NBCUniversal has long maintained strict control over the annual Golden Globe Awards – one of Hollywood’s most valuable events.
The award was shown on NBC for 25 years, and in 2018, NBCUniversal solidified its position by renewing its TV rights contract with Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Golden Globe broadcast.
NBCUniversal accepted an impressive increase in fees because the program had grown in prominence, making it all the more important for the network and its advertisers struggling to engage viewers in a fragmented TV setting.
NBCUniversal has agreed to pay the group of international journalists and Dick Clark Productions nearly $ 60 million a year by 2026 for the rights to televise Hollywood’s glitter and glamor night – up from about $ 21 million a year in 2018.
But now, all of this is in doubt.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. is in crisis after an investigation by the Los Angeles Times, which exposed questionable business practices and a lack of black members. The 87-member group has not had a black member in more than 20 years, and this week, more than 100 of the entertainment industry’s most powerful advertisers sent an aggressive letter to HFPA, threatening to cut off the group’s access to its famous clients. unless the organization makes significant reforms.
Advertisers and Time’s Up, the activist group founded by prominent women in Hollywood, called for the association of NBCUniversal with HFPA. Some argued that the media company owned by Comcast Corp. shares responsibility for the troubled organization’s problems, which advertisers, in their letter, wrote including “discriminatory behavior, lack of professionalism, ethical impropriety and alleged financial corruption”.
HFPA announced that it would hire a diversity and equity specialist and engage in outreach to try to recruit black journalists and others from underrepresented backgrounds. This week, the HFPA promised to expand its membership from 87 to 100 or more, adding at least 13 black journalists to its ranks.
So far, NBCUniversal has remained silent on the HFPA, which has pledged to present an action plan by May 6. But NBCUniversal’s silence so far has only added to the controversy.
“These days, you can’t broadcast a program on your network and then go back and say, ‘We have nothing to do with it,'” Todd Boyd, professor of film and media studies at the USC School of Motion Picture Arts, said . “NBC has great influence because it finances the organization and shows the Golden Globe on its network. They need to be involved in changing these unfortunate circumstances. “
NBCUniversal provides the largest source of revenue for HFPA. The license fee is split between Dick Clark Productions and HFPA, which in the past fiscal year raised $ 27.4 million from the chain.
One of the most prominent producers in the industry, Shonda Rhimes (“Bridgerton,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal”), this month put it most directly in a Twitter message: “Hey, @NBCUniversal, how much do you pay for this organization without blacks? @comcast, are you good with that? Rhimes asked.
In an interview with The Times, NBCUniversal executive vice president and diversity director Craig Robinson responded to criticism and said the network had spent the past three weeks working behind the scenes in collaboration with its two partners – HFPA and Dick Clark Productions.
“Our perceived silence about this should not be equated with apathy or lack of concern,” said Robinson. “We are taking these issues very seriously and we also understand our role and the importance of our role in encouraging HFPA to do what we consider necessary changes – and we are using that influence.”
Robinson said executives at NBCUniversal, including Susan Rovner, who is president of television and streaming entertainment content; and Frances Berwick, who is president of entertainment networks, began a series of meetings with HFPA days after the February 28 awards. During several meetings, said Robinson, the NBCUniversal delegation emphasized that the program’s viability depends on the group’s efforts to reform.
Among other things, NBCUniversal asked HFPA to recruit Black and other diverse members and also to address questionable business practices detailed in The Times article, including the organization’s use of its funds. The Times investigation revealed that the organization pays members to watch movies, participate in a number of committees and perform tasks related to Globes, including writing articles for the group’s website.
“There is no transparency and no accountability, and that just leads to ethical lapses,” said Time’s Up president and chief executive, Tina Tchen, adding that NBCUniversal needs to assume some of the responsibility. “There would be little interest in a private club’s ideas about films, except for the platform that NBCUniversal, Comcast and Dick Clark Productions offers to this organization,” said Tchen.
Some NBCUniversal executives in particular were angered by calls for NBCUniversal to better police the organization. These executives point out that NBCUniversal does not own the Golden Globe and that it should not be responsible for the behavior of individual HFPA members.
Instead, they say that NBCUniversal distributes the program on behalf of Dick Clark Productions and HFPA. As part of the TV rights agreement, NBCUniversal requires HFPA to comply with several laws, including anti-discrimination statutes and the 1934 Communications Act.
NBC abandoned the Globes after the FCC discovered in 1968 that the broadcast of awards “substantially misleads the public about how the winners were chosen and the procedures followed to choose them”.
Neither Robinson nor other NBC executives said whether the company had threatened to terminate the license agreement in advance. The contract extends until the 2026 award.
“As an organization, we maintain a high standard of transparency, ethics and the creation of an inclusive culture,” said Robinson. “It is important that our partners think the same way when it comes to these issues.”
The PDD declined to comment. A person close to the company said he has also been working behind the scenes with HFPA and will assess what reforms the association is doing.
A source close to HFPA has confirmed that it has met with NBC several times. “We are working to implement our action plan and are committed to getting the job done,” said the source. “We look forward to continuing to work together in the future.”
Over the years, the award has become increasingly important to NBC and has enhanced the reputation of the Peacock chain.
“Everyone in the industry cries out to enter that ballroom for the Golden Globe,” said a longtime aide who was not allowed to comment.
Once widely derided, the Golden Globe Awards are the official kickoff for the annual Hollywood awards season.
In its announcement of a new deal in September 2018, NBC sang that the Golden Globe had become “one of the biggest nights on the calendar for live viewing”.
The Golden Globe Awards were second only to the annual Oscar broadcast on ABC. (Walt Disney Co. pays an annual license fee of about $ 100 million). In a few years, his ratings surpassed those of the Grammy broadcast on CBS. And unlike the Grammy, which has seen its audience fluctuate in recent years, the Golden Globe ranking has remained stable. Until this year, he seemed to be immune to the drop in ratings that plagued broadcasters.
This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing producers to stage the starless show in the audience, the audience has dropped to the historic low of 6.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.
The Golden Globe Awards are no longer profitable for NBCUniversal, according to an experienced executive who was not allowed to speak publicly. Still, the program has other benefits, including increasing the exposure of NBCUniversal’s celebrity cable channel, E !, and its red carpet show, and promoting other programming on NBC and other company cable channels. The program also strengthens the company’s position in negotiations with pay-TV distributors and advertisers.
The Golden Globe Awards brought $ 47.5 million in advertising revenue for NBC’s broadcast in 2020, below the $ 51.9 million watermark in 2019, when popular films like “A star is born”, ” Black Panther “and” Bohemian Rhapsody “were in the running for major awards, according to Gregory Aston of Kantar Media, who monitors advertising spending.
“It’s a premium live audience and that makes NBC a lot more attractive to advertisers,” said Aston. “Advertisers have been leaning towards live events – that’s where they’re looking for consumers.”
Times staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.