| Critics' Choice Television Award | |
|---|---|
| Current: 14th Critics' Choice Television Awards | |
 | |
| Awarded for | Best in television |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | CCA |
| First awarded | 2011 |
| Website | www |
The Critics' Choice Television Awards were accolades that were presented annually by the Critics Choice Association (CCA).[1] They were established in 2011, and the first ceremony was held on June 20, 2011, and streamed live on VH1.com.[2][3] The fourth ceremony was televised live, for the first time in award history, on June 19, 2014, on The CW.[4] In October 2014, the A&E Network was granted exclusive rights to broadcast the television and film awards in 2015 and 2016.[5] The final ceremony was in 2015, after which it was combined with the film awards and once again became the Critics' Choice Awards.
The Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) was founded in 2011 as an offshoot of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The Awards were produced by executive producer Bob Bain.[6]
According to the acting president of the BTJA, Joey Berlin, the Critics' Choice Television Awards were launched "to enhance access for broadcast journalists covering the television industry. Just as the Critics' Choice Movie Awards has been established as an important part of the annual movie awards season, we are confident that the Critics' Choice Television Awards will play a similar role for the television industry."[7]
Following the announcement of the partnership with Entertainment Weekly prior to the 7th Critics' Choice Television Awards in November 2016, several high profile members of the Broadcast Television Journalists Association left the organization, including Michael AusielloofTVLine, Maureen RyanofVariety, Ken TuckerofYahoo! TV, and Michael Schneider of IndieWire. In an article Schneider published shortly after his resignation titled, he wrote: "The idea that Entertainment Weekly would be the preferred media outlet for an awards show decided by journalists from many outlets is unusual. (It would be like CNN being named the official partner of the Presidential Debates, even though they're moderated and covered by representatives from multiple news organizations.)"[8] Following the mass exodus of television critics, the Broadcast Television Journalists Association lost 15%–30% of its membership.[9] This caused the majority of the membership to be made up of internet journalists instead of television critics. During the 7th Critics' Choice Television Awards the fact that several critically acclaimed shows were snubbed such as The Americans, Rectify, The Night Of and You're the Worst in favor of shows with very little to no critical support such as Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, and House of Cards was credited, and widely criticized, due to this change.[8]
