{"id":570661,"date":"2026-07-27T16:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/570661\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T16:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:35:08","slug":"new-york-and-la-tv-academies-in-talks-to-re-merge-after-50-year-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/570661\/","title":{"rendered":"New York and LA TV Academies in Talks to Re-Merge After 50 Year Split"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFifty years after the TV Academy broke into two, rival Los Angeles- and New York-based organizations, the two sides are exploring a re-merger. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) and the Television Academy<\/a> revealed Monday morning that they have started \u201cexploratory talks\u201d on bringing the two sides together.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s no deadline set for the conclusion of the talks, but the boards of both TV academies have \u201cvoted overwhelmingly to evaluate what a unified Academy could make possible: a strong vision for the Academy\u2019s future, more effective thought leadership for the industry, broader service and support for members coast-to-coast, and new momentum and opportunities across the full complement of national Emmy competitions,\u201d they revealed in a joint press release.<\/p>\n

\n\tBecause of the talks, the Television Academy\u2019s board will extend all current sitting Governors\u2019 terms by one year \u201cto ensure continuity in the deliberations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a years long bi-coastal rift, the old TV academy\u2019s New York and Los Angeles chapters decided that their differences were irreconcilable and were split into two in 1977 (NATAS and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences, which later rebranded as the Television Academy).<\/p>\n

\n\tATAS was formed after the TV org\u2019s Hollywood chapter, which had grown in power as TV\u2019s entertainment base shifted west, felt marginalized by the academy\u2019s New York brass. The final straw came when the org\u2019s non-Hollywood members (including New York and chapters across the country) banded together and named former New York chapter prexy John Cannon as the new TV academy president.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Academy\u2019s Hollywood chapter sued, demanding \u2014 and eventually getting \u2014 a divorce. As part of the settlement, the newly formed ATAS was handed the Primetime Emmy Awards (and the Los Angeles local chapter) in the divorce, while NATAS took on the daytime, news, public service and sports awards, as well as oversight of 18 regional academy chapters (except LA) and the org\u2019s International Council. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe rivals spent decades battling each other (including in court) over which has jurisdiction of the Emmy Awards. After Cannon\u2019s death in 2001, talks to re-merge the two sides picked up \u2014 and came close to happening in 2005.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut then a new clash emerged<\/a>. Things reached a boiling point in 2008, when NATAS\u00a0tried to launch its own Broadband Emmys<\/a>, and the TV Academy balked. A New York judge ultimately ruled in favor of the Los Angeles academy, and after that, the relationship remained icy but chill.<\/p>\n

\n\tA thaw finally began to happen in the late 2010s, instigated by Television Academy president-chief operating officer Maury McIntyre and NATAS president-CEO Adam Sharp \u2014 two leaders unencumbered by those past brawls. In 2020, with Variety they held the first joint interview<\/a> between their leaders since the breakup.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd in recent years, the two sides have worked closely closely as they realign awards to better fit the different Emmy ceremonies. For example, the L.A. TV Academy sent all of its children\u2019s categories from the Primetime Emmys\u00a0over to NATAS, which then combined them with the kids categories in the Daytime competition to create the Children\u2019s & Family Emmys. On the flip side, NATAS sent its Daytime Emmy game show categories over to Los Angeles, where gamers are now a part of the Primetime ceremony, regardless of time slot.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen, in 2024, a large chunk of the Los Angeles-based Television Academy members were automatically made members of the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences as well<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnder a partnership between the two (formerly warring, but now friendly) TV academies, the qualifications required for membership in the peer groups that exist in both organizations \u2014 Children\u2019s Animation, Children\u2019s Live Action, Daytime, and Documentary \u2014 were made identical. That means that members were automatically be enrolled in both organizations, and existing members of the TV Academy\u2019s Children\u2019s, Daytime, Documentary and Science & Technology peer groups retained those memberships while automatically becoming members of NATAS as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the current talks, representatives from both NATAS and the Television Academy issued a joint statement: \u201cTelevision remains the most powerful medium we have to shape culture and prompt conversations that define us\u2014no matter the size of the screen. With the business of television undergoing such a monumental transformation, this is the right moment to explore a reunification of our Academies, providing our members and our industry with a bolder voice advocating for them and a stronger partner to navigate the future with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifty years after the TV Academy broke into two, rival Los Angeles- and New York-based organizations, the two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[9960,93,61,60,240705,207199,282],"class_list":["post-570661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-emmys","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-national-academy-of-television-arts-sciences","tag-television-academy","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}