Fifty years after the TV Academy split into two rival organizations based in Los Angeles and New York, the two sides are looking to reunite. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and the Television Academy announced on Monday morning that they had begun “exploratory discussions” to bring the two sides together.
Although no deadline has been set for the end of the talks, the boards of the two television academies “voted overwhelmingly to appreciate what a combined Academy would enable: a stronger vision for the Academy’s future, more effective thought leadership for the industry, broader services and support for members across the country, and new momentum and opportunities across the national Emmy competition,” a joint press release said.
Following this meeting, the Television Academy Board of Directors plans to extend the terms of office of all current governors by one year “to ensure continuity of deliberations.”
After years of rifts between the two countries, the New York and Los Angeles branches of the former Television Academy decided their differences were irreconcilable and split in two in 1977 (NATAS and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, later renamed the Television Academy).
ATAS was formed in response to the feeling that the Hollywood branch of the television organization, which had grown in power as the entertainment hub of television shifted westward, was being marginalized by the Academy’s New York upper echelons. The final crisis occurred when the organization’s non-Hollywood members (including chapters in New York and across the country) banded together to name former New York chapter president John Cannon as the new president of the Television Academy.
The Academy’s Hollywood branch demanded a divorce and eventually filed a lawsuit seeking a divorce. As part of the settlement, the Primetime Emmy Awards (as well as the Los Angeles regional branch) were awarded to ATAS, which was newly formed as a result of the divorce, while NATAS assumed the daytime, news, public service and sports awards, as well as oversight of 18 regional Academy branches (excluding LA) and the organization’s International Council.
The rivals have been fighting each other (including in court) for decades, vying for jurisdiction over the Emmy Awards. After Mr. Cannon’s death in 2001, negotiations between the two companies progressed, and in 2005 they were close to realizing the merger.
But then new conflicts broke out. Things reached a boiling point in 2008 when NATAS tried to launch its own Broadband Emmy Awards and the TV Academy balked. A New York judge ultimately ruled in favor of the Los Angeles academy, but relations have since cooled and remained frosty.
In the late 2010s, at the instigation of Maury McIntyre, president and chief operating officer of the Television Academy, and Adam Sharp, president and CEO of NATAS, a thaw finally began to begin. The two leaders were untroubled by past scuffles. In 2020, the leaders held a joint interview with variety magazine for the first time since their disbandment.
And in recent years, the two have worked closely to realign the awards to coincide with the various Emmy ceremonies. For example, the LA TV Academy sends all children’s categories of the Primetime Emmy Awards to NATAS, which combines them with the children’s categories of daytime competitions to create the Children & Family Emmy Awards. Conversely, NATAS moved the Daytime Emmy Game Show category to Los Angeles, allowing gamers to attend the primetime ceremony regardless of time slot.
And in 2024, most members of the Los Angeles-based Television Academy will also automatically become members of the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Under a partnership between the two (formerly feuding, now friendly) Television Academies, the qualifications required for membership in the peer groups that exist in both organizations (Children’s Animation, Children’s Live Action, Daytime, Documentary) are now identical. This meant that members were automatically enrolled in both organizations, and existing members of the TV Academy’s Children’s, Daytime, Documentary, and Science & Technology peer groups automatically became members of NATAS while maintaining their membership.
Regarding the current discussions, representatives from NATAS and the Television Academy released a joint statement saying, “No matter the size of the screen, television remains the most powerful medium for shaping culture and driving the conversations that define us. With the business of television undergoing such profound transformation, now is the perfect time to explore reuniting the Academy, giving our members and industry a bolder voice to champion the Academy and a strong partner to navigate the future with them.”
