Emmy 2017: Streaming, Premium Cable Earns More And More Recognition

The Emmys have made it clear: If you want quality entertainment, you’re going to have to pay for it.

Streaming services and premium channels secured a disproportionate share of the main award nominations Thursday, well beyond that of basic cable competitors.

Of the 180 submissions for Best Drama Series, Netflix, Inc. NFLX seized three of seven spots. The other four were occupied by Time Warner Inc TWX’s HBO; Hulu, a joint venture between Walt Disney Co DIS, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc FOX, Comcast Corporation CMCSA and Time Warner; and the underrepresented cable channels of AMC Networks Inc AMCX and Comcast’s NBC.

Other categories were similarly dominated by the costlier program producers and premium rivaled cable for the most-nominated show. “Westworld” of Time Warner’s HBO secured 22 nominations ━ as many as NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Here is a more complete breakdown of the viewing categories:

The Streamers

Having ramped up their original content production in both film and television, content streaming platforms hit a number of milestones this year.

Netflix represented the nascent producers at the esteemed Cannes Film Festival after both it and competitor Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN’s Prime brought home Academy Awards and Golden Globes.

The two are positioned to continue their streak at the upcoming Emmy Awards, for which Netflix boasts the second most nominations of any network and Amazon the ninth most.

• Netflix: 91
• Hulu: 18
• Amazon: 16
• YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG: 6

The Premium

After having claimed none of the 14 Golden Globes for which it was nominated, HBO secured the most Emmy nominations of any network or platform. Showtime, whose single Golden Globe nod resulted in a loss, took seized another notable block.

• HBO: 111
• Showtime, owned by a CBS subsidiary: 15

The Cable Package

A diverse field of cable networks proved competitive, from the widely accessed, basic channels to the more exclusive viewings in the higher tier packages.

• NBC: 64
• FX Networks, owned by 21st Century Fox: 55
• ABC: 33
• CBS Corporation CBS: 29
• Fox: 21
• National Geographic: 15
• AMC: 13
• PBS: 11
• A&E, owned by Hearst Corporation and Disney: 10
• BBC America, jointly owned by AMC and BBC: 10
• TBS, a division of Time Warner: 9
• VH1, owned by Viacom, Inc. VIAB: 8
• CNN, owned by a division of Time Warner: 7
• ESPN, owned by Disney: 7
• Lifetime, owned by Hearst Corporation and Disney: 6
• Comedy Central, owned by Viacom: 5
• Disney Channel: 5

A number of other channels secured nominations, including Bravo, a subsidiary of Comcast’s NBCUniversal; truTV, owned by a division of Time Warner; IFC, owned by AMC; HGTV, owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. SNI; Spike TV, owned by Viacom; TLC, owned by Discovery Communications Inc. DISCA; Food Network, a joint venture between Scripps and Tribune Media Co TRCO; and Discovery Channel.

Some of the notable titles among the lower-priced cable channels prove as costly to view as their streamed or premium competitors, as networks such as FX stash their aired collection behind online paywalls.

The industry’s recognition will likely lend a boost to their profitable strategies.

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Image Credit: By Ignacio Peña (Ignacio Peña) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons