Chernin Cautions Against SAG Strike

NEW YORK, October 17: News Corporation’s COO, Peter Chernin,
has said that negotiations between Hollywood film and television producers and
the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) are “going badly” and that it would be a
“foolhardy” time for the actors to go on strike.

Chernin added that the studios had presented their final
offer to SAG and had no intention of returning to the negotiating table. He
made these remarks at TVWeek's
Innovation 360 media conference in New York.

SAG has asked its members
to vote for a strike against studios. To authorize a strike the union needs a
75 percent majority vote. Chernin pointed out that the poor economy makes this
a critical time for the film and television industry and a strike would be
severely damaging.

Chernin was a key player
in the 14-week strike by the Writers Guild earlier this year. For the last
three months, the Hollywood studios and SAG have battling out a new contract
that covers 120,000 SAG performers in films and prime-time TV productions.

The two sides are in
disagreement on how actors should be compensated for programming streamed over
the Internet and whether all made-for-online productions should be subject to
the union's contract.

—By Anna Carugati