The Tony Awards are staying on CBS through 2032. CBS, the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League announced a new five-year broadcast agreement Wednesday that extends a relationship first struck in 1978.
The run now stands alone in awards television. While the Grammys, Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys have all changed network homes in recent years, the Tonys remain on the network that has carried them for 48 years. That makes the Tonys the longest-running major awards show-network partnership in the business, and it is about to get longer.
What the pact covers
The first telecast under the new deal will be the 80th annual Tony Awards, live from Radio City Music Hall in New York on June 13, 2027, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. It will air on CBS and on the premium tier of Paramount+, keeping the show in a dual broadcast-streaming window. Raj Kapoor, Sarah Levine Hall and Jack Sussman are set to produce the 2027 show, with Kapoor and Levine Hall as co-showrunners.
Why it matters for the screen business
Awards shows are no longer fixed inventory. Rights move, audiences fragment, and platforms chase formats that can pull a live crowd. A five-year commitment gives CBS and Paramount a small but meaningful piece of certainty in a schedule built on churn. It is also a bet on appointment viewing: live programming that audiences plan around rather than find on demand.
The dual window does two jobs at once. CBS keeps a legacy live event in its linear prime-time lineup, and Paramount+ premium gets a reason to convert broadcast viewers into subscribers. For advertisers, the Tonys are not a ratings war story; the value is a concentrated live audience and a brand-safe event that can support integrations across both platforms.
Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, called the Tonys “a cornerstone” of the network’s creative arts history. The American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League said they plan to mark the 80th anniversary “with our best show yet.”
What to do with the news
- Plan the Tonys as a five-year sponsorship window, not an annual negotiation.
- Bundle broadcast and streaming placements around the fixed June 13, 2027 telecast.
- Position the show on its theatre-going audience and live context, not as a mass-reach substitute for bigger telecasts.
At its core, this is a stability play. CBS is betting that Broadway’s biggest night still works as event television, and that a locked broadcast-streaming window can serve both advertisers and subscribers through 2032.
Source: Variety
