Streaming rules Emmys as Netflix snaps 17-year HBO streak

LOS ANGELES » When Netflix snapped HBO’s 17-year streak as Emmy nominations leader, more than bragging rights switched hands. It represented the breathtaking change in how audiences get and watch TV and the threat to traditional TV networks from streaming services.

Especially one like Netflix, whose multibillion-dollar investment in programming allowed it to rocket Thursday to 112 nominations just five years after launching its first original series, “House of Cards.” That’s double the total of nods it earned in 2016 and just ahead of HBO’s 108 nods (down two from 2017).

Another streamed series, Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” earned 20 nominations and a chance to defend its title as best drama series at the 70th Primetime Emmy ceremony airing Sept. 17 on NBC.

HBO still boasts the year’s mostnominated series, “Game of Thrones” (22 nods) and “Westworld” (20), while Netflix fielded “The Crown” (13 nods) and “Stranger Things (12).

“The more distribution platforms, the more content’s getting created, the more people are going to be working . ... It’s good news for us in the industry,” said Maury McIntyre, TV academy president. It’s also good news for viewers, he said, who will “always be able to find something they’re going to like.”

“It all about niche broadcasting now. You can make a show and find an audience. It may not be a core audience, but it can be a hard-core audience,” he said.

Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, saluted “our creative partners on their unprecedented success today” in a statement noting that the nominations were gained across a wide variety of categories, including scripted, documentary and comedy specials.

Netflix’s deep-pockets approach has lured a number of TV’s biggest creative stars, including Shonda