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The NAACP Image Awards is returning to NBC after a 16-year run on Fox.
The 43rd edition of the annual event will air Feb. 17 as a two-hour primetime event. The special marks the first time the kudocast has been on NBC since 1995. The Image Awards wasn’t much of a ratings performer for Fox. Last year, it finished fourth among the Big Four on a Friday, Feb. 25 airdate, with 2.3 million total viewers. Nominations will be announced Jan. 19 honoring people of color in film, music and TV. Vicangelo Films will produce the event. “NBC is honored to fully partner with the NAACP in a greater effort to celebrate the many deserving diverse artists who have entertained and influenced us in the past year,” said Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment. “We are happy to be coming home to NBC this year,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. NBC aired the Image Awards for nine years beginning in 1986 on tape delay. Fox’s first live broadcast came in 2007. Image Awards, which were launched in 1967, were first televised in 1974.
