The American television awards telecast is moving to Amazon Prime Video under a six-year global agreement, marking the first time since 1949 that the event will no longer be carried on traditional broadcast television.
The deal, reported by TV with Thinus on 6 October, will make the awards available globally without requiring a Prime Video subscription. Television Academy chairman Cris Abrego said the timing was deliberate, with existing rights agreements expiring collectively and allowing the Academy to pursue a new distribution model.
For South Africa’s pay-TV market, the move removes a long-running M-Net broadcast property that has traditionally formed part of the channel’s international awards offering alongside events such as the Academy Awards. Importantly, the change is not the result of a failed local rights negotiation, but of the rights holder adopting a global distribution strategy.
That distinction is significant. As major content owners increasingly package rights globally for streaming platforms, broadcasters such as M-Net, SABC and e.tv face greater uncertainty over access to high-profile international programming. Rights that were previously negotiated market by market can increasingly be consolidated into global agreements, reducing the opportunities for local broadcasters to compete for individual territories.
The decision also raises broader questions about the value of exclusivity in the pay-TV market. If major live entertainment events can be acquired globally by streaming platforms and subsequently offered without a subscription requirement, the traditional proposition that premium content justifies a recurring pay-TV fee becomes more difficult to sustain.
The pressure is already evident in the changing international channel landscape. The report also highlights DStv’s loss of E! after the channel was replaced by Bravo, including the associated loss of its red-carpet coverage.
For African pay-TV operators, the Emmy move therefore represents more than the loss of a single annual event. It points to a wider restructuring of international content rights, where global streaming distribution can bypass established territorial broadcasters and increasingly determine how premium entertainment reaches audiences.
