The TV Academy has decided it'll take two PR companies to replace its longtime publicity representatives at the Lippin Group.

Earlier this year, Lippin let the Academy know it wanted off the account, which it's held for many years. The Academy then opened up its business for bids.

And the winners are: BNC Public Relations & Marketing and Beck Media & Marketing.

BNC earned the big prize. It will handle PR for the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, Television Hall of Fame Ceremonies, Television Academy Honors, membership events, Emmy Magazine and day-to-day corporate communications.

Beck, meanwhile, has been signed to represent the TV Academy Foundation, a non-profit arm of the Academy. The Foundation's activities include the Archive of American Television and its recently launched web destination, EmmyTVLegends.org; the College Television Awards; and the well-regarded Television Academy summer internship program, Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship, the Virtual Academy and annual Golf Tournament and Charity Auction events.

“This two-agency strategy just made sense,” said Allan Perris, chief operating officer of the Academy. “The past few years have seen a tremendous simultaneous expansion of programs and activities for the Television Academy and its Foundation, as well as the need to properly address and service new-media platforms. To create additional awareness of the Academy’s programs to honor excellence as well as its membership activities and benefits and to increase the profile of the Foundation’s educational and preservation efforts, we knew that both entities would benefit from a division of labor, talent and expertise.”

Lippin will remain in charge of PR for the Academy through year's end.