The Television Academy has officially announced a fundamental shift in how the industry’s top honors will be distributed, signing a six-year deal with Amazon Prime Video to exclusively stream the Emmy Awards globally. Starting in 2027, the ceremony will move away from traditional broadcast television for the first time in more than 70 years.
The 79th Primetime Emmy Awards, scheduled for September 2027, will serve as the debut event for the new platform. Under the terms of the agreement, the telecast will be available to audiences in more than 240 countries and territories. In a move designed to maintain the show’s status as a broad cultural event, the Academy confirmed that viewers will not be required to have a paid Prime Video subscription to watch the ceremony; it will be accessible for free across the globe.
The End of the “Wheel Deal”
The transition effectively terminates the 31-year-old “Wheel Deal,” a long-standing rotation agreement that cycled the Emmy telecast between the four major broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. This rotation ensured that each network had a turn hosting the prestigious event, but the rise of streaming platforms and shifting audience habits have steadily altered the economic landscape of the broadcast model.
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, which aired on September 14, 2026, on NBC, marked the final ceremony under the traditional broadcast rotation. That broadcast recorded approximately 6.7 million viewers, a 10% decrease from the previous year’s audience. This decline in linear viewership provided the impetus for the Academy to seek a partner capable of reaching a younger, more global, and digital-first audience.
Accessibility and Global Reach
A primary condition of the deal was the “no-paywall” requirement. The Television Academy prioritized accessibility to ensure the program remains a mass-market event rather than a niche offering restricted to subscribers. Amazon is expected to support the free stream through an ad-supported model, similar to its approach with other high-profile live events.
By moving to a global streamer, the Emmys aim to solve a long-standing issue for international fans who often struggled to find legal, live ways to watch the ceremony outside of the United States. The 2027 telecast will be the first time the program is synchronized as a single, global streaming event on one platform, removing the need for regional broadcast licensing deals that varied by country.
While the Primetime Emmys are the centerpiece of the deal, the move follows a larger industry trend of major live events migrating to digital platforms. The transition reflects the Academy’s recognition that the “home of television” is increasingly found on streaming services rather than over-the-air signals.
