MUMBAI: This initiative is a first in the history of television. US media conglomerate Viacom's cable network Showtime Networks will target all voting members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Atas).

With an eye on the Emmy awards the company is doing an early For Your Consideration mailing of the entire first season of the new drama Huff.. Voters will receive all 13 episodes of the series' first season which finished on 30 January.

The show deals with Dr. Craig "Huff" Huffstodt, portrayed by four-time Emmy Award-winner Hank Azaria. He is a family man and a successful psychiatrist who gets a wake-up call after a tragedy occurs with one of his patients. The network mailed out a specially designed DVD package to Atas members

Television networks traditionally send two to four episodes of a series to Atas members as part of their Emmy awards campaign. This is the first time an entire season of a series will arrive in voters' mailboxes months before the Emmy derby begins.

Showtime's logic is that instead of inundating members in May and June it would be better to let them spend the next four months savouring Huff.