Emmys Sign Six-Year Deal with Prime Video at $15 Million a Year

Prime Video will pay roughly $15 million a year for global rights to the Primetime Emmys under a six-year licensing deal with the Television Academy that takes effect in September 2027. The agreement ends the 31-year-old "wheel deal" rotation among ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox and moves television's top honor off broadcast for the first time since the ceremony began in 1949.

Television Academy chair Cris Abrego declined to confirm the figure but called the payment "definitely an increase" from the previous license fees, which sources put at $8 million to $10 million annually — and only for U.S. rights.

"It's a meaningful investment," Abrego said.

Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, framed the arrangement as a long-term bet. "It's a fair deal. We're comfortable with it. We think it makes sense, particularly when you look at it over a long-term situation. We think we're going to be ultimately very happy with it, as will, I think, the Academy."

Why end the wheel?

NBC aired the 78th Emmys last month, the final broadcast of the most recent wheel deal struck in 2018. Abrego said the rotation discouraged networks from investing heavily in a show that would air on a rival the following year.

"The continuity is difficult when you're starting new every year," he said. "We wanted a real kind of commitment and investment, to build and to evolve."

Abrego said the Academy had "a lot of choices" of partners, including unnamed independent suitors. Prime Video pulled ahead after at least one network — believed to be Fox — exited the wheel.

What changes for viewers

Under the new pact, the Emmys will stream free on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories, placed in front of the paywall. Previously, U.K.-based distributor Rainmaker Content handled international syndication, excluding Canada and Australia.

The deal bundles several Emmys-related programs:

• Nights 1 and 2, the artisans-focused ceremonies formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys, which FXX had condensed into a one-off special a week later
• Potential expansion to the Daytime Emmys, if the Academy's planned 2027 merger with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences completes on schedule

Abrego described the consolidation: "We timed it perfectly so that all our deals came up collectively and it would be free and clear."

Building a longer conversation

Abrego envisions a "road to the Emmys" franchise on Prime Video, drawing on Hall of Fame ceremonies, TV Academy Honors events, and interviews. Hopkins cast the brand as inherently international in an era of day-and-date premieres.

"These are global stars, not just U.S. TV stars, and we think we can have a great impact on celebrating this medium and these storytellers globally around the world through the Emmys," he said.

He pointed to Prime Video Channels — the marketplace that already sells HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, and Peacock — as a built-in promotional engine. "We're at the Emmys, and we stand up and cheer when HBO Max wins and Apple TV wins because our customers have access to them."

The migration challenge

The Academy's biggest question, Abrego said, is educating viewers that the Emmys have left broadcast. He acknowledged the parallel to 1987, when Fox seized exclusive rights and viewership dropped from 35.8 million on NBC to 14.4 million the following year.

"Obviously it was a different time, and the landscape was so fundamentally different," he said.

Prime Video has trial runs. It acquired the Academy of Country Music Awards after CBS dropped them in 2021. The SAG-AFTRA Actor Awards moved to Netflix, and the Oscars will air on YouTube beginning in 2029.

Hopkins pointed to Thursday Night Football and on-platform promos as marketing assets. "Every year it'll be more of a consistent theme that will be a drumbeat to the Emmys," he said.

The ceremony will not extend past its current three-hour length, despite Prime Video's flexibility to run longer. "I think a three-hour award show is plenty," Hopkins said.

What the venue question signals

At least one more year will pass at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live, a venue whose naming rights belong to rival streamer Peacock. Hopkins dismissed the awkwardness. "Peacock's one of our subscription services that we offer to customers on Prime Video," he said. "That's not something that I'm too worried about."

Whether global reach and a single committed partner can offset the loss of broadcast's promotional gravity will begin answering itself in September 2027.