NBC lost exclusive rights to the Golden Globes yesterday, unwilling to pay a licensing fee for a show that’s been reduced to a press conference by the writers' strike. The conference will now be covered on several channels, including CNN and E!, and won’t be picketed by the Writer’s Guild—meaning stars may actually show up, the LA Times reports.
Dick Clark Productions had demanded a “nominal license fee,” but according to NBC, the “nominal” fee was “north of seven figures.” NBC is threatening to sue for breach of contract. The network had planned to broadcast the conference following a two-hour Dateline special, which DCP saw as “an exclusive three-hour broadcast special disguised as a news conference.” (More Golden Globes stories.)