Fans of Hollywood glamour may have been disappointed with the press conference that replaced this year's Golden Globes ceremony, but the ongoing US writers' strike could have wider implications for UK viewers and advertisers.
The strike by the Writers Guild of America, centring on a row with studios over royalties, has dragged on since November and shows little sign of abating. There are fears that it could disrupt next month's Academy Awards, with the Screen Actors Guild insisting that its members will not cross the picket line. More crucially, though, the dispute, which has stopped the production of sitcoms and dramas such as Ugly Betty and ER, is beginning to affect UK channels that rely on US programming.
Channel 4 has pulled the second series of Ugly Betty and postponed Desperate Housewives, which was scheduled to be shown this month, to March. This may not sound like dramatic news, but if the dispute rumbles on much longer, the impact could be huge.
According to Jonathan Webb, managing director of Virgin Media TV, most UK channels air their US programmes six months after they appear Stateside. This buffers them from the strike in the short term, but by the summer, things could be very different. 'Come June, there will be a serious impact on the schedules,' says Webb.
Of the terrestrial channels, ITV and the BBC are largely immune; the vast majority of their content is produced either in-house or by independent production companies in the UK. But the outlook is less rosy for C4 and Five.
C4's biggest US shows, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters, accounted for 4.1% of its adult audience reach between January and November last year, notching up 99 hours of broadcast time between them. The figures demonstrate the scale of the rescheduling potentially faced by the broadcaster and the amount of alternative programming it may have to find.
MediaCom TV director Steve McDonnell says that although the effect has yet to be felt in terms of C4's audience share, there have been noticeable changes to its schedules. 'C4 is pulling programmes forward because it can't afford to air low-ranking shows in peak times.'
Insiders say that in anticipation of the dispute continuing, the channel has commissioned more domestically produced and flexible shows, such as Friday Night Project and Grand Designs, and that it is fortunate it no longer relies on programmes such as Friends.
For Five the problem is far greater. The channel's CSI and Law & Order strands last year accounted for 213 hours of broadcast time, which increases to 280 hours when House and Shark are included. These four shows represented 26.6% of Five's adult audience reach between January and November last year - a fact that makes it vulnerable, say industry watchers, because commissioned shows account for only a minority of its output.
Five, which already airs repeats of CSI and Law & Order, may have to increase the practice if new series of the programmes are unavailable. For a channel that is already struggling to maintain audience share, such a move could be highly damaging. According to BARB data, CSI loses 37.5% of its viewers and 12.2% of its audience share when it is repeated; Law & Order, meanwhile, loses 30% of its viewers and 1.7% of its audience share when it is repeated.
It is Sky One, though, that appears most exposed by the writers' strike. 24, Bones, Lost and Prison Break accounted for 13.7% of its adult audience reach before the strike and occupied 331 hours of broadcast time last year. In response, the channel has been forced to hurriedly commission new shows to fill the gaps and must be wishing for an early resolution to the dispute.
A spokesman says: 'Sky One is closely watching developments and maintaining a close dialogue with the studios. In the meantime, we are excited by the range of originated content and have made plans to cover the expected short-term impacts of the strike.'
Like C4 and Five, Sky One will be hoping that, in the event of US writers refusing to pick up their pens soon, viewers find the new domestic content as exciting as their US breadwinners.