NBC exec says it overpaid for Globes

BURBANK, Calif., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A West Coast NBC executive said he thought the Peacock Network paid too much in the 2010 long-term deal to keep the Golden Globes show airing on the network.

Marc Graboff, who was NBC's president of West Coast business operations, testified Friday he told higher-ups the average $21.5 million per show license fee they paid out for the Golden Globes was too much, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"This is the kind of deal we shouldn't rush to make," Graboff e-mailed then NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker and NBCUniversal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin in summer 2010 when the network was negotiating with Dick Clark Productions on a new deal for the show.

Graboff is testifying in a trial heard in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles over who controls the television rights for the Golden Globes awards show between the Hollywood Foreign Press Association., which owns the Globes, and Dick Clark Productions, the longtime producer of the awards show.

Dick Clark has not owned Dick Clark Productions since 2007.

In 2010, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association sued Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, over the NBC agreement, alleging the production company didn't have the authorization to enter into the agreement without the association's approval.

Dick Clark Productions has countered a 1993 amendment to its almost 30-year-old partnership with the press association gives it control of the television rights to the Golden Globes as long as the show remains on NBC, the Times said Friday.