So that’s it.
The Golden Globes will live on as a brand, but their infamous, festering voting membership is over.
Todd Boehly and Jay Penske, who own Dick Clark Productions, the Hollywood Reporter, and Variety have bought the Globes. They’re shutting down the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Some members will continue on to a new body, others will not.
It’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The Globes still have no broadcast partner for the coming awards season. Their ratings on NBC last January were terrible. The group has lost all possible respect, which isn’t hard to believe since they never had any integrity.
The announcement was made in The Hollywood Reporter. They say Boehly’s Eldridge Properties have acquired all of the Golden Globes’ assets, rights and properties from the HFPA and intends to establish a new Golden Globe Foundation through which it will continue the sort of entertainment-related charitable giving that was perhaps the most admirable quality of the HFPA.
The group’s current president, Helen Hoehne, is said to be continuing to the new organization. But what about all the freeloaders who’ve traded on the Globes’ importance to the studios? What will happen to them? And who will replace them? Those questions are unanswered.
This is a major moment in Hollywood. Now the trade newspapers own their own Awards show. There will be no separation of the papers, the awards mechanism, advertising in the papers for the awards, and so on. It’s just all one organism now.
“Today marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Golden Globes,” added Todd Boehly, chairman of Eldridge. “My partners at DCP and I are grateful to Helen and team for their commitment to the successful implementation of a robust approach to governance, the expansion of the diverse and international voting body, implementing a professional, safe and accountable environment and trusting new ownership with a new direction for the Globes.”
“As stewards of the Golden Globe Awards, our mission is to continue creating the most dynamic awards ceremony on live television viewed across the world,” said Jay Penske, CEO, chairman and founder of Penske Media and CEO of DCP. “We have a great team in place to grow this iconic brand and captivate new and existing audiences to celebrate the very best in television and motion pictures.”
