While Mike Smith’s American Indian Film Institute in San Francisco believes it to be the first to broadcast an American Indian awards show, Red Nation Film Festival’s, RNCI Red Nation Awards did just that at its November 2013 Red Nation Film Festival, partnering with Comcast | NBCUniversal, the largest cable company in the country.

RNCI Red Nation Awards® went live for the first time since its inception in 1995. With the first televised broadcast of the first American Indian Awards Show, making it a ground breaking historic event in partnership with Comcast | NBCUniversal, reaching 19 million homes across the country (except Los Angeles) and still is available via Red Nation Internet Television Channel – Native is Here (RNTV), reaching 10 million viewers in 37 countries in November 2013. It was the first time that an American Indian Awards Show was televised on mainstream media. In addition, Comcast and Red Nation aired segments of RNCI Red Nation Awards On the Red is Green Carpet™, Red Nation FilmLab Conversation Series™ and 10 native films from the Festival.