Why did the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards get rescheduled? Explained

The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards were originally slated for September 18, 2023, but were moved to January 15, 2024, to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The previous instance of the annual awards ceremony being delayed occurred in 2001, coinciding with the tragic events of the 9/11 attacks, which took place five days prior.

The shift to January 2024 was confirmed by USA TODAY in July 2023, after the writers' and actors' strikes put Hollywood on hold. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a holiday, which makes it simpler to have an all-day event that isn't on a weekend, which is why Fox and the TV Academy chose this day. The Golden Globes were held on this Day for many years before moving to a Sunday.

Besides the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards was also held in January this year. These new dates align with the history of the Emmy Awards, which had its inaugural ceremony on January 25, 1949. Historically, these events took place in January or February, up until the early 1950s.

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The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards was rescheduled due to Hollywood strikes

The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, which was originally scheduled for September 2023, had to be canceled. This unfortunate decision was a result of the strike (SAG-AFTRA) by Hollywood writers and actors, who chose not to write for or attend the event.

In August 2023, Fox and the Television Academy made a formal announcement regarding the 75th Emmy Awards. The awards ceremony was slated to air on January 15, 2024, at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. As a result, the ceremony would be broadcast approximately four months later than its original date of September 18.

According to a report from Variety, there was a likelihood of the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards being rescheduled from September to October due to the ongoing strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. The TV Academy and Fox had differing opinions on when to air it, but they eventually reached a compromise and settled on a January 2024 date.

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What is the SAG-AFTRA strike?

The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union represents around 160,000 actors, broadcast journalists, announcers, hosts, stunt performers, and other media professionals. They are protected on issues like wages, working conditions, and residuals by a collective bargaining agreement led by the union.

Actor pay has changed due to the rise of Netflix, Hulu, and Max, which have brought with them no reliance on rerun-based royalty payments, declining residuals, and incomes that haven't kept up with inflation. Streaming has also reportedly complicated the job market. Because many shows now have shorter seasons over longer lengths, actors claim they are employed less frequently.

SAG members faced a labor landscape threatened by artificial intelligence and changed by streaming, and thus they went on strike, demanding better wages and working conditions and requesting assurances from studios and production businesses regarding the precise implementation of AI.

On November 9, after 118 days of nonstop protests and intense talks, the strike came to an end when SAG-AFTRA announced a new three-year deal with the producers' alliance. Hollywood actors could thus return to work after going on strike for almost four months.

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The announcement of the 2024 Primetime Emmy nominations took place on July 12, 2023, the day before the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike. The HBO series Succession received 27 nominations, the most number of nominations for a Primetime Emmy, ahead of two other HBO series, The Last of Us and The White Lotus, and the Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso.

To watch the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards live, tune into Fox or subscribe to a service like Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV that includes the network.