WGA STRIKE!
Posted by Ray @ 2:55 pmIt really looks like its going to happen.
The Writers Guild of America has been threatening to strike for a while now. The dispute is over online distribution of TV shows, amongst other things.
See, the current contract between writers and networks is that writers get a cut of DVD sales and TV ad revenue (amongst other things). But now some networks are pushing media to the web. Shows like Battlestar Galactica and Lost have webisodes, web-only episodes, exclusively available from the parent network’s websites. These networks derive ad revenue from these webisodes, and the WGA wants a cut. Since the current contract is up, the WGA wants to renegotiate… unfortunately, networks don’t want to pay them for online content.
It may not sound like much, but it is a big deal. WGA members write all your favourite TV shows: Heroes, Lost, House, etc. These shows are written through to the end of the year, but after that, no new episodes will be written. Heroes is even considering writing an alternate episode 11, finishing the current season early.
It’s an incredibly stupid move on the networks’ part, and I hope it gets sorted out soon. It isn’t enough that we get crappy shows on all the time, now they’re going to ruin the ones we do watch as well!
…And they wonder why we hate them.
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