Networks Agree to New Emmys Broadcast Deal

LOS ANGELES: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has signed a $66 million eight-year deal with ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC for the broadcast rights to the Primetime Emmy Awards.

The Academy’s contract with the four broadcast networks to televise the awards has been extended through 2018. The networks will rotate the rights, with FOX having them for the 2011 telecast—to be exec-produced by Mark Burnett on September 18—followed by ABC, CBS and then NBC. The networks will pay a license fee of at least $8.25 million for the program, for a guaranteed $66 million over the course of the eight-year deal.

Television Academy chairman and CEO John Shaffner said, "We are excited about the continued collaboration with our broadcast partners, and look forward to working with FOX and—for the first time—with Mark Burnett on this year’s telecast."

Burnett added, "As an Emmy Award winner, I know the excitement of standing on the Emmy stage before your peers and the American public to receive that statue. My mission in producing this year’s Emmys is to provide the absolutely most memorable television experience for the nominees, the winners and the viewing audience."