Emmy Awards to end a 79-year tradition

The Emmy Awards will move exclusively to Prime Video from 2027, ending nearly eight decades of traditional television broadcasts.

The Television Academy has signed a six-year agreement with Prime Video covering the awards from 2027 through 2032. The move means next year’s ceremony will be the first in the Emmys’ 79-year history not to air on broadcast television.

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The ceremony will be available globally on Prime Video and will be free to watch, including for viewers without a Prime subscription.

The move follows another major awards show shifting away from traditional television, with the Oscars set to stream on YouTube from 2029. ABC will continue to broadcast the Academy Awards through 2028.

Under the new agreement, Prime Video may also stream other Television Academy programmes, including the Hall of Fame and Television Academy Honors ceremonies. No announcement has yet been made regarding the future platform for the Creative Arts Emmys, which have aired on FXX for more than a decade.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the agreement, Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego described it as “truly an opportunity to rethink the model and not simply just renew the deal”.

Abrego said continuity played a major role in the decision, noting that the previous system of rotating the ceremony among the four major US broadcast networks often meant starting over with a new partner each year.

“Rotating [between the big four broadcast networks] every year meant in many ways that we were starting over again with a new partner,” he said, adding that the changes affected everything from producers and creative decisions to partnerships with brands.

Over the years, the Emmy Awards have aired on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. The 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards aired on NBC on September 14, with Peacock serving as its streaming partner.