In the age of “peak TV,” there are an unthinkable number of television series, across hundreds of networks and streaming services, available on dozens of platforms. But when it comes to watching TV’s biggest night, the Emmy Awards, there are really only a few options.
The 69th annual Emmy Awards are Sunday, Sept. 17 at 8pm US Eastern Time. They’ll be broadcast in the United States on CBS and hosted by comedian Stephen Colbert, who will be leading his first major awards ceremony. With reigning best drama winner Game of Thrones ineligible this year, it’s a wide open field.
HBO’s Westworld and Netflix’s Stranger Things are the favorites to pick up the most wins, while The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), This Is Us (NBC), and The Crown (Netflix) should also make some noise. Other favorites of Quartz that are nominated for multiple awards include Black Mirror (Netflix), Big Little Lies (HBO), The Americans (FX), and Veep (HBO). Here is the full list of nominees.
The easiest way to watch the Emmys is on old fashioned TV:
CBS
Americans with a cable TV subscription can simply turn to CBS at 8pm ET to watch the awards. You can also check out E! for live Red Carpet coverage starting about three hours before the show begins.
CBS All Access
If you don’t have a cable subscription, you might try CBS’s streaming platform, All Access. It gives users access to CBS’s inventory of content, in addition to a live streaming version of your local CBS channel. It’s available in 174 markets across the United States, and is in most major cities. CBS has plans to make the service available in Canada and Australia, but it’s currently only allowed within the US.
You can sign up for a free trial of CBS All Access, stream the Emmys live on Sunday night, and then cancel your subscription after. If you decide to keep it, the service costs $6 per month, or $10 per month for an ad-free version. CBS All Access can be streamed on many different devices, including Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and gaming consoles.
Internet TV: DirecTV Now, Playstation Vue, Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV
A few internet TV services offer a live stream of CBS in select markets. The channel is available on:
Each service offers a free trial. Make sure that CBS is available in your local area, as it’s not part of every streaming package. If you noticed Sling TV was missing from the list above, that’s because CBS is not currently available in any Sling package.
In Canada
CTV will air and live stream the Emmys.
In Australia
Fox 8 has the rights to air the Emmys.
In other countries outside the US
Check your local listings to see if the Emmys will be broadcast live (or tape-delayed) on a TV network in your country. For those outside the US who don’t get cable TV but still really want to watch the Emmys and are okay doing something borderline illegal, you can use a VPN to trick CBS All Access (or one of the other services listed above) into thinking you’re signing up from within the US.
On Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
The Emmys will broadcast all sorts of miscellaneous content (not the actual ceremony itself) across various social media channels. It will have “Stories” on Snapchat and Instagram; behind-the-scenes videos and photos on Facebook; and an after-show sponsored by IMDb streaming on Twitter. The Emmys’ annual Backstage Live! companion show will also stream live on Emmys.com and Facebook Live.