Los Angeles, Aug 28 (IANS): The 26th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards will take place on January 26, 2020, a date thats two week ahead of the Academy Awards.

The SAG Awards made the announcement Monday afternoon after news broke that the Producers Guild of America will claim January 18, 2020, as the date for its 31st annual Producers Guild Awards, reports variety.com.

The guild awards announcements came less than three weeks after leaders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences moved the 2020 Oscars forward two weeks to February 9.

Variety reported on August 8 that the AMPAS announcement - which included the creation of a controversial best popular film category and limiting the telecast to three hours - came in response to declining ratings and concerns that viewers had become fatigued by the ever-increasing number of televised awards shows.

The SAG Awards took place on January 21 this year. It announced in February that it had staked out January 27, 2019, for its next show. Nominations will be announced on December 12.

The awards are selected by members of SAG-AFTRA, which numbered 121,544 eligible voters this year. This year's ceremony featured its first-ever host, Kristen Bell.