After a 50-Year Split, Los Angeles’ TV Academy and New York’s National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences in Talks to Re-Merge

By Michael Schneider

Michael Schneider

Variety Editor at Large

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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.

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