VIACOM CHANNELS GO DARK ON DIRECTV

At midnight Eastern Time, some 20 million DirecTV subscribers lost Viacom-owned channels including MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, Logo, TV Land and a dozen other channels. In a statement, DirecTV exec Derek Chang said, “We have been very willing to get a deal done, but Viacom is pushing DIRECTV customers to pay more than a […]

VIACOM’S 26 CHANNELS GOING DARK TONIGHT ON DIRECTV

One of the consequences of media consolidation is that the conglomerates can force distributors — satellite and cable companies — to find a spot in their systems for cable networks that they don’t want in order to make deals for the ones that they do want. The same would appear to hold true when it […]

PAY-TV COMPANIES TO FIGHT NBC’S SUPER BOWL WEBCAST PLANS

Cable, satellite, and phone companies are vowing to challenge NBC’s decision to stream the 2012 Super Bowl to Internet users free, the New York Post reported today (Monday). According to the newspaper, the American Television Alliance, which represents top pay-TV distributors, argues that they shouldn’t have to pay NBC retransmission-consent fees if the network is […]

REPORT: NFL PUTTING THE SQUEEZE ON NBC

NBC and the NFL have begun talks aimed at renewing Sunday Night Football, with the NFL making it clear it wants a significant increase in payments, the New York Post reported today (Friday). The current deal calls for NBC to pay the NFL about $600 million yearly for rights to air the Sunday games. According […]

WGA QUICKLY AGREES TO NEW DEAL

Negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers turned out to be a far cry from the acrimony and tumult that marked the talks in 2007, which led to a strike that shut down TV production for 100 days. According to published reports, the negotiators sidestepped the […]

OTHER SHOW-BIZ UNIONS HAIL SAG/AFTRA PACT WITH AMPTP

Given the fact that the early tentative agreement reached last weekend between the two principal actors’ unions, SAG and AFTRA, and the movie and producers’ group, the AMPTP, is likely to serve as a template for future industry negotiations, the reaction to it by other Hollywood guilds on Monday would appear to bode well for […]

HOLLYWOOD RETURNS TO BARGAINING TABLE

Negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on the one hand and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on the other began in Sherman Oaks, CA on Monday, with the two unions presenting their proposals to the producers. The current contract expires on June 30, […]

ACTORS UNIONS AGREE ON NEGOTIATING STRATEGY

Members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have agreed to deemphasize payments for new media and focus instead on bread-and-butter issues like increases in employer contributions to their health-and-welfare plans and raises in basic pay scales when they begin negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and […]

LET THE TALKS BEGIN

Directors Guild of America (DGA) President and Negotiations Chairman Gil Cates announced Wednesday that the guild plans to open negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in mid-November. The talks would thus immediately follow those between the AMPTP and the two performers unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American […]