CBS is reporting that the 77TH Emmy Awards hosted by Nate Bargatze on Sunday Sept. 14 was seen by more than 7.42 million viewers on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+. It was the #1 entertainment program of the night and hit a four-year viewership high since it last aired on CBS in 2021, up +8% from its 2024 airing on ABC, the network reported.

That made it the most-watched Emmys since 2021, when it last aired on CBS and the most-watched entertainment special on CBS since the Grammy Awards.

In addition the company also reported that live-streaming on Paramount+ was up +76% from the last CBS-hosted event in 2021 and that the Entertainment Tonight Emmys pre-show (7:14-8:00 PM, ET) averaged 3.26 million viewers. This was up +12% from ABC’s 2024 red carpet show (2.91m viewers).

On social media, the awards show drove 60.9 billion potential impressions and 1.6 million mentions, up +66% in potential impressions from last year on ABC. #Emmys trended in the U.S. at #1 for seven consecutive hours and in the top 10 for 11 hours.

CBS said the audience data was based on Nielsen Time Adjusted Live+SD Fast National Data including Out-of-Home Viewing on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025

Famed TV lighting designer Bill Klages, who won seven Primetime Emmy Awards and was the first lighting designer to be inducted into the Television Hall of Fame died on Sunday, July 7, according to Lighting Designer News. 

For a number of years, Klages was also a regular columnist for TV Tech. A tribute to Klages on the occasion of his induction into the Television Hall of Fame, noted that he started in the very early days of U.S. television at NBC in 1948 and that he amassed more than “300 credits amassed over a 58-year career that began in the days of live black-and-white television dramas and has continued into the 21st century.” 

Klages started at NBC working as a video maintenance engineer on such series as “Your Show of Shows” and “The Kate Smith Hour.” He moved into lighting, which he had always wanted to do, in the mid-1950s after a two year stint in the Navy. He remained at NBC until 1970 when he went freelance and started his own company. 

Over the years, he was involved many high profile shows and events, including such award shows such as the Primetime Emmys, Tonys, Grammys and Golden Globes; entertainment specials featuring Barbra Streisand, Bob Hope, Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow and Mikhail Baryshnikov; special events like the 1984 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremonies and inaugural galas for Presidents John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush, according to the Television Academy. 

In addition to his Primetime Emmy wins, he was nominated for 23 Emmys.

Bruce Aleksander, current author of TV Tech's Lighting Technology column, considered Bill a mentor.

"He inspired me and was generous with his time and sharing his knowledge," Aleksander said. "He was one of the pioneers of lighting, standing alongside Imero Fiorentino, David Clark (Imero's associate) and George Spiro Dibie. These folks pretty much invented cinematic lighting for video/television. Bill was the last one that remained standing."

More information about his career is available here, here, here and here. 

The Television Academy has announced the recipients of the 75th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards honoring an individual, company or organization for developments in broadcast technology. The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.

"Advancements in technology are a fundamental part of television production and greatly contribute to the elevation of the storytelling process," said Frank Scherma, chair of the Television Academy. "We are honored to recognize these distinguished and talented engineers, scientists and technologists who are at the forefront of pioneering fundamental advancements in television and storytelling."

"The Engineering, Science & Technology Emmys have always recognized domestic ingenuity as well as major innovators from around the world," said committee co-chair Barry Zegel.

"Half of this year's recipients are headquartered outside of North America," added Co-Chair Wendy Aylsworth, "and it's exciting to see how they are changing the television industry."

The Academy said that the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors a living individual whose ongoing contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering, will be given to Birney Dayton. 

Television technology pioneer, Birney Dayton, was one of the founders as well as CEO and CTO of NVISION, which he ran for 20 years. With the goal of building products to support and drive the development of high-definition television, NVISION has been lauded for their innovative products in digital audio, HDTV routing and other broadcast facility products. Prior to NVISION, Dayton was vice president of engineering for Grass Valley Group leading the development of digital products that streamlined the routing of digital signals through production and operations centers. An innovator in bringing fiber optics to the world of television, he built the first fiber-optic transmission system for over-the-air television, used for the opening ceremonies of the 1980 Olympics. In the late 1980s, Dayton chaired the systems analysis working party of the ACATS (Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service), which tested and selected the best-of-breed technologies to establish the digital television distribution standard that continues to operate throughout North America. In addition, he helped develop the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) analog and digital component video standards, was co-chair of the SMPTE high-definition electronic-production working group and was awarded the SMPTE Progress Medal for his numerous industry-changing digital audio products and technologies. Dayton has authored numerous industry papers and currently holds 15 patents.

This year's Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award, which honors an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have significantly impacted television technology and engineering, will be given to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

The National Association of Broadcasters is the voice for the nation's radio and television broadcasters. As the premier trade association for broadcasters, NAB advances the interests of their members in federal government, industry and public affairs; improves the quality and profitability of broadcasting; encourages content and technology innovation; and spotlights the important and unique ways stations serve their communities.

The Academy also announced that this year’s Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards will be given to: 

• Recipients: Chris Deighton, Richard Mead, Adrian Jeakins, Evangelos Apostolopoulos for the Brompton Technology Tessera SX40 LED video processor. Brompton Technology's Tessera SX40 LED (light-emitting diode) video processor has been a key enabler of the revolution in using LED screens for virtual production. To make LED screen-based virtual production even possible requires high-quality, artifact-free processing. The SX40 has become a significant ingredient in a winning recipe utilized in virtual production studios worldwide. Software upgrades have further improved performance and optimized virtual production workflows, ensuring the greatest possible flexibility for the creative team while delivering the gold standard for color accuracy and on-camera visual performance.
• Recipients: Steve Rosenbluth, Thomas E. Burgess, Konstantin Smola, Glen Winchester for the Concept Overdrive Motion System. Concept Overdrive is a valuable tool for virtual production and augmented reality and has become a professional standard for the control of machines and animatronics in television production worldwide. With an acclaimed user interface, the system implements a streaming motion network, real-time constraints and maximally digital motion control, which make it ideal for interfacing with the real world in modern production environments.
• Recipient: International Telecommunications Union – Radiocommunications – Study Group 6 for the Standardization of High Dynamic Range Television (HDR-TV). Since its first publication in July 2016, Recommendation ITU-R BT.2100 "image-parameter values for high-dynamic range television for use in production and international program exchange," more simply known as HDR-TV, has impacted the entire television industry, from cameras, post-production (especially in color processing), delivery though traditional broadcasting OTT (over-the-top) streaming services, and both professional and consumer display/television products. BT.2100 provided the critically important international specifications that have enabled HDR to become widely practiced and enjoyed by consumers.
• Recipients: Raymond Drewry and Jim Helman for the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR). Created by the technical staff at MovieLabs, the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR) unifies the commercial film and television industry around one standardized content ID, one infrastructure for creating and sharing the ID, and one nested data model for describing the relationships between abstract titles, specific edits of each title and their packagings for distribution. EIDR has provided the mission-critical infrastructure that has enabled the explosion in digital distribution of film and television content to an increasing set of consumer devices over the last 10 years.
• Recipient: David Eubank for the pCAM Pro. pCAM Pro is a mobile software application developed for Apple's iOS devices that offers a comprehensive suite of 26 cinematography tools designed for television and film professionals. These tools include calculations to guide decisions on designing camera shots, set design and construction, selecting lenses and camera sensor formats, achieving proper exposure and color balance, creating flicker-free lighting and lighting designs, and functional eye-light and lighting effects, among others. Most notably, it allows for accurate pre-visualization of specific lens and camera pairings, making it an invaluable tool for set crews.
• Recipients: Thomas Riedel, Jake Dodson, Wolfgang Fritz, Jiou-Pahn Lee for the Riedel BOLERO Wireless Intercom. Riedel Bolero's ADR (Advanced DECT Receiver) wireless intercom solution with multi-diversity and anti-reflection technology, delivers greater RF (radio frequency) robustness than ever seen before in the industry. In addition, it offers Touch 'n Go NFC (near-field communication) belt-pack registration and versatile operation as a wireless belt pack, a wireless key panel, or (an industry first) a walkie talkie. It also features bluetooth compatibility for phone connections. It successfully provides clear communications in venues that had previously been difficult or impossible to cover due to physical venue design or competing DECT (digital enhanced cordless telecommunications) systems.
• Recipients: Jeffrey Gray, Russell Hocken, Barrett Phillips, Greg Smokler for the SmallHD Monitor Platform. SmallHD's rugged and daylight-viewable production monitors have become a staple on every production set, from scripted dramas to live broadcasts. SmallHD's hardware platform features an entirely custom electronic architecture that allows for continuous expansion of features and connectivity as well as enabling the unique industry-leading PageOS 5 monitoring software system. From the compact on-camera Smart 5 and Smart 7 series to the 4K production monitor line, SmallHD has created a unified and cohesive series of monitors that allow for accurate and consistent viewing and color reproduction across different cameras and applications, ensuring a consistent creative vision from set to final output.
• Recipients: Meir Shashoua, Yaniv Alon, Shai Fishman for the Waves Clarity Vx Pro. Clarity Vx Pro is a revolutionary noise-reduction plugin that uses the cutting-edge and powerful Neural Networks engine developed by Waves to separate dialogue from ambience at the highest quality without artifacts and in real time, which sets a new standard in post-production. Addressing today's post-production needs, Clarity Vx Pro allows for real-time processing and vastly speeds up and enhances the workflow of dialogue editing and mixing. Clarity works in most DAWs (digital audio workstations) to create immediate, clean results without having to render, bounce, duplicate or consolidate tracks. It allows editors and mixers to listen to the dialog processing as part of the whole mix in context.

The Engineering, Science & Technology Emmys are made possible by Television Academy sponsors Drybar, Franciacorta, JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery, People and United Airlines.

On August 7, 2018 the television industry saw the passing of a true technology icon, Dr. Joseph A. Flaherty. Television viewers around the globe are still benefiting from the technology innovations of Joe Flaherty.

Dr. Flaherty received his degree in Physics from Rockhurst College, Kansas, City, Missouri, in 1952. During 1953-1954, he served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and in 1955 joined NBC in New York City as a Television Engineer.

In 1957, he joined CBS as a Television Design Engineer. In 1959, he became the Network's Director of Technical Facilities Planning, and in 1967, he was promoted to General Manager, and subsequently appointed Vice President and General Manager of the Engineering and Development Department, a position he held for 23 years, and then CBS Senior Vice President of Technology.

In the 1970’s, Joe revolutionized the television news industry by changing the process by which news stories were captured. His foresight led to the replacement of 16 mm film to gather news, supplanting it with Electronic News Gathering (ENG), thereby eliminating the painstaking and time-consuming process of exposing the film negative, transporting the film to the station, developing the film and transferring the film to television. The development of ENG enabled TV viewers to experience the world’s events in real-time, rather than watching history unfold, thus eliminating the catch phrase, “film at 11 PM.”

In the early 1980’s, Joe began developing High Definition Television (HDTV). On Feb. 7, 1981, he demonstrated “Hi-Vision” or HDTV to the Hollywood production community at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineer’s (SMPTE) annual technical conference.

This led to Joe’s appointment as the Chairman of the Planning Committee for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service, which produced the United States present day Digital High Definition System. His efforts made the United States the first country in the world to convert to a digital HDTV system. Not satisfied with revolutionizing the television system in America, Joe became a Television Technology Ambassador to the world. Joe’s push for a worldwide HDTV program exchange standard at the United Nation’s technical arm, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), led to the rapid deployment of HDTV on a worldwide basis.

Joe also challenged and successfully convinced the Hollywood production community to replace 16/35 mm film, used for prime time television production, with HDTV electronic acquisition and postproduction. Today, all prime time television dramas and comedies are electronically captured and edited in HDTV.

Joe was an active author and lecturer, presenting over 188 published papers and lectures during his career. Joe’s technology leadership was not only acknowledged in America, but throughout the world by the presentation of numerous major Broadcasting awards and honors including:

• Honorary Member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE’s highest award), and the SMPTE Progress Medal Award, David Sarnoff Gold Medal

• Four Technical Emmy Awards - the development of Electronic Newsgathering (ENG), development and installation of the first Digital Computer Automation System, Electronic Editing System of Film Capture, Vidifont electronic character generator.

• Two Personal Life Time Achievement Emmy Awards – The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences “Lifetime Achievements in Contributions to the Development and Improvement of the Science and Technology of Television.” and the “Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award” from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Hollywood.

• National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Engineering Award

• NAB’s “Award of Honor” for “Introducing High Definition Television to the World”

• “Giants of Broadcasting” award from the Library of American Broadcasting

• Broadcasting & Cable Magazine “Hall of Fame” Inductee

• Consumer Electronics Association “Hall of Fame” Inductee

• Two French Legion of Honors - Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur by President Mitterand of the Republic of France and in l989 he was decorated as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and later promoted to the rank of Officer de l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur by French President Jacques Chirac.

• Swiss Montreux Achievement Gold Medal for Electronic News Gathering

• Fellow of the British Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)

• Fellow of the Royal Television Society of the United Kingdom

• Fellow of the Chinese Institute of Electronics

• Honorary Member of the German engineering society Fernseh-Kinotechnischen Gesellschaft (FKTG)

• Honorary Members of the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan

• International Vladimir Zworykin award for Technical Achievements in the field of Television from the Russian National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters

Dr. Joseph Flaherty’s lifetime of television innovation is unmatched in the television industry. His efforts have brought real-time global events into our living rooms and through the clarity of HDTV made the viewer feel “as if they were there”. If anyone is to be credited with creating the “Television Global Village,” it’s Joe Flaherty. Thank you Joe, for being a Television Technology Ambassador to the world.

Joe is survived by his wife Jan Flaherty, his sons Patrick, Daniel, Michael, Timothy, daughter Margaret and eight grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass for Joe will be held 10:00 AM, Tuesday, August 14 at St. Agnes Church, 523 Front St., Greenport, NY. Relatives and friends will gather at the Horton-Mathie Funeral Home, 735 First St., in Greenport, on Monday, August 13 from 2:00-6:00 PM.

Burial will be private at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, NY.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be sent to Community Fund of Peconic Landing 1500 Brecknock Road Greenport, NY 11944 St. Agnes Church 523 Front Street Greenport, NY 11944, or give to your favorite soup kitchen or homeless shelter 

HAMBURG, GERMANY—Statistics collector and visualizer Statista has boiled down this year's Emmy Award nominations to a bar chart that show broadcast networks solidly ahead of basic cable nets, with the notable exception of FX, plus premium content provider HBO, and now, over-the-top player Netflix. The OTT provider landed 54 Emmy nominations this year compared to 34 last year. The top-nominated network, HBO, netted 94, down from 126 last year. FX, in second place, had 56 versus 36 last year.



Details available at Statista.

NEW YORK—The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced the recipients of the 67th annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards. Among the winners is Alexander Bain, a Scottish inventor and engineer who passed away in 1877. Bain is being recognized for the concept of scanning for image transmission in 1842-1843. Good things come to those who wait.

Here is the full list of recipients:

• Pioneering Optimization of Advertising Placement in Single Channel Linear Television Programs: 
  BCS (Imagine Communications)
• Standardization and Pioneering Development of Non-Live Broadband Captioning:
  Netflix
  HBO
  Telestream
  SMPTE
  W3C
• Open Modular Platform for Broadcast and Production Distribution and Conversion Equipment:
  Ross Video
• Development and Standardization of HDBaseT Connectivity Technology for Commercial and Residential HDMI/DVI Installations:
  Valens Semiconductor
• Phonetic Indexing and Timing:
  Nexidia Inc.
• Steganographic Technologies for Audio/Video:
  Nielsen
  Civolution
  Digimarc
  Verance
• Pre-Production Visualization System:
  Autodesk
  Cast-Soft
  Innoventive Software
  Robert Abel
• The Concept of Scanning for Image Transmission:
  Alexander Bain
• Pioneering Development of Data Drive Traffic Systems for Multichannel Environments:
  MSA
  Turner
• Development of Enabling Technology for High Density Video Switching and Routing Solutions:
  MACOM
• Closed-Loop Statistical Multiplexing of Geographically Distributed Encoders:
  DirecTV
  Echostar
  Ericsson
  Harmonic

The awards will be handed out on Jan. 8, 2016 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, in conjunction with the International Consumer Electronics Show.