(dpa)- The press conference Sunday night to announce the winners of the Golden Globes in Los Angeles has been opened to all media meaning there will be plenty of press coverage, the New York Times reported Saturday.
The striking Writers Guild of America said that the event would not be hit by its battle, opening the possibility that some stars could yet participate in the event hosted by Hollywood's Foreign Press Association.
The annual Golden Globes ceremony was cancelled earlier this week because of the strike and replaced by a press conference. But behind the scenes, a tug of war lasting several days ensued over the broadcasting rights.
Dick Clark Productions, which is in charge of televising the event for the association, wanted a fee from US broadcaster NBC for the exclusive broadcasting rights.
After unsuccessful negotiations, the production company eventually said Friday that NBC was not prepared to pay royalties for a "press conference dressed up as a television programme," prompting the Foreign Press Association to open the event to all media.
At least two cable channels have announced that they intend broadcasting the hour-long ceremony. NBC intends sticking to its programme schedule, but reserved the right to take legal proceedings against the production company.
NBC has for years broadcast the gala exclusively and usually pays around 5 million dollars for the transmission rights and earns up to 25 million dollars in advertising revenue. This year, a figure of 1 million dollars in royalties had been swayed for the slimmed down version, the Hollywood Reporter said.
The gala was cancelled because the actors union had threatened to boycott the event in a show of solidarity with the screenwriters, who have been on strike for 10 weeks and demand pay for the dissemination of their work on DVDs and on the internet.