HFPA's scandal-riddled 80th Golden Globes to return to television with awards show on 10 January 2023.

by Thinus Ferreira

America's scandal-riddled Golden Globe Awards from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the precursor of the annual Oscars, will return to television in 2023 for the 80th Golden Globe Awards on 10 January, meaning that M-Net (DStv 101) will broadcast it for DStv subscribers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa early that morning, and again as a recorded awards show during primetime.

The HFPA and America's NBC TV network announced in a statement that the 80th Golden Globe Awards will be taking place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on 10 January 2023 as a once-off deal.

The return to television of the scandal-damaged Golden Globes comes after massive negative exposure and a backlash from America's TV and film industry following shocking exposes about HFPA practises, a lack of diversity in its closed membership ranks with no black members, and the HFPA promising to reform but continuing to fail to adequately change.

The HFPA will announce the nominations for the 80th Golden Globes on 12 December 2022. 

"We recognise the HFPA's commitment to ongoing change and look forward to welcoming back the Golden Globes to NBC for its landmark 80th anniversary in January 2023." says Frances Berwick, chairman of entertainment networks at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, in a statement.

Helen Hoehne, HFPA president, in the statement, says "We are thrilled to announce the return of the Golden Globe Awards on NBC and to hosting the party of the year for audiences around the world who have been waiting for its return".

"It's great to be back at the Beverly Hilton for the must-see celebration recognising the best in film and television. The HFPA remains committed to important changes and supporting programmes which prioritise diversity, inclusion, and transparency."

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV reports and articles to read - 3 March 2021.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:    

■ Netflix has commissioned an Asterix limited animation series.

■ SHOCKER: "Just a question of time" until the ultimate demise of traditional pay-TV.

■ Cord-cutting whereby American consumers dump their traditional pay-TV subscription was the worst-ever in 2020.

■ ANC political party doing public protests over eNCA's (DStv 403) racist mask scandal.

- ANC gives eNCA 7 days to respond to its racist mask incident.

- ANC to submit official complaint to Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA).

■ Dear M-Net (DStv 101) with Love Island SA scandal, eNCA (DStv 403) with racist mask scandal, and everyone else working in PR in South African television: Top six Disney lines every creative PR pro should live by.

■ The BBC yet again interviewed the wrong person and this time it got fooled in a deliberate hoax.

■ The SABC and the Emzini Wezinsizwa actors Jerry Phele and Augustine Shotholo are fighting over unpaid residuals the actors are owed after the SABC broadcast repeats of seasons of the show.

■ As Prince Phillip remains in hospital, will Britain's ITV delay the broadcast of Oprah's bombshell interview special with Harry and Meghan?

■ "Love Island South Africa cast on M-Net (DStv 101) doesn't feel South African."

■ China's StarTimes pay-TV operator in Africa denies that it is under a liquidation order over unpaid debt for content rights - but hilariously admits that it is in court proceedings over it - which is exactly what was originally reported.

■ Taylor Swift slams Netflix over deeply sexist joke about her love life.

■ The famously matricless former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng and other SABC executives must pay back the money paid to certain music "legends".

■ Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) staffers shocked over its launch of Rightly as a rightwing platform: "A betrayal of the values that we work towards". m: "

■ ViacomCBS's Paramount+ video streaming service is targeting a younger demographic.

■ A lot more SABC staffers are getting fired and left without jobs in the retrenchment process of the South African public broadcaster than just 300 says Bemawu trade union.

■ 2021's Golden Globes ratings crater.

- Viewers tuning out of the fake fest.

- 78th Golden Globes ratings fall to an All-Time Low.

- It's time to ditch the Golden Globes.

- Technical glitches were not the only disasters at the tone-deaf HFPA's Golden Globes.

■ Jon Bon Jovi admits that he has never watched Sex and the City although he appeared in it.

■ Disney CEO Bob Shapek sees no turning back from the introduction of new streaming-movie release windows.

■ Is Discovery Inc.'s new video streaming service Discovery+ a success?

■ "A la Carte" - the opposite of the "bundling" of TV channels with traditional pay-TV is taking on a whole new meaning with video streamers.

■ The BBC is reviving its axed BBC3 TV channel as a linear broadcast channel from January after it was shuttered in 2015.

The BBC will double its content commissions for the channel over the next 2 years as it focuses on content for 16 to 35-year olds.

■ Will the future of Grey's Anatomy seen on M-Net (Dstv 101) be decided sooner rather than later?

■ Why Disney releases Friday episodes of WandaVision on its Disney+ streaming service late in the night on Thursdays to the world except for South Africa where thousands pirate view it.

■ "Television is capable of ripping you apart."

■ Ryan Seacrest on why he left E!'s (DStv 124) red carpet coverage after 14 years  just before the Golden Globes.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 8 January 2019.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ The 76th Golden Globes were an embarrassment.
Show flung trophies to inexcusably problematic and misguided films, ceremony bizarrely paced with no cohesive sense of spirit, purpose, or tone, and the TV side you can scratch your head for days.
■ And the TV awards show host is dead.
■ And the Fii water girl photobomber Kelleth Cuthbert at the Golden Globes is revealed to be a married Canadian model who married her Playboy photographer husband.
■ And Melissa McCarthy wanted people to feed and handed out secret ham sandwiches at the Golden Globes after she snuck in snacks.

■ LG's mind-bending, rollable TV is real and it goes on sale later in 2019.
LG's latest OLED TV is completely flexible and rolls away into its base when not in use.

■ Netflix's upcoming content crisis.
The biggest shows on Netflix are owned by other companies.

■ Why is Netflix enabling Saudi Arabia's crackdown on press freedom?

■ The first global decline in pay-TV subscribers.
The total number of pay-TV subscribers of the 100 leading services in the world fell slightly by 0.11 million in the third quarter of 2018 - the first decline ever.

■ When will sport on pay-TV reach a breaking point?

■ ITV's Dancing on Ice in a terminal downward spiral as ratings tank.
Lowest viewership for the Brit-show yet after losing 1 million viewers in the first episode of 2019 season.

■ The Sopranos at 20: How did the show change TV - and us?


■ A quiet, far-reaching change: India is following Canada with a dramatic pay-TV change.
From 1 February 2019 India's broadcasting regulator, TRAI, has ordered pay-TV operators to change and introduce a new pricing and TV channel selection system. The new system will "free" viewers from having to pay for a specific set of TV channels in a bouquet or package.
India's pay-TV subscribers will pick and pay for only the channels they choose - with the regulator even capping a fixed maximum price per channel of Rs19 (R3.78).

- There's still a catch: Subscribers will still pay a base monthly "connection fee" and this will come with 100 standard definition (SD) free-to-air channels. Further channels will be added by choice at an individual price. Will watching pay-TV in India get costlier? Well, once the heavy discounts to maintain current pricing levels stop, yes.


■ Premature ending: Amazon Prime Video self-censoring Hindi films.
Movies on Amazon Prime Video in India are shorter than the same film on Netflix in that country.

■ TV shows that were too disturbing to finish.

■ Sky News (DStv 402) live interview interrupted by Brexit protesters.