Emmys move to Prime Video in a six-year deal, free to watch
The Television Academy ends the rotation among ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC; the September 2027 ceremony will stream globally with no subscription.
The Emmy Awards are leaving U.S. broadcast television. The Television Academy announced Oct. 6 a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the ceremony, starting in September 2027.
The broadcast will be free worldwide and will not require a Prime Video subscription, according to the Academy's statement. The show will air live, but there is no exact date or venue yet.
The deal ends the system in which ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC took turns airing the ceremony, which closed with the 2026 show on NBC. The networks paid the Academy between $8 million and $10 million in license fees, according to TVLine. The financial terms of the new deal were not disclosed.
Cris Abrego, the Academy's chairman, said in the statement that having Prime Video as a dedicated home will let it "build on that legacy." Mike Hopkins, who runs Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said streaming the Emmys free is another way of delivering the best in entertainment.
The awards have aired on U.S. broadcast television since 1955, according to Milenio. This is the first time the ceremony leaves that circuit.
For viewers outside the United States, the announcement points to a single, free feed, though the Academy has not said how it will work country by country. The statement mentions "more than 240 countries and territories" in its text and "more than 200 countries" in Abrego's quote, so the exact reach remains unclear.
