Los Angeles' Television Academy and New York's National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) have begun exploratory talks about reuniting, 50 years after they split into rival organisations. The two bodies announced on Monday that their boards had voted overwhelmingly to explore what a unified academy could achieve, citing potential benefits such as a clearer shared vision, stronger industry leadership, and improved support for members across the country. No deadline has been set for the discussions to conclude.

The academies divided in 1977 after tensions between the Hollywood-based chapter and the New York leadership boiled over, leading to a lawsuit and settlement that handed the Primetime Emmys to the newly formed Los Angeles-based ATAS (later renamed the Television Academy), while NATAS retained the daytime, news, sports and public service Emmys along with oversight of regional chapters. Decades of legal disputes followed, including a 2008 clash over NATAS's attempt to launch its own Broadband Emmys, before relations gradually thawed in the late 2010s under newer leadership. The Television Academy's board has now extended all sitting governors' terms by a year to allow continuity during the merger discussions.