PBS SoCal collected eight trophies at the 78th Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, held Saturday night at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The haul matched its 2025 total and placed it at the top of the winner's list, according to both Variety and Deadline.
Univision's KMEX finished second with seven wins. Telemundo's KVEA followed with six. Other winners included KABC/ABC7 with four, KNBC/NBC4 with four, Spectrum News 1 and Spectrum SportsNet with two each, and single wins for LA36, Spectrum SportsNet LA, and USC Football.
KVEA again dominated the newscast categories, winning the Regularly Scheduled Daily Daytime Newscast and Regularly Scheduled Daily Evening Newscast awards. Last year, KVEA swept all three newscast categories. This year, KABC/ABC7 broke that streak by winning the Regularly Scheduled Daily Morning Newscast for its Eyewitness News at 6am broadcast.
The ceremony was hosted by KABC entertainment reporter George Pennacchio. ABC7 anchor David Ono received the 2026 Los Angeles Area Emmy Governors Award, which recognized, in the words of the award citation, "his more than three decades of broadcasting and his passion for in-depth storytelling." His co-anchor, Jovana Lara, presented him the honor.
Much of the news coverage recognized this year centered on the devastating wildfires that swept through the Los Angeles region in January 2025. The eligibility period for news categories covered the 2025 calendar year. ABC7 won the Investigative News Story Emmy for its Palisades Fire investigation and the Live Coverage of an Unscheduled News Event award for its SoCal Firestorms breaking news coverage.
PBS SoCal's wins included the Live Special Events Programming award for the 66th Annual LA County Holiday Celebration and the Education/Information award for For Dear Life: Art, Medicine and Disability. KMEX won the Health/Science News Story Emmy for a report on artificial intelligence and climate science, while KVEA took the Human Interest News Story and Business/Consumer News Story awards.
Spectrum SportsNet LA won the Sports Special Emmy for a documentary on Nomomania, while Spectrum News 1 won both the L.A. Local Color category and the Sports Tease award for a piece on Shohei Ohtani.
Bob Bain and Bob Bain Productions produced the ceremony. Greg Taylor and Brian DeCloux serve as the Los Angeles Area Governors.
