Traditional Golden Globes Telecast Canceled Due to the WGA Strike

Thanks to the ongoing WGA (Writer's Guild of America) strike, the Golden Globe's Award ceremony has been modified. NBC, which owns the rights to air the Golden Globe ceremony, in conjunction with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have come to an agreement that the winners will simply be announced rather than being aired live via telecast or holding any type of ceremony for that matter. However, the HFPA will make the winning announcements live on NBC News, which means, according to Shawn Adler of MTV.com "that as a news event this will allow for the winners to be able to accept their awards and then head over to a press room for interviews and photos".

The reason that the Golden Globes had to be canceled is because the company that produces the ceremony, Dick Clark Productions, was not able to come to an agreement with the striking WGA. The WGA continues to strike because of the lack of revenue that individual writers receive for the digital rights to their work. When Dick Clark Production could not reach an agreement with the WGA they threatened to proceed with the show without writers. In turn the WGA threatened to picket the ceremony if it were to be televised. In an act of solidarity the Screen Actors Guild advised all actors to boycott the Golden Globes. This meant that there would be no actors present at the Golden Globe's ceremony as well as NBC would not have the legal rights to air any footage from any of the nominated films and programs. Therefore no home viewers would be tuning in, which in turn would mean that NBC and Dick Clark Productions would lose money.

DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com has obtained an unofficial schedule for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's announcements of the Golden Globe winners. According to DHA, on January 13, 2007, between 9 and 10 pm EST, NBC News will air a "press conference" in which the winners will be announced. It is assumed that there will be various Golden Globe parties in process where NBC News will be able to capture the winner's reaction and conduct interviews.

With the awards season about to be kicked off, many wonder what will be the fate of other ceremonies such as the Academy Awards. If the demands of the WGA are not met then it looks as though the Oscars as well as the other award shows will suffer the same fate as the Golden Globes.