PBS SoCal, KMEX Lead L.A. Local Emmy Wins; KVEA, KABC Land Top Newscast Prizes — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- PBS SoCal (KOCE/KCET) led all outlets with 8 Emmy wins spanning live events, entertainment, crime/social issues and arts, including the live "66th Annual LA County Holiday Celebration" and "Aretha! with Sheléa and the Pacific Symphony"
- KMEX (Univision) finished second with 7 wins, including Culture/History for "Somos de Aquí," two informational series ("Tu Voz LA," "Al Punto California"), and Feature Segment for "Indispensables, Pero Invisibles"
- KVEA (Telemundo) earned 6 wins and defended its newscast dominance, taking both the daily daytime (11am-4pm) and daily evening (4pm-12am) newscast Emmys for "Noticiero Telemundo 52"
- KABC/ABC7 won 4 awards including the morning newscast (which KVEA had won last year) and "Breaking News: SoCal Firestorms" for Live Coverage of an Unscheduled News Event
- David Ono received the 2026 Governors Award recognizing more than three decades of broadcasting and in-depth storytelling, with co-anchor Jovana Lara presenting the honor
- Wildfire coverage dominated several news categories because the 2025 eligibility period included the devastating January firestorms — also yielding KABC's investigative win "SoCal Firestorms 6 months later: Palisades Fire Investigation"
- Nomination totals: PBS SoCal landed 29, KABC received 21, KMEX 20, KVEA 18, KNBC 15 and Spectrum News 1 had 10 — with the ceremony produced by Bob Bain Productions and held at the Skirball Cultural Center, hosted by KABC's George Pennacchio
Why it matters: Wildfire coverage loomed large during the 2025 eligibility period, and Spanish-language outlets quietly dominated — KMEX and KVEA combined for 13 Emmy wins versus KABC and KNBC's combined 8. PBS SoCal's 29 nominations also outpaced every single major-network affiliate on its own.
Ask SkimNews
