It’s finally here! The NYTVF is thrilled to welcome over 300 Official Artists, nearly 60 Industry Partners and an anticipated crowd of over 15,000 attendees to the 8th Annual Festival, kicking off today in Manhattan!

Tickets are still available for screenings, panels and more! Check out the Fest Guide for details on all.

See you there!

The NYTVF today announced that Authentic Entertainment, BET Networks, CABLEready and CableU have been added to its line-up of over 50 industry partners committed to take part in the annual New York Television Festival, kicking off TODAY in Manhattan. Each is joining the Festival for the first time and will enjoy the benefits of NYTVF Connect, the Festival’s exclusive industry concierge program.

Check out the full release here for a full breakdown on the Industry goings-on at this year’s Festival.

Amazon Studios is offering a $5,000 development grant to the Festival’s audience favorite. Additional IPC awards include previously-announced development awards from IFC, MTV, Syfy and VH1 as well as the second-annual NYTVF Critics Award.

The only way to vote is to attend the screenings, scheduled every night this week at Tribeca Cinemas and 92YTribeca. You can reserve free tickets for all 2012 Independent Pilot Competition screenings in our online Festival Box Office at http://www.thefestguide.com/nytvf2012.

Additionally, you can peruse trailers for this year’s 52 Official Selections here.