LOS ANGELES, Sept 23 — Merritt Wever won an Emmy for her supporting role in Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” the first major award handed out by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

This is the first Emmy for Wever, who plays the character Zoey Barkow, according to the academy, which is presenting the 65th prime-time awards ceremony live on CBS Corp’s broadcast network from the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Neil Patrick Harris, a star on CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother,” is the show’s host.

The show also marks the first time an Internet service has vied for a prime-time Emmy. Netflix Inc is trying to become the first to win with “House of Cards,” a political thriller featuring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. The show grabbed nine nominations, including best drama and nods for the actors. The company is challenging TV much as a young cable industry did years ago when Time Warner Inc.’s HBO, today’s leader with 108 nominations, began making its own shows.

Spacey is competing for best dramatic actor with Hugh Bonneville, who plays the patriarch Earl of Grantham in UK nobility series “Downton Abbey” airing on PBS in the US Bryan Cranston was nominated for his portrayal of drug kingpin Walter White in “Breaking Bad” on AMC, along with Jeff Daniels as a TV anchor in HBO’s “The Newsroom,” Jon Hamm as adman Don Draper in “Mad Men” and Damian Lewis, a former Marine turned terrorist in “Homeland” on CBS’s Showtime.

Wright, who plays Spacey’s wife on “House of Cards,” will vie for best actress in drama with Claire Danes, an intelligence officer from “Homeland,” Elisabeth Moss, a copywriter in AMC’s “Mad Men,” Connie Britton, a country music star in ABC’s “Nashville,” Kerry Washington in the political series “Scandal” on ABC, and Vera Farmiga from A&E’s thriller series “Bates Motel.”

Annual showcase

Airing at the start of the TV season, the Emmy telecast showcases programmes most admired by the industry and promotes returning hits. Tonight’s show is vying for viewers with NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” match-up between the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers. Last year’s telecast, also up against a game, drew 13.2 million viewers, to come in second.

In the comedy category, ABC’s “Modern Family” is looking to collect the show’s fourth-straight win. The series is up against CBS’s “Big Bang Theory,” “Girls” on HBO, “Louie” on Fox’s FX, “30 Rock” on NBC and “Veep” on HBO. — Bloomberg