The Emmys are moving to Prime Video in 6-year deal | CBC News

The Emmy Awards are moving to Prime Video starting in 2027 in a six-year deal struck between Amazon and the Television Academy that ends a seven-decade run of broadcast networks airing the ceremony.

The awards show has aired on one of the four broadcast networks every year since 1955. NBC was first to air it nationally, and hosted it last month. For the past three decades, it has been in a yearly rotation between ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, in what was known as the "Wheel Deal."

"Continuity is a big part of what we're looking for, because the rotating part of it basically meant in many ways that we were starting over every year," Cris Abrego, chairman of the Television Academy, told The Associated Press. "With one partner over six years, we can really learn together and build from year to year together."

The Emmys will continue to air free of charge as it always has, a demand the Academy made from the start to its suitors. No Prime Video subscription will be required to watch.

Oscars ceremony will be streamed on YouTube exclusively starting in 2029

The move echoes the Oscars' deal announced in December sending them to YouTube and ending their own, equally long relationship with broadcast networks.

"We're on the clock, we gotta get rolling," Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told the AP.

Nearly all awards shows have seen steep drops in viewership in a more segmented culture, and the Emmys have consistently lagged behind the Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes, despite the growing acclaim for the shows they honour.

The Academy and Amazon said Prime Video might be in a position to change that as a place where so much of the Emmys programming can be viewed, whether it's a Prime production or a streaming partnership. The biggest winners at the last two Emmys, Widow's Bay and The Studio, can both be watched on Prime Video through its partnership with Apple TV.

And while Abrego acknowledged the significance of the move to streaming and its implications, he said the content is far more important than how it's delivered.

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Live events on Amazon are hardly a novelty anymore. It's been nearly a decade since Prime first aired an NFL game and many other major sports and events have followed.