HFPA sues Dick Clark Prods over Globes deal (VAR, THR, NYT)

By Nancy Tartaglione

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn is suing the longtime producer of the Golden Globe telecast, Dick Clark Prods, claiming the latter is attempting to steal the rights to the show. The HFPA filed suit on Wednesday against the company along with its owner, Red Zone Capital Partners. Among other things, the suit claims trademark infringement, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

(Variety notes that Dick Clark Prods has the rights to produce the Globes in 2011, but the litigation raises doubts about what happens after that.)

A deal which DCP made with NBC late last month to broadcast the awards show through 2018 was the catalyst for the suit. But the HFPA says the licensing agreement was made "surreptitiously" and "without their consent or authorization."

"Months earlier, HFPA had specifically instructed DCP not to discuss television broadcast rights with anyone unless and until HFPA and DCP were able to consummate a new deal to extend their soon-to-expire contractual relationship," the suit states. "DCP assured HFPA that it would never do such a thing, but then broke its commitment by commencing and completing broadcast rights negotiations with NBC -- all behind HFPA's back, and all while pretending to negotiate a new contract with HFPA."

The suit says that Mark Shapiro, CEO of DCP, e-mailed HFPA president Philip Berk in February with assurances that "I would never make a move on a network renewal or new home without your involvement."

But on Oct 29, DCP sent Berk a letter informing him that it had made a new deal with NBC to run through 2018. "In short," the lawsuit states, "DCP granted NBC a broadcasting license for rights that were not DCP's to grant."

The HFPA is currently in the last year of its own 10-year deal with NBC and is jockeying for a new, more lucrative set-up, notes The Hollywood Reporter.

The HFPA also alleges that DCP "has taken great liberties with its accounting for revenue generated by the Golden Globes Awards shows."

In a statement, Dick Clark Prods. said: "The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., knowing it has no case in a court of law, is attempting to try this case in the court of public opinion. We are confident the case has no merit in either venue. Our respective rights under the contract are clear. The HFPA cannot unilaterally change the basis on which DCP and the HFPA have done business for almost three decades."

Meanwhile, relations between the HFPA and DCP have cooled since private equity firm Red Zone acquired the production company in 2007. The suit also claims that Red Zone "is manipulating its control to drain DCP of its assets," by putting up the library of Golden Globe shows and preshows as security to obtain a $165 million high interest short-term loan in part to pay for past debt. Per Variety, the suit also claims that the "timing was not a coincidence," suggesting that Red Zone has been "quietly seeking buyers" for DCP.

DCP has produced the show since 1983. In the 90s, it clinched a deal with NBC and, according to the suit, the arrangement has been that the HFPA and DCP split the proceeds from the show 50-50.

Under the new deal with DCP, NBC is said to be paying $17 million beginning in 2012 with the figure increasing to $26 million in 2018.

An unidentified person briefed on the suit told The New York Times that HFPA members believe that rights to the show are worth far more than the new fee DCP negotiated.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against DCP from using the Globe trademarks for anything not related to January's Globes telecast. It does not challenge the upcoming January 16 show.