[ad_1]
It wasn’t that way back that reside telecasts like main league sporting occasions and star-studded awards reveals had been thought-about the savior of networks struggling to keep up relevancy in a streaming age.
And whereas streamers have taken their lumps currently — and sports activities is certainly conserving the lights on in linear — the age of blockbuster awards reveals seems to be over. Which might imply it’s maybe an inopportune time for the ceremonies on the market in search of a brand new dwelling or, within the case of the Golden Globes, seeking to return, interval.
Late final month, the Hollywood International Press Assn. agreed to let Eldridge Industries, run by Todd Boehly, buy the Golden Globes and make that a part of the HFPA a for-profit enterprise. Eldridge has additionally taken management of Dick Clark Prods., the corporate that produces the Globes, which suggests Boehly has a vested curiosity in getting the present again on NBC.
NBC took a Globes breather in 2022 after new allegations of questionable monetary practices contained in the small, insular group — in addition to its paltry report of range and illustration — turned the already controversial HFPA into extra of a pariah. The org has spent greater than a yr in reform mode, to the purpose that NBC seems able to convey the present again in 2023.
NBC and the HFPA stay in talks to make it official, however insiders say a lot of the heavy negotiating is finished, and now it comes right down to remaining smaller points. It’s unclear whether or not NBC can pay the whopping $60 million license charge that was renegotiated in 2018, when networks had been notably determined to carry on to reside occasions. However the true query mark revolves across the willingness of stars to indicate up for the occasion. No A-list dedication interprets to no curiosity from NBC.
The Globes, a minimum of, has a theoretical broadcast dwelling to return to. The Display Actors Guild Awards will discover itself homeless in 2023, as longtime associate TNT (and its sister community TBS) proceed to downsize within the wake of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Because the T-Nets shed property, the SAG Awards parted methods with the cabler firm after 25 years.
SAG-AFTRA has employed energy lawyer Ken Ziffren to discover a new dwelling for the telecast, which is now being shopped to retailers. However thus far, insiders say the worth tag is steep, as are the prices of manufacturing the present. With budgets tightening because the economic system grows shaky, and the urge for food for awards reveals changing into even much less obvious, it’s unlikely any of the most important nets has any cash to spare to bid very excessive.
“There’s no win,” says one community exec. “The SAG Awards at its finest isn’t going to maneuver anybody’s needle.”
Additionally in the marketplace: The Movie Independent Spirit Awards, which has aired for years on IFC. After all, IFC hasn’t been the Impartial Movie Channel in almost a decade, which made the ceremony a bit misplaced on a community now targeted on quirky comedies and sitcom reruns. With IFC now out of the image, it’s unclear the place — or if — the Indie Spirits would possibly land, however it might stumble upon the identical limitations because the SAG Awards.
Most awards reveals have confronted steep scores declines lately, tempering the thrill for these telecasts. The 2022 SAG Awards averaged 1.8 million viewers, which was up from its pre-taped digital telecast the yr earlier than, however nonetheless beneath pre-COVID ranges. This yr’s Spirit Awards, which moved from its normal day-before-Oscars dwelling to a few weeks beforehand in a bid to draw extra viewers, didn’t seem to take action.
In 2021, Amazon made headlines by grabbing the rights to the Academy of Nation Music Awards after CBS opted to not renew its cope with the telecast. In the meantime, the Daytime Emmys solely not too long ago returned to broadcast TV, on CBS, after a decade with out a main broadcast associate. (One other one-time powerhouse TV franchise, the Miss America pageant, wound up on Peacock for its most up-to-date version.)
These aren’t the one awards reveals dealing with stiff headwinds. Earlier this month, the Tv Critics Assn. revealed the winners of the TCA Awards by press launch, slightly than in a ceremony, for the third straight yr because of the pandemic. The Tv Critics Assn. had deliberate to return to an in-person summer season press tour this yr, which might have included an in-person TCA Awards hosted by “Abbott Elementary” stars Sheryl Lee Ralph, Janelle James, and Lisa Ann Walter. However when networks dropped out of the tour over ongoing COVID-19 considerations, the TCA press tour was compelled to go digital once more — and scrap a TCA Awards occasion. The TCA hopes to lastly return in individual in January, with a watch towards lastly bringing again the awards in 2023.
In the meantime, the high-profile controversy surrounding the Hollywood International Press Affiliation has additionally led to scrutiny of different, even smaller awards-based organizations. That features the Critics Alternative Affiliation — which was additionally topic to an L.A. Instances profile that mentioned “the nonprofit group has been dogged by among the identical points, together with questions over its credibility, governance and potential conflicts of curiosity.” Extra not too long ago, the Hollywood Critics Assn. can be coping with inner strife.
Largely made up of bloggers and regional writers, the HCA, previously the Los Angeles On-line Movie Critics Society, has tried to enter the oversaturated marketplace for movie and TV accolades. The group attracted a bevy of A-list expertise for its two-night HCA TV Awards occasion on the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, Aug. 13, and Sunday, Aug. 14, dividing its live-streamed ceremony into two nights, awarding broadcast and cable on one and streaming on the opposite.
A number of days after HCA’s awards this month, a fiery alternate erupted on the org’s personal Fb web page. One member, a California-based author, questioned the allocation of entry charges and membership dues, in addition to what number of members truly voted on the awards — considerations that different present and former members had privately requested as properly. The author, who’s not a member, posted a number of allegations on Twitter (arguing that the HCA “didn’t have their shit collectively”), resulting in a stop and desist discover from the org’s lawyer.
In response to the HCA, roughly 80 members (out of 146) voted within the HCA TV Awards, and “emails had been despatched to the majority of membership as proven within the beforehand forwarded electronic mail. The one individuals who didn’t get ballots are these members who opted out of voting previous to ballots being despatched out.” As for questions of whether or not HCA management influenced the winners, org head Scott Menzel tells Selection that he introduced in “a 3rd social gathering individual to supervise voting this yr. The individual employed despatched out all ballots and was accountable for dealing with the tallying of all the outcomes. Management has zero management over who votes and for what they vote for.” The HCA additionally despatched an FAQ to its members, noting that “entry charges are used to assist cowl and enhance the HCA TV Awards ceremonies’ bills, together with the venue’s price, present manufacturing, purple carpet manufacturing, the photographers, videographers, editors, graphic designers, safety, awards statues, meals, alcohol, applications, public relations, and so on.”
(Cynthia Littleton contributed to this report.)
[ad_2]
Source link