TVSquad

2008 was a strange one for television. Not because of the intense political and economic coverage, or the 27000 hours of Olympic telecasts, or the fact that Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul held back from killing each other for yet another season. No, the reason for the strangeness was that, at the beginning of the year, the schedule was a bit disjointed. This was thanks to the lengthy writers' strike.

Lasting from early November 2007 until February and costing up to two billion dollars, the WGA strike did something that previous labor disputes had not done to TV in the past: it changed the face of television. These were not cosmetic changes that reverted back to normal once the strike ended. These were changes that altered television as we now it and set the stage for its very uncertain future.

And now, another installment of 'David vs. Goliath'. In this case, David is The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), while the role of Goliath is portrayed by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). For months, both unions have been negotiating with the studios for higher salaries for their lower-paid actors as well as more profits from DVD and new media sales. AFTRA, the smaller of the two actor unions, has been fairly quiet concerning these negotiations. SAG, on the other hand, has been quite boisterous concerning the poor negotiating tactics of the studios.

With the amount of muscle SAG has one would think they would have been able to get the better deal of the two unions. Yet, as in David's battle against Goliath, it looks like the little person got the better of the bigger one. On Tuesday, the 70,000 members of AFTRA ratified a new prime-time TV contract. According to AFTRA President Roberta Reardon, the new contract "contains substantial gains for every category of performer in both traditional and new media." This, despite a campaign by SAG members to persuade those who are members of both unions to vote "no" on the contract.

Raise your hand if you saw this one coming. The prospects for another strike went up as negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) once again broke down, with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) moving to negotiations with AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). Among the issues causing the split, and stop me if you've heard this one before, DVD residuals, streaming, and new media. Go figure. One new wrinkle in these negotiations comes in the form of an AMPTP provision that would give them free and unlimited use of short clips of an actor's work in movies and television.