The Golden Globe Awards have found a TV home for 2024 at CBS.
The 81st edition of the awards show will air Jan. 7 on the broadcast network immediately after an NFL on CBS doubleheader. The show will also stream on Paramount+ and be available on the CBS app as part of a new deal between CBS and the Golden Globes.
“We’re so proud to bring the Golden Globes to CBS to celebrate 81 years of awards show history,” said Jay Penske, CEO, chairman and founder of Penske Media and owner of Dick Clark Productions. “CBS has demonstrated an impressive 30-year commitment to the Grammys and been instrumental to their long-term success. In CBS, we found an ideal partner who understands the value of live entertainment programming and whose multiplatform distribution model is reflective of how global audiences choose to consume content today.”
The three-hour show will air live from 8 to 11 p.m. ET/ 5 to 8 p.m. PT. Stations in the Pacific time zone that air the event live will also rebroadcast the entire telecast in primetime immediately following the live presentation.
“Live entertainment and sports have been, and will always be, a hallmark of CBS, and the Globes adds an exciting new dimension to our first quarter schedule this year,” said George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS. “The January timing also provides the added benefit of yet another signature platform to promote the return of CBS’ new primetime schedule in February.”
Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner are the executive producing showrunners of the 81st Annual Golden Globes via White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will also direct the telecast. Dick Clark Productions will produce.
The deal brings the Golden Globes back to CBS for the first time since 1982, when the Eye network dropped the telecast over concerns that the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association had awarded a “new star of the year” prize to Pia Zadora. That Zadora win has become a bit of Globes lore, as it was widely believed at the time that HFPA members had been influenced to vote for her thanks to lavish trips and gifts they were provided. The HFPA never quite shook that reputation over the years, and those kind of concerns remained up through 2021. That’s when an L.A. Times expose over the organization’s ethics (and concerns over a lack of a diverse membership) triggered an overhaul of the HFPA — which eventually dissolved and sold the Globes to Eldridge Industries (and later, a joint venture between Eldridge and Dick Clark Prods.)
But in between, the Globes managed to revive itself — first via TNT, where the kudocast ran from 1989 to 1995, and then via a deal with NBC that put the show back on broadcast in 1996. From there, it shot to great heights and became the second most-watched awards show on television, only behind the Oscars. That eventually led to a big bucks license fee with NBC, worth a reported $60 million a year. Until the bottom fell out in 2021, and NBC declined to run the broadcast in 2022. This past year, NBC agreed to a one-year deal to air one more Globes. But after that, the awards show was back on the market.
According to sources, CBS had initially passed on picking up the Globes, as had Amazon Prime Video and Netflix (which is focused this year on its new deal to televise the SAG Awards). Others were believed to have offered low-ball license fees. NBC, meanwhile, hadn’t shut the door all the way on bringing the Globes back, but already had an NFL Sunday Night Football game on Jan. 7 — the night that the Globes had confirmed for the 2024 ceremony.
This is a landmark year for the Globes, as it marks the first ceremony since Dick Clark Prods. and Eldridge Industries acquired the awards show’s assets, rights and properties from the now-defunct Hollywood Foreign Press Association. (Variety parent PMC owns Dick Clark Prods. in a joint venture with Eldridge.)
It also comes following a major overhaul of the Globes’ management team and its membership body, including those who vote on the awards. Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne was joined in August by former Variety editor Tim Gray, who now serves as executive vice president at the organization. Together, the two have been charged with evolving the entity — and in time for this year’s voting.
