MUMBAI: The 65th Primetime Emmys telecast is still more than a month away but plans already are afoot for next year's show.

According to media reports the 66th Primetime Emmys will be broadcast not in September, as in most years, but rather in late August 2014 to avoid a conflict with NBC's Sunday Night Football. According to sources the TV Academy has fixed 24 August for the awards.

The move is not a surprise. Each of the big four broadcast networks - ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC - get to air the Emmys once every four years. Next year is NBC's turn, and the network has scheduled the show in August each of the last two times it hosted. (NBC aired the Emmys on Aug. 27, 2006 and Aug. 29, 2010; every other Emmys ceremony since 2002 has aired in Sept.)

The reason for NBC's preference for earlier air-dates is that, in 2006, the network acquired rights to air Sunday Night Football, and it does not want to have to pick between the two ratings magnets (the NFL season always kicks off in early Sept.). During the 2012-2013 season, SNF was the highest-rated, most-watched show on TV, according to Nielsen.