.
