Emmy Awards Are Leaving Broadcast TV for Prime Video in Massive Six-Year Deal

The Emmy Awards are officially entering their streaming era.

The Television Academy and Prime Video announced Tuesday that they have reached a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning in 2027. That means the biggest night celebrating television is leaving its traditional broadcast-network rotation behind and settling into one home for the foreseeable future.

And before anyone starts checking the price of their Amazon Prime membership, there is one very important detail: the Emmys will be available to watch for free.

Under the new agreement, the Emmy Awards will stream live on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories, with no Prime membership or subscription required. The ceremony will continue to take place in September, so while the way audiences watch is changing, the Emmys aren't abandoning their usual spot on the awards-season calendar.

Prime Video Replaces the Longtime Network Rotation

For decades, the Emmy Awards bounced between ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC under the Television Academy's rotating broadcast arrangement. The 2026 ceremony on NBC marked the end of that era.

Starting next year, there will be no wondering which network has the Emmys this time around. Prime Video will be the show's dedicated home throughout the six-year agreement.

It is a pretty significant change for an awards show dedicated to television itself. Broadcast TV spent decades serving as the home of the Emmys while streaming slowly went from the new kid in town to one of the dominant ways audiences actually consume television. Now the ceremony honoring the medium is making that same jump.

The move also gives the Emmys a much larger international footprint. Instead of relying on different broadcast or distribution arrangements across markets, Prime Video will be able to offer the ceremony live to viewers around the world through one platform.

No Prime Subscription Will Be Required

The free-access portion of the deal may be just as important as the move to streaming.

While Prime Video normally houses content tied to a Prime membership or separate subscriptions, the Emmy Awards will not sit behind that paywall. Viewers will be able to watch the live ceremony without purchasing a membership.

That should remove one of the biggest potential criticisms of moving an event traditionally available on broadcast television to a streaming service. The platform may be changing, but the Television Academy is not turning its biggest ceremony into another subscription-only event.

Television Academy chair Cris Abrego pointed to the global nature of modern television when announcing the agreement, saying the goal is to make the Emmys something audiences around the world can experience together.

Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins also emphasized the ceremony's nearly eight-decade history while describing the company taking over as the global home of the awards.

The Emmys Are Becoming a Year-Round Prime Video Partnership

The agreement goes beyond simply giving Prime Video six September telecasts.

Prime Video and the Television Academy say the partnership will include additional ways for viewers to engage with the Emmys throughout the year, essentially expanding the relationship beyond awards night itself.

Exactly what those additional experiences will look like remains to be seen, but it gives Amazon plenty of room to build Emmy-related programming, features and promotional events around the ceremony. It also gives the Television Academy something it hasn't had under the rotating broadcast system: one media partner that can develop a consistent strategy for the Emmys year after year instead of handing the ceremony to a different network each season.

A Pretty Big Sign of Where Television Is Headed

There is something almost perfectly symbolic about the Emmys leaving traditional broadcast television for streaming.

Streaming series have been dominating Emmy nominations and wins for years, while the line between "television" and "streaming" has become increasingly meaningless to viewers. Now the awards show itself is catching up with the industry it celebrates.

Prime Video has also continued expanding well beyond on-demand movies and television, particularly through major live programming and sports deals. Adding the Emmy Awards gives Amazon another recognizable live event designed to bring a massive audience onto the service at the same time.

The 2027 Emmy Awards will be the first ceremony under the new agreement, kicking off what will be at least six years of the Emmys calling Prime Video home. Broadcast television had a very long run with TV's biggest awards show. Starting next September, though, you'll need to open an app instead of flipping to ABC, CBS, Fox or NBC.

At least this time, you won't need another subscription.