Emmy Rule Changes Address AI, TV Movie Category, More
Deadline••entertainment
Key Points:
- The Television Academy announced several rule changes for the 78th Emmy Awards in 2026, including renaming the Outstanding Television Movie category to Outstanding Movie to better reflect current content trends.
- Short Form Program categories will now track two genres—original series and series based on other programming—with nominees proportional to submissions, and the Sound Mixing category for nonfiction or reality programs has been split into two distinct categories.
- Expanded eligibility includes adding the Director of Photography to Lighting, Camera & Technical Arts categories under specific conditions, and new definitions and requirements for the Music category, such as the Main Title Theme needing to appear in at least 50% of eligible episodes.
- The Academy introduced an AI statement emphasizing its right to inquire about AI use in submissions, unders
