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Fifty 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 revealed
Monday morning that they have started “exploratory talks” on bringing the two sides together.
There’s no deadline set for the conclusion of the talks, but the boards of both TV academies have “voted overwhelmingly to evaluate what a unified Academy could make possible: a strong vision for the Academy’s 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,” they revealed in a joint press release.
Because of the talks, the Television Academy’s board will extend all current sitting Governors’ terms by one year “to ensure continuity in the deliberations.”
After a years long bi-coastal rift that split them into two in 1977 (NATAS and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences, which later rebranded as the Television Academy), the old TV academy’s New York and Los Angeles chapters decided that their differences were irreconcilable.
ATAS was formed after the TV org’s Hollywood chapter, which had grown in power as TV’s entertainment base shifted west, felt marginalized by the academy’s New York brass. The final straw came when the org’s 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.
The Academy’s Hollywood chapter sued, demanding — and eventually getting — 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’s International Council.
The rivals spent decades battling each other (including in court) over which has jurisdiction of the Emmy Awards. After Cannon’s death in 2001, talks to re-merge the two sides picked up — and came close to happening in 2005.
But then a new clash emerged. Things reached a boiling point in 2008, when NATAS tried to launch its own Broadband Emmys, 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.
A 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 — two leaders unencumbered by those past brawls. In 2020, with Variety they held the first joint interview between their leaders since the breakup.
And 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’s categories from the Primetime Emmys over to NATAS, which then combined them with the kids categories in the Daytime competition to create the Children’s & 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.
Then, 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.
Under 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 — Children’s Animation, Children’s Live Action, Daytime, and Documentary — were made identical. That means that members were automatically be enrolled in both organizations, and existing members of the TV Academy’s Children’s, Daytime, Documentary and Science & Technology peer groups retained those memberships while automatically becoming members of NATAS as well.
As for the current talks, representatives from both NATAS and the Television Academy issued a joint statement: “Television remains the most powerful medium we have to shape culture and prompt conversations that define us—no 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.”
