Emmys Move to Prime Video in Six-Year Deal, Ending the Broadcast Wheel

The Primetime Emmys are leaving broadcast television. The Television Academy and Amazon’s Prime Video have signed a six-year agreement that makes the streamer the exclusive global home of the awards starting with the 2027 ceremony, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter reported on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The deal ends the “wheel” arrangement that has rotated the telecast among ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC since the mid-1990s. According to The Hollywood Reporter, next year’s show will be the first in the awards’ 79-year history not to air on a broadcast outlet. The most recent network deal ended with this year’s ceremony, which aired on NBC and Peacock in September.

Free to watch, worldwide

Both outlets report that Amazon has taken global rights and that the ceremony will be free to watch on the service, whether or not viewers pay for Prime. Academy chair Cris Abrego told Deadline that free access was not up for negotiation, and told The Hollywood Reporter that access had been one of his priorities from the start.

Abrego told both outlets that he saw the end of the network deal as “an opportunity to rethink the model” rather than simply renew it. Under the wheel, he said, the Academy effectively started over every year with a new network partner, new producers and new brand sponsors. A single home for six years is meant to let the Academy and Prime Video build on what they learn from one show to the next.

What the deal is worth

Official financial terms were not disclosed, and reported figures differ. Deadline said it understands the deal is worth $20 million to $25 million a year, or more than $120 million over six years. Variety, citing sources, reported a license fee of around $15 million a year. Both Deadline and Variety said the broadcast networks had paid roughly $8 million to $10 million a year, and only for U.S. rights.

Amazon’s pitch

Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said in a statement that “for nearly eight decades the Emmys have recognized the best storytelling and talent in television,” adding that Prime Video is “honored” to be trusted as the global home for the celebration over the next six years. In his interview with Deadline, Hopkins said Amazon wants to grow viewership, bring in a younger audience and look for ways to innovate in the production itself.

He also pointed to Amazon’s advertising business and its subscription add-ons, which let Prime Video customers sign up for services such as HBO Max and Apple TV, as reasons the free model can work financially. Many of this year’s winners are already available to Prime Video customers through those partner services, he noted.

The agreement may bring more Academy programming to the streamer. The Hollywood Reporter said Prime Video could also carry events such as the Hall of Fame and Television Academy Honors ceremony, while the future of the Creative Arts Emmys, which have aired on FXX for more than a decade, is still being discussed.

A first among the major awards

The Emmys will be the first of the EGOT awards to stream exclusively, The Hollywood Reporter noted. The Oscars have announced a move to YouTube, but not until the 2029 ceremony. Variety pointed to other recent shifts away from traditional TV, including the SAG-AFTRA Actor Awards moving to Netflix, and noted that Prime Video already carries the Academy of Country Music Awards. For more studio and streaming business news, visit our Studio page.

Verification: The six-year Prime Video deal, the 2027 start, free global access, the end of the network wheel and the reported deal values were reported by Deadline (Peter White, Oct. 6) and The Hollywood Reporter (Rick Porter, Oct. 6), with additional details from Variety and the Television Academy’s Oct. 6 announcement.