NBC Failed To Secure The Rights To Stream The Golden Globes From The Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Viewers accustomed to watching NBC’s live primetime programming on streaming video services like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue and DirecTV Now, or via NBC.com/live have been expressing their vocal displeasure that NBC’s Sunday night broadcast of The Golden Globe Awards was not streamed on those services.

Numerous subscribers reported that they were unable to view the broadcast and were not happy about it:

Many commenters have directed their frustrations at the three SVOD services, but the reason the Golden Globes did not air on those services is that NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association did not include streaming rights in their broadcast deal.

Sling TV and DirecTV Now have been getting the word out on social media. “Regrettably we did not have the rights to air the Golden Globes,” Sling TV’s @SlingAnswers customers service Twitter feed wrote earlier today. DirecTV Now referred customer requests to its blackout policy.

Spokespersons for PlayStation Vue and DirecTV Now contacted this morning by Decider either said their services did not know in advance that NBC was going to black out the broadcast or did not respond. A Sling TV spokesperson told Decider: “The Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn’t give NBC the rights to stream the Golden Globes, so no over-the-top TV provider was able to offer this show to their customers.”

NBC confirmed to Multichannel News’s Jeff Baumgartner that the network “does not have (and has never had) the streaming rights for the Golden Globes” and that “it is something the network is actively working on and hopes to have in the near future.” An NBC spokesperson confirmed the same to Decider this afternoon and noted that the streaming rights has never been part of its broadcast arrangement for the Golden Globes.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association provided video clips on Twitter throughout the evening like this one of Emma Stone’s acceptance speech and apparently did not provide rights to NBC or other media outlets to post video clips during the broadcast. There are clips available now on NBC.com.

The Golden Globes blackout is similar to what happened earlier this year when CBS, which had already been broadcasting college football games on CBS All Access, came to an agreement with the NFL to end its blackout and begin broadcasting its games on CBS All Access.

For licensing reasons, many streaming subscribers were already unable to get NBC’s live feed. The broadcast networks — NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and The CW — operate on the network-affiliate model, which requires streaming services to negotiate with each individual station group for rights to broadcast live programming in those individual markets. Many of the affiliate groups that own local NBC stations have not yet reached streaming agreements with Sling TV, PlayStation Vue and DirecTV.

ABC will broadcast the Academy Awards on February 26, and an ABC spokesperson told Decider that the broadcast will live-streamed to authenticated viewers on all platforms who are already able to live-stream ABC’s primetime programming. That includes viewers who are already able to authenticate to ABC’s platforms through their satellite, cable, streaming or other provider. If you are a Sling TV, PlayStation Vue or DirecTV Now subscriber and are able to live-stream ABC’s broadcast now, the spokesperson said, you’ll be able to live-stream the Academy Awards.

Scott Porch writes about the streaming-media industry for Decider and is also a contributing writer for Playboy. You can follow him on Twitter @ScottPorch.