NBCUniversal has been holding the annual Golden Globe Awards for a long time – one of Hollywood’s most prestigious events.
The awards show aired on NBC for 25 years, and in 2018, NBCUniversal strengthened its seat by renewing its TV rights deal with the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Golden Globes broadcast.
NBCUniversal is accepting a staggering increase in fees as the program has become prominent and even more important for the network and advertisers struggling to engage viewers in a broken TV landscape.
NBCUniversal has agreed to pay the group of international journalists and Dick Clark Productions nearly $ 60 million a year through 2026 for rights to watch Hollywood’s night of glamor and splendor on television – up from $ 21 million a year in 2018.
But now, all this is to be doubted.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. is in turmoil following a Los Angeles Times investigation that exposed dubious business practices and the lack of black members. The 87-member group has not had a black member for more than twenty years, and this week more than 100 of the entertainment industry’s most powerful publicists sent a scathing letter to the HFPA threatening to block the group’s access to their strong clients. stop. unless the organization makes significant reforms.
The publicists and Time’s Up, the activist group founded by prominent women in Hollywood, called for NBCUniversal’s association with the HFPA. Some have argued that Comcast Corp’s media company shares responsibility for the problems of the organized organization, which the publicists wrote in their letter: ‘discriminatory behavior, unprofessionalism, ethical misconduct and alleged financial corruption’.
The HFPA has announced that it will appoint and reach out to an expert on diversity and equity to try to recruit black journalists and others from under-represented backgrounds. This week, the HFPA pledged to expand its membership from 87 to 100 or more, by adding at least 13 black journalists to its ranks.
Until now, NBCUniversal has remained silent about the HFPA, which has promised to come up with an action plan by 6 May. But the silence of NBCUniversal to date has only contributed to the controversy.
“In this day and age, you can not broadcast a program on your network and then step back and say, ‘We have nothing to do with it,'” Todd Boyd, a professor of cinema and media studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts “NBC has a huge influence because they fund the organization and broadcast the Golden Globes in their network. They need to be involved in changing these unfortunate circumstances.”
NBCUniversal provides the largest source of revenue to the HFPA. The license fee is split between Dick Clark Productions and the HFPA, which raised $ 27.4 million from the network last financial year.
One of the industry’s best-known producers, Shonda Rhimes (‘Bridgerton’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Scandal’), put it more bluntly this month in a Twitter message: “Hey, @NBCUniversal, how much money do you pay to this organization without black people? @comcast, are you okay with that? Vra Rhimes.
In an interview with The Times, NBCUniversal’s vice president and chief diversity officer Craig Robinson responded to the criticism, saying that the network had been working behind the scenes for the past three weeks in collaboration with its two partners – the HFPA and Dick Clark Productions. .
“Our perceived silence on this should not be equated with apathy or a lack of concern,” Robinson said. “We take these issues very seriously, and we also understand our role and the importance of our role in encouraging HFPA to make the necessary changes – and we use that influence.”
Robinson said NBCUniversal executives, including Susan Rovner, who chairs television and streaming entertainment content; and Frances Berwick, chair of entertainment networks, began a series of meetings with the HFPA days after the February 28 awards show. Robinson said at several meetings that the NBCUniversal delegation stressed that the viability of the program depends on the group’s efforts to reform.
NBCUniversal has asked, among others, the HFPA to recruit Black and other diverse members and also address dubious business practices outlined in The Times article, including the use of the organization of its funds. The Times’ investigation revealed that the organization pays members to watch movies, participates in a number of committees and performs Globes tasks, including writing articles for the group’s website.
“There is no transparency and no accountability, and that only leads to ethical decay,” said Tina Tchen, president and CEO of Time’s Up, adding that NBCUniversal should bear some of the responsibility. “There is little interest in a private club’s thoughts on films, but for the platform that NBCUniversal, Comcast and Dick Clark Productions offer this organization,” Tchen said.
Some NBCUniversal executives have been private about calling NBCUniversal to better police the organization. These executives point out that NBCUniversal does not own the Golden Globes and should not be held responsible for the conduct of individual HFPA members.
Instead, they say NBCUniversal distributes the program on behalf of Dick Clark Productions and the HFPA. As part of the TV Rights Agreement, NBCUniversal requires HFPA to comply with various laws, including anti – discrimination laws and the 1934 Communications Act.
NBC dropped the Globes after the FCC ruled in 1968 that the awards were broadcast “significantly misleading the public about how the winners were selected and the procedures followed to select them.”
Neither Robinson nor other NBC executives would say whether the company threatened to terminate the license agreement prematurely. The contract extends through the 2026 awards show.
“As an organization, we adhere to a high standard of transparency, ethics and the creation of an inclusive culture,” Robinson said. “It’s important that our partners think the same when it comes to these issues.”
Dcp declined to comment. A person close to the company said he also works behind the scenes with the HFPA and will evaluate what reforms the association is making.
A HFPA source confirmed that he had met with NBC several times. “We are working on the implementation of our action plan and are committed to doing the job,” the source said. “We look forward to continuing to work in the future.”
Over the years, the award-winning show for NBC has become increasingly important and has tarnished the reputation of the pound network.
“Everyone in the industry wants to enter the ballroom for the Golden Globes,” said a longtime publicist who was not authorized to comment.
After being widely ridiculed at the Golden Globe Awards, it’s the official kick-off for Hollywood’s annual awards season.
In its announcement of a new deal in September 2018, NBC said the Golden Globes had become ‘one of the biggest nights on the live viewing calendar’.
The Golden Globe Awards are usually only the annual Oscar broadcast on ABC. (The Walt Disney Co. network pays an annual license fee of about $ 100 million). In some years, its ratings have been higher than those for Grammys television on CBS. And unlike the Grammys, which have seen its viewers fluctuate over the past few years, the Golden Globes’ ratings have held steady. Until this year, it appears to be immune to the decline in ratings that plague broadcasters.
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing producers to set up the show without stars in the audience, the viewer has dropped to a minimum low of 6.9 million viewers this year, according to Nielsen data.
According to an expert manager who is not authorized to speak in public, the Golden Globe Awards are no longer profitable for NBCUniversal. The program still holds other benefits, including exposure to NBCUniversal’s well-known cable channel E !, and its red carpet show, and the promotion of other programs on NBC and the company’s other cable channels. The show also strengthens the company’s hand in its negotiations with pay-TV distributors and advertisers.
The Golden Globe Awards brought in $ 47.5 million in advertising revenue for the NBC broadcast in 2020, compared to the highest water level of $ 51.9 million in 2019 when such popular films as “A Star Is Born”, “Black “Panther” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” according to Gregory Aston at Kantar Media, which monitors advertising spending, fought for big awards.
“It’s a first-class live audience, and it makes NBC much more attractive to advertisers,” Aston said. “Advertisers have relied on live opportunities – this is where they look for consumers.”
Times Staff Writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.