AFTRA, AMPTP Reach Tentative Deal

LOS ANGELES, May 28: The
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) has reached a
tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers (AMPTP) on a new three-year contract, with the producers’
negotiations with the larger Screen Actors Guild (SAG) resuming today.

AFTRA is the second
largest performers' union in the U.S. with 70,000 members—including
approximately 52,000 working actors. The new contract agreement, subject to
approval by AFTRA's National Board and ratification by the union's membership,
establishes wage increases in traditional media in each year of the contract
and covers jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet
and new media. In addition, it sets up new residual structures for paid
Internet downloads that significantly increase current rates and establish
residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet. The
agreement also preserves performers' consent for non-promotional new-media use
of excerpts of traditional TV shows, and establishes a sunset provision that
allows both sides to revisit new media.

"This is another
groundbreaking agreement for AFTRA," said the union’s national president,
Roberta Reardon. "In addition to achieving meaningful gains in
compensation and working conditions for performers, it also establishes AFTRA
jurisdiction in the dynamic area of new media and it preserves performers'
consent for use of excerpts of traditional TV shows in new media.”

She continued: "This
is a challenging time in the entertainment industry and this was a tough
negotiation. Our ability to achieve these crucial breakthroughs for performers
was a direct result of AFTRA members' pragmatic approach to collective bargaining.
We recognized the hard realities currently affecting the traditional TV
business and we focused on creating a framework that would allow union members
to participate fully in the emerging new media marketplace."

AFTRA prime-time TV dramas
and situation comedies include Rules of Engagement, Cashmere Mafia, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords, Dante's Cove, Til Death, Reaper and the new CBS comedies Project Gary and Harper's Island and ABC’s Roman's Empire. The current contract expires on June 30, 2008. If
approved by the National Board, the new deal will be submitted to AFTRA's
membership for ratification. The new three-year agreement will be effective
from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2011.

The AMPTP said it was
pleased to reach a deal after 17 days of negotiations. “Both AMPTP and AFTRA
were challenged during these talks to find a way to fairly and sensibly tailor
our industry’s new-media framework to meet the needs of actors. As a result of
compromise and creativity by both parties, we reached an agreement that makes
the new-media framework work for all actors. This agreement is latest of the
310 labor agreements successfully negotiated by AMPTP since its inception in
1982, and the fourth major agreement reached in 2008 alone—following the
DGA, WGA and AFTRA Network Code agreements. Together, these major labor pacts
demonstrate our determination to create economic partnerships with actors,
directors, writers and below-the-line workers for the new-media age.”

The AMPTP statement added
that it was looking forward to resuming talks with SAG today “and to reaching
an agreement that will prevent another harmful and unnecessary strike.”

SAG’s national president,
Alan Rosenberg, issued a statement noting that the union’s negotiating
committee would “thoroughly analyze and evaluate” the AFTRA agreement. “We look
forward to hearing more during a face-to-face briefing with AFTRA’s negotiating
committee as soon as AFTRA provides the opportunity.”

On the resumption of AMPTP
talks today, Rosenberg said: “We remain committed to negotiating the best
possible terms for actors for all motion pictures and the vast majority of
television programs, pay TV and new media formats.”

—By Mansha Daswani