Can TV take strike two?

United Screen Actors, 11.28.08
By Nellie Andreeva

Already engaged in deep soul searching following a dismal fall TV season and flatlining ad market, broadcast networks are facing another blow: a potential SAG strike early next year.
SAG’s decision during the weekend to seek a strike authorization from its membership following the breakdown of its negotiations with AMPTP has shifted the once-remote possibility of a SAG walkout much closer to reality.

While its effect would not be as far reaching as this year’s strike by the WGA — a SAG walkout would only affect scripted primetime fare — it would derail the broadcast season for a second straight year, this time in the midst of a severe economic crisis.

“Everyone is praying that it won’t happen, but the reality starts to sink in that there may be a strike,” one TV studio exec said.

.....“Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf, in New York to receive the Founders Award at the International Emmys, said it’s “unbelievable” that SAG could be moving toward a strike. “It’s so out of touch with reality,” he said. “Strikes very rarely accomplish what they set out to do, and it is a different situation than the ’40s and ’50s, when certain things had to be achieved.”

Unlike the WGA strike, which crippled every primetime scripted series as well as daytime dramas and late-night talk shows, a SAG strike would only impact primetime series. Soaps and variety shows are under AFTRA’s jurisdiction. Full article

Thanks Saghy!