Clear the deck television loving New Yorkers because the week of September 22 and the city-that-never-sleeps will unveil the first annual Tribeca TV Festival (9.22 through 9.24) at the Cinepolis theater. Attending is the who’s-who of television and it’s a very, very, very big deal.

That includes the screening highlights from Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar and exclusive “first-look-content” from Oprah Winfrey will premiere her new OWN series Released, and more.

Let’s face it —everything about the entertainment space is changing which means Hollywood is changing. To wit Network television is in serious competition with new streaming video platforms like Hulu, Amazon and Netflix because most people prefer to take their entertainment “on the go” which has forced everyone in the television world to stop-drop-and-rethink how their business model.

Netflix's enormous spending on original content has led the streaming video platform to accrue $20.54 billion "in long term debt and obligations," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Stepping in to tap into the zeitgeist is the Tribeca TV Festival presented by AT&T which willfocus on bringing driving conversations from some of the entertainment world’s best and brightest. The festival—scheduled to run Sept. 22 through 24 at Cinepolis in New York City—will feature numerous premieres and panel Q&As. The TV festival will serve as a supplement to it’s acclaimed annual film festival that takes place every year in April.

”Ten years ago we wouldn’t have needed a TV festival. Now, with the change in the TV landscape, both the quality and quantity of shows, it makes sense,” Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro said in a statement. “As the Tribeca Film Festival has done, the Tribeca TV Festival will act as a curator in bringing people together for this emerging experience.”

This tremendous three-day event will bring people together to discover new television series, see new episodes of returning shows and hear interesting things from interesting people like the aforementioned Emmy Award winner Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar which is scheduled to debut it’s mid-season premiere on Sunday September 24th right at the festival.

Following the episode, the cast of the series, Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Kofi Siriboe will discuss their acclaimed performances and rich characters, working with an all-female directing team, and maybe providing a few clues as to how season 2 will end!

In addition to Queen Sugar, Oprah Winfrey will premiere her new OWN series Released, which chronicles formerly-incarcerated men and women who are restarting their lives. If you are in NYC, this is definitely an event that you do not want to miss out on!

One example of how film and television blur is Ava DuVernay’s documentary “13th” which was commissioned by Netflix and that premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2017, had a limited theatrical run to qualify for the Oscars and ultimately received a nomination. On the television side the commissioned documentary won three awards at the Creative Arts Emmy with a total of eight noms this year with DuVernay picking up the award for Outstanding Documentary or Non-Fiction Special.

On the path of good, DuVernay used the opportunity on stage at the Emmys to draw attention to the plight of families affected by the prevalence of incarceration in the U.S. “I want to thank, and think about tonight the hundreds of thousands of families who are waiting for their loved ones to come home,” she said. “Mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, who don’t know where their loved one is. Unsung heroes of a struggle that has not a lot to do with them, but has a lot to do with how they live each day.”

Also taking an Emmy home this evening for the “13th” was Oscar® winner Common, who won the trophy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song” Letter To The Free.” The musician/actor and DuVernay previously collaborated on “Selma.” Common and John Legend wrote the film’s song “Glory” which won an Academy Award.

The Tribeca TV Festival tickets are now on sale and can be purchased online at http://www.tribecafilm.com/tvfestival.