MUMBAI: The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Aftra) will give broadcaster ABC the 2005 American Scene Award for Television Entertainment Programming for its Micro-Mini Series concept. The award will be given at Aftra's convention of Friday 15 July.

TV's first scripted Micro-Mini Series is a joint effort of ABC and Touchstone Television, with the cooperation of the WGA, DGA, Aftra and other industry guilds and unions. The Micro-Minis which was an experiment last year were a series of interstitial short programmes that are integrated into ABC's primetime and late-night lineup.

They provided a unique entertainment experience and expanding the potential for television programming into a new arena. Each Micro-Mini programme was three minutes long. It played in three one-minute interstitial acts spread over the course of a single evening.

In this concept each of the three acts was thematically connected to the others, with a storyline that will track over the course of an evening. But individual acts stood alone as an entertainment experiences in and of themselves. The Micro-Minis come from all genres and are either comedic or dramatic in tone.

The Aftra award recognises work that portrays the diversity of the American scene in a realistic and balanced manner in their programming. This award is the highest honour that Aftra bestows on its industry partners. The "Micro-Mini Series aimed at giving participants in various ABC/Disney Talent Development programmes the opportunity to have original work produced and broadcast across the US.