About a month ago, the Television Academy’s Board of Governors spent a weekend together at our annual retreat. As I looked around at the people huddled alongside me during our working sessions, I felt re-energized. More than ever, this year’s leadership class is comprised of professionals currently working at the top of their game and in the prime of their careers, yet they are willing to spend countless extracurricular hours striving for the betterment of our industry and its future.
They include UTA partner Jacob Fenton as vice chair and second vice chair Jo DiSante, who is vice president of cross-platform collaboration at ABC Entertainment, Hulu and Freeform, among our elected officers, as well as a true murderers’ row of chair’s appointees for 2026. I am so grateful to these five industry leaders for answering the call to help shape the direction of our organization: three-time Emmy-winning actress Uzo Aduba, Apple TV head of programming Matt Cherniss, Netflix UCAN head of scripted series Jinny Howe, ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks president Debra OConnell and Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade.
One key topic of discussion at the retreat was philosophical, and perhaps existential: What constitutes television, and can the Academy extend its reach to encompass all the content under that growing umbrella? At present, primetime, daytime, news, sports, children’s, regional and international programming are split among three separate sister organizations, and even with so many awards bodies, none offers an authoritative destination for the type of new-media content proliferating on digital platforms like YouTube. This is undoubtedly a controversial debate, one that many members may be reluctant even to engage in, but as Academy leaders, we have a responsibility not to ignore it.
In the post-streaming era, we have seen the disastrous ramifications of taking a “wait and see” approach in the face of inevitable technological upheaval and shifting audience habits. The up-and-coming generations are platform agnostic, and the metrics could not be more clear: YouTube is winning the battle for their attention. This is why our current Executive Committee and Board of Governors are the right leadership for this moment. They actively grapple with these issues in their day jobs and have been proven to find success by being unafraid of change. Together, we are deeply considering all angles and are determined to act with clarity and forward motion to ensure the Academy remains a place for all television, no matter where you watch it.
This chair letter originally appeared in emmy magazine, issue #3, 2026.
