CBS signs deal to host Golden Globes through 2029

CBS has signed a deal to become the exclusive U.S. broadcast home of the Golden Globe Awards for the next five years.

The network, which carried the telecast Jan. 7, 2024, for the first time on more than forty years, will continue to carry the broadcast in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029, Deadline was first to report.

The deal also includes streaming rights on Paramount+.

CBS had signed on to carry the 2024 telecast about a month before the ceremony, taking a risk after the show dipped to its lowest-ever airing on NBC in 2023.

Viewership of the CBS broadcast was estimated at just under 10 million (Live+7), which was an improvement of about 50% over 2023.

Awards shows, which have been struggling to maintain consistent ratings for years, have since been showing signs of growth, including the Grammys’ 2024 outing on CBS and the Oscars on ABC, which have also brought audiences in line with pre-2020 numbers.

The 81st Golden Globes were also hosted by a less high-profile name, comedian Jo Koy, who received significant backlash for his hosting, though it appears CBS was still able to capture viewership.

The Globes traditionally are held at the The Beverly Hilton, though 2021’s show was broadcast from there and the Rainbow Room in New York City due to COVID-19 concerns (there were also separate “watch party”-style venues for smaller groups of nominees).

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Most awards shows have contracts with one or more major broadcast or cable networks to carry their annual telecasts, often renewed in multiyear blocks. 

CBS notably also holds the rights to the Tonys telecast.

ABC has a deal for the Oscars and Country Music Awards, while NBC had been known for carrying the Globes (it had carried the ceremony every year since 1996 with the exception of 2008, when the awards ceremony was not produced due to a WGA strike and 2022 due to a boycott against the organizers). CBS last broadcast the show in 1982.

The Emmys, meanwhile, rotate between ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox each year in a deal between the four networks and the Globes that runs through 2026.

The Golden Globes began facing criticism for the underrepresentation of Black members in the now-defunct Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the original organizer of the awards.  

Despite announcing efforts at reform, the HFPA was disbanded in 2023 and the Golden Globes intellectual property was sold to Dick Clark Productions, whose owners include Penske Media, a company with significant business in the entertainment news and publishing industry, owning titles such as Variety and Deadline Hollywood.