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Michael Mahan Named President Of Dick Clark Parent DC Media

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday April 9, 2013 @ 7:30am PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Michael Mahan
Nellie Andreeva

Former TV Guide president Michael Mahan has been named President of DC Media, the parent company of dick clark prods. Based at the company’s Los Angeles headquarters, he will report to dick clark CEO Allen Shapiro. The move was expected following Mahan’s announcement in January that he was exiting his post at TV Guide. Mahan is reuniting with longtime business partner Shapiro, who became CEO of dick clark prods following the company’s acquisition last fall by Guggenheim Partners, Mandalay Entertainment and Shapiro’s Mosaic Media Investment Partners. The appointment also marks Mahan’s return to dcp, where he served as SVP Corporate Development, also under Shapiro, and played a key role in the company’s successful 2007 sale to Red Zone Capitol. “It’s such a pleasure to welcome Michael back into the dcp family,” Shapiro said. “His track record of creating value will be invaluable as we take dick clark productions to the next level.”

Mahan will oversee dcp’s revenue, business affairs, finance and foreign distribution operations. He also will pursue acquisition opportunities. DCP president Orly Adelson will continue to shepherd development, production and domestic distribution. READ MORE »

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Nikki’s Censure Of 2013 Golden Globes

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday December 13, 2012 @ 9:38am PSTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, NBC

Deadline is, only for informational purposes, posting the 2013 Golden Globes nominations held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with winners to be broadcast live on NBC on January 13th. I refuse to treat these nominations with any seriousness. And if you don’t want that, then for crissakes stop reading me. True, my Deadline colleagues will analyze today’s nominations. But that’s because they choose to. I won’t. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s a completely meaningless awards show from a scandal-riddled organization aired by a production company desperate for money on a network praying for ratings. That’s why I opt out of analyzing the nominations every year: because the Golden Globes have zero integrity. Studios and networks who lavishly lobby the HFPA almost always score nominations. Actors win in direct correlation to their glamour quotient. By splitting dramas and comedies/musicals, and including movie and television categories on the same night, more star wattage can goose the Nielsens. And even though the entire entertainment industry ridicules the awards, it props them up because they’re a useful marketing tool for the studios and networks. Let’s not forget the year that host Ricky Gervais couldn’t resist openly loathing the HFPA and its tarnished reputation from the podium. (“I’d like to quash this ridiculous rumor going round that the only reason [The Tourist] was nominated was so the Hollywood Foreign Press could hang out with Johnny Depp and Angeline Jolie. That is rubbish. That is not the only reason. They also accepted bribes.”) At least it was a rare injection of honesty into the night.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association isn’t as advertised. It’s actually a small motley group of 85 mostly freelancers who won’t grant membership to the real foreign journalists at the prestige media outlets across the world. The HFPA clique doesn’t want to dilute the financial bonanza it receives from the studios and networks who arrange exclusive interviews about each year’s movies and TV shows. Not only have legitimate journalists for years been attacking the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for its exclusionary membership policies and too-cozy relationship with studios and networks. But an Oscar-winning documentary director (Vikram Jayanti, in his 2004 film The Golden Globes: Hollywood’s Dirty Little Secret) has called the group a bunch of “freeloaders” who know more about hors d’oeuvres than auteurs and select winners based on “who kisses butt best”. The HFPA was even accused in a lawsuit filed by its former publicist of accepting “payola” — like taking lavish gifts from studios in exchange for nominations — and other questionable business practices. This and other lawsuits have laid bare many of the dirty little secrets behind the Golden Globes and its largely ludicrous gang of organizers. Read More »

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Moody’s Puts Dick Clark Productions Debt Under Review For Possible Downgrade

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday September 6, 2012 @ 12:37pm PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Moody's Investors Service

About $165M worth of debt could be affected by the review, which follows this week’s agreement by a group led by Guggenheim Partners to buy the production company. Moody’s Investors Service says that it’s watching to … Read More »

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Guggenheim Partners-Led Group Reaches Agreement To Buy Dick Clark Prods.

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 4, 2012 @ 6:35am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes
Nellie Andreeva

Dick Clark Productions SaleAfter several rounds of bidding, Guggenheim Partners together with Peter Guber’s Mandalay Entertainment and Allen Shapiro’s Mosaic Media Investment Partners today announced an agreement to purchase Dick Clark Prods. from RedZone Capital Management. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, though the number floated out by insiders is in the ballpark of $370 million. Guber was the largest shareholder of dcp before selling it to RedZone in 2008 for $175 million. He recently partnered with Guggenheim in the $2 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Guggenheim, Mandalay and Mosaic Media, which outbid a slew of suitors, including CBS, CORE Media and Ryan Seacrest, plan to “continue dcp’s tradition of providing its network partners with devoted and growing audiences across dcp’s premier programming,” the group said. Founded by the later Dick Clark, dcp produces such programs as the Golden Globes, the American Music Awards, the Academy Of Country Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and So You Think You Can Dance. Here are statements from the new owners as well as dcp CEO Mark Shapiro:

Read More »

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ITV Said Eyeing Dick Clark Productions In Disciplined Fashion

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday August 15, 2012 @ 6:05am PDTTags: CBS, Dick Clark Productions, ITV

Earlier this week, Deadline reported that the four main contenders in the bidding for Dick Clark Productions are CBS, CORE Media Group and private equity firms Guggenheim Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners. On … Read More »

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Sale Of Dick Clark Prods Heads To 2nd Round With 4 Main Bidders; CEO To Leave

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday August 13, 2012 @ 4:00pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, CBS, Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes

EXCLUSIVE: Second-round bids for Dick Clark Productions best known for producing the Golden Globes and other awards shows came late last week into the Raine Group which is handling the sale. Deadline has learned … Read More »

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CBS Eyes Dick Clark Productions: Reuters

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday August 12, 2012 @ 6:51pm PDTTags: CBS Corp, Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Les Moonves

The TV community knows that CBS Corp President and CEO Les Moonves wants to broadcast the Golden Globes. But a judge this summer ruled that the Globes broadcast rights are controlled by Dick Clark Productions … Read More »

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Golden Globes Trial: Judge Says Future Shows Will Be Under Legal Cloud With Appeal

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Tuesday July 24, 2012 @ 5:25pm PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, HFPA

U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz said the Hollywood Foreign Press Association‘s appeal in the trial over who owns the Golden Globes is going forward (read today’s doc here). But he clearly isn’t happy about it, and he says the process likely will mean upcoming Globes shows will take place under a legal cloud just like the last one. In his order — a procedural ruling that makes way for the HFPA’s appeal against trial winner Dick Clark Productions — Matz as in the past seems frustrated that the dispute between the two parties wasn’t resolved much earlier given the Globes’ value to both, and the case will drag on as a result. Now, “even assuming an immediate appeal … it is unlikely that the parties’ dispute could be resolved before the 2013 or the 2014 Golden Globe Awards Show — which would already be three years into the contested contract period. Delaying … would push back appellate review another one-to-two years, possibly up to (or even beyond) the 2016 Golden Globes”. Read More »

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Ryan Seacrest, Colony Capital Among Potential Bidders For Dick Clark Prods.

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday June 15, 2012 @ 2:29pm PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Ryan Seacrest

UPDATED: Ryan Seacrest and Santa Monica-based investment firm Colony Capital are among several bidders interested in Dick Clark Prods., sources close to the situation tell Deadline. If the American Idol host proceeds with his pursuit of the former company … Read More »

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HFPA Files Appeal In Golden Globes Case, Says It Can’t Work With “Devious” Dick Clark Productions

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday June 14, 2012 @ 10:01pm PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, HFPA, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Hollywood lawsuit

As expected, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association tonight filed a motion seeking an immediate appeal in the Golden Globes case. The motion (Read it here) derives from April 30 when the HFPA lost to Dick Clark Productions … Read More »

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Dick Clark Productions Explores Sale

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday June 13, 2012 @ 8:10pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Dick Clark Productions is exploring a potential sale, the New York Times reports. DCP, which recently won a court fight that secured its position as producer of the Golden Globes Awards show, has retained the Raine Group … Read More »

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HFPA To Appeal Loss In Golden Globes Trial

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday May 15, 2012 @ 1:39am PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Hollywood lawsuits, NBC

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is going back to court to appeal Dick Clark Productions’ recent victory in the battle over who owns the TV rights to the Golden Globes. In a court ordered Joint Status Report submitted … Read More »

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UPDATE: Dick Clark Wins Golden Globes TV Trial; Judge Says 1993 Amendment Key

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday April 30, 2012 @ 5:00pm PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Golden Globes TrialUPDATED: Judge Howard A. Matz has found in favor of defendant Dick Clark Productions in the trial with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association over who owns TV rights to the Golden Globes. DCP now … Read More »

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R.I.P. Dick Clark

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday April 18, 2012 @ 12:49pm PDTTags: Dick Clark, Dick Clark Productions, Ryan Seacrest

Iconic TV host and producer Dick Clark died today of a heart attack. He was 82. Clark, called “America’s Oldest Teenager,” is best known for hosting long-running television shows such as American Bandstand, Pyramid, and holiday staple Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. According to Clark’s publicist Paul Shefrin, Clark passed away this morning following “a massive heart attack.” Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. Clark, who suffered a stroke in 2004 that left his speech and movements impaired, had entered St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica last night for an outpatient procedure.

Related: Hollywood Reacts To Dick Clark’s Death

Richard Wagstaff Clark, born on November 30, 1929 in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., earned Grammys, Emmys and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame among other awards and accolades in his 60 years in show business. From his start on radio in Philadelphia back in the early 1950s to his last appearance on Rockin’ Eve this year, Clark never lost his on-air boyish enthusiasm. But the genial host was also a trailblazing Hollywood executive. His Dick Clark Productions, which he started in the late 1950s and moved to LA in 1963, produced American Bandstand until 1989 and also created, produced and profitably syndicated such shows as Rockin’ Eve, which started in 1972; TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes; The $25,000 Pyramid; The American Music Awards, which began in 1973; and, since 1983, The Golden Globes. Clark also produced movies including 1984’s Emmy-winner The Woman Who Willed A Miracle and 1985’s Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, over the past 49 years Clark’s company has made over 20 TV and feature films, 30 series and 250 specials.

At one point in the mid-’80s, Clark hosted shows on all three major TV networks and in syndication. He also wrote several books, including a 1976 memoir Rock, Roll & Remember. Clark sold dcp to Mosaic Media in 2002 for $140 million. The company, which Clark ceased to have anything to do with years ago, is currently owned by Red Zone Capitol, who bought it for an estimated $175 million in 2007. Read More »

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Golden Globes Trial: Documents Show Just How Divided HFPA & Dick Clark Prods Are

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday March 17, 2012 @ 2:46pm PDTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Freelance writer Dominic Patten is a Deadline contributor

Golden Globes Trial Dick Clark ProductionsThe Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions are still so far apart in the battle over who owns TV rights to the Golden Globes that … Read More »

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Golden Globes Trial: No Decision Likely Before “Late March Or Early April”

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 17, 2012 @ 6:24pm PSTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association

HFPA: Our Rights Are Being Held Hostage

Freelance journalist Dominic Patten is covering the trial for Deadline.

It looks like it’s going to be awhile before there’s a decision in the trial between the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark … Read More »

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Golden Globes Trial Summary: “Our Rights Are Being Held Hostage,” HFPA Lawyer Says

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 10, 2012 @ 3:08pm PSTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Golden Globes Closing Arguments: Lawyer Says Dick Clark “Enslaved” HFPA

Freelance journalist Dominic Patten is covering the trial for Deadline.

“They stole the rights!” declared Hollywood Foreign Press Association lawyer Daniel Petrocelli in summing up Dick Clark Productions in his closing argument today. “The servant has become the master.” His courtroom audience included a crowd of past, present and probably future HFPA Presidents, as well as executives from DCP and its owner Red Zone Capitol, “because of 12 words slipped into a contract that nobody read.” Petrocelli said “our rights are being held hostage” by the the 1993 perpetuity amendment that is the focus of the case. Petrocelli said the HFPA “has a right” to get out of its relationship with DCP, “a company they certainly don’t trust.”

Trust was also a topic raised by DCP lawyer Marty Katz early this afternon duringduring the early afternoon in his own closing remarks. Calling attention to in-fighting within the HFPA — which even Judge A. Howard Matz described as seemingly “always in turmoil” — Katz cited the distrust former HFPA President Phil Berk, who was in attendance, had for others in his organization and for DCP. Over the years Katz said Berk was constantly “looking for a way to unravel the agreement” the production company had to produce the Golden Globes telecast on NBC. Read More »

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UPDATE: Closing Arguments Conclude In Golden Globes Trial; Lawyer Says Dick Clark “Enslaved” HFPA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 10, 2012 @ 1:05pm PSTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Freelance journalist Dominic Patten is covering the trial for Deadline.

UPDATE, 1:05 PM: Closing arguments have concluded and now it’s up to the judge to decide who wins and loses. But don’t expect a decision anytime soon as Matz told the jam-packed courtroom at the end of session today that “it is going to be some time before I can turn back to this”.

PREVIOUS, 12 PM: Hollywood Foreign Press Association lawyer Dan Petrocelli said that Dick Clark Productions’ amendment to an agreement about TV rights to the Golden Globes “enslaved the HFPA”. The words came during closing arguments today in the trial between DCP and the HFPA over those TV rights. Citing a 1993 perpetuity amendment at the heart of the two-week trial, Petrocelli said that “12 words changed the entire course of history between the two parties.” DCP, said the lawyer, added the language in 1993 in a “sloppy” and “dirty way”. He dismissed “a lack of candor” in the testimony of former DCP president Fran La Maina and former HFPA president Mirjana Van Blaricom as “severing off” key evidence around the amendment. Read More »

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Golden Globes Trial Analysis: Time To Bring In A High-Powered Mediator?

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday February 8, 2012 @ 7:43pm PSTTags: Dick Clark Productions, Golden Globes, Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Freelance journalist Dominic Patten is covering the trial for Deadline.

After two weeks of testimony and more than a dozen witnesses including current and past presidents of both Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions, their court battle over TV rights to the Golden Globes is now in a holding pattern. At the core of the dispute is a 1993 amendment to DCP’s longtime contract with the HFPA. The production company says the amendment grants them rights in perpetuity to the Golden Globes as long as the show is broadcast on NBC, which it has been since 1996. The HFPA says it does no such thing. When DCP signed a $150 million deal with NBC in 2010 extending the network pact until 2018, HFPA took the production company to court.

On Tuesday, Judge A. Howard Matz implored both parties to take the time before their lawyers begin closing arguments on Friday, February 10th to try to come to a settlement. As Deadline reported previously, neither side is talking to the other and some close to the case believe a settlement is unlikely.

Having watched almost every minute of the trial, here are a few observations both sides might want to consider:

CLEAN HOUSE: DCP certainly has issues of its own, like bald-faced lying to NBC during negotiations — more politely known as bluffing. But the cloistered 85-odd members of the HFPA need to clean house and create a professional organization. The parade of former HFPA presidents such as Phil Berk and Mirjana Van Blaricom and staff members have revealed a viper’s pit of in-fighting. It has also revealed a lack of business savvy — which is pretty bad when you are handling a multi-million-dollar asset like the Globes. Read More »

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