In a relatively small time frame this winter, the three biggest TV events that are often used by marketers and retailers to sell HD television sets—the spectacle of the Super Bowl and the glitz and glamour of the Golden Globes and Academy Awards—are scheduled to air within only a few weeks of each other, starting next month. But the ongoing TV writers’ strike now entering its eighth week threatens to postpone or cancel the awards programs altogether.
The Golden Globes (Jan. 13), from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, is seen as the precursor to the somewhat more popular Academy Awards (Feb. 24), but TV writers will not be allowed by their guilds to write material for either show, nor to allow the use of clips of movies and TV shows to be inserted into those shows, according to the Associated Press. Take away the awards shows’ writing (which is far more extensive in such events than many viewers may realize) and the highlight clips of nominated films, and it may not leave enough left for either consumers or advertisers.
Also, this year’s returning Oscar host, Jon Stewart, has not crossed the picket line for his ongoing Comedy Central show, which is in repeats, and likely would not cross it for the awards show, either. Nor might a lot of actors and actresses nominated for awards.
While the Globes is often seen as a preview of what may be in store regarding possible Oscar winners a few weeks later, both the annual show and the Academy Awards are also seen as providing a late-winter jolt to the box office for the winners still showing in theaters. Since the Globes telecast is less than a month away, any plans to cancel or postpone it will have to be made soon (unless the writers’ strike ends unexpectedly quickly).
Red carpet footage of both awards spectacles is often used by retailers and exhibitors to demo HD throughout the year.
Only the third big HD program event of the winter (and the biggest of them all), Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix Feb. 3, will not be directly affected by the strike.
