Today, the Television Academy announced the recipient of the 2025 Governors Award, honoring it to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. With this award, the Television Academy aims to recognize nearly six decades of CPB’s efforts in promoting educational, cultural, and public-interest programming. This award, bestowed by the Television Academy’s Board of Governors, honors an individual, company, or organization that has made a significant contribution to the art and science of television.

“The Governors Award recognizes and celebrates extraordinary contributions that transcend television and transform society,” said Cris Abrego, the Television Academy Chair. “For more than half a century, CPB has been a steadfast champion of storytelling that informs, educates and unites us and ensures public media remains a vital space where diverse voices are heard and communities are served. With this award, we honor CPB’s enduring legacy and its extraordinary impact on the cultural and civic life of our nation.”

Since 1967, when CPB was established in accordance with the Public Broadcasting Act, it has funded programs for all ages aimed to educate and to entertain, placing an emphasis on fact-based information. It played a role in the genesis of many American cultural icons of television, such as Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Reading Rainbow. This kind of public media connects all Americans, as it serves 99% of the American population for free, without commercials. Often the only media available to residents living in remote areas, it serves all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Indigenous communities in American Samoa. Moreover, CPB is known to pioneer work in closed captioning, descriptive video services, and radio technology for live-captioned and Braille radio programs to bridge the gap between abled and disabled audiences.

“This is our legacy,” said Patricia de Stacy Harrison, the longest-serving president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “CPB will serve as the foundation for the future of America’s public media.”

However, despite CPB’s significance in the American landscape, Congress voted in July to eliminate all funding for CPB, putting a sudden end to nearly 60 years of federal investment in America’s public media system.

The 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be held on both September 6 and 7 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE. On September 13, the edited version of the ceremony will air at 8 PM PDT on FXX and will be available to stream on Hulu until October 7.