by Thinus Ferreira
Exactly as I said would happen, the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards which was set for 18 September has now been indefinitely postponed to sometime in 2024 with the American awards show that will no longer take place due to the ongoing strikes by writers and actors in the United States.
While the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences hasn't issued any statement, American publications reported late on Thursday nights that various vendors supplying products and services to the Emmys, told the Academy they would no longer be involved.
The members of the SAG-AFTRA union representing actors in the United States and the Writers Guild of America representing writers in the United States, are striking and demanding better deals with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
The AMPTP represents all of America's biggest TV and film studios as well as streaming services ranging from The Walt Disney Company to Netflix.
Actors and writers are demanding policy protections from the AMPTP against the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as better contracts and more transparency from streamers - most notably an increase in residual payments for their work carried on video streaming services like Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and others.
The last time the Primetime Emmy Awards was postponed was in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City when it was pushed to November of that year.
In South Africa, the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards would have aired live on M-Net (DStv 101) at 03:00 on Tuesday 19 September and again during primetime on the same day.
