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FOX & DISNEY HEADS LAUDED FOR ENDING STRIKE Monday, February 11 2008 
News
Corp
President
Peter
Chernin
and
Disney
CEO
Robert
Iger
were
being
credited
for
hammering
out
a
new
three-year
tentative
contract
with
the
Writers
Guild
of
America
that
will
likely
bring
their
14-week-old
strike
to
an
end
on
Tuesday.
Referring
to
negotiators
for
the
Alliance
of
Motion
Picture
and
Television
Producers,
WGA
executive
director
David
Young
told
the
Los
Angeles
Times,
"We
spent
six
months
in
a
room
with
people
who
did
not
want
to
(more)END OF STRIKE SAVES OSCARS Monday, February 11 2008 
The
tentative
agreement
between
the
writers
and
producers
reached
over
the
weekend
appears
to
have
rescued
the
February
24
Oscars
telecast.
At
a
news
conference
on
Sunday,
WGA
chief
negotiator
David
Young
suggested
that
keeping
the
Oscars
hostage,
in
effect,
helped
the
union
leverage
a
settlement.
"It
was
going
to
be
a
huge
thing
for
the
industry
to
lose
the
Oscars,"
he
said.
Nevertheless,
with
less
time
to
prepare,
Academy
Awards
producers
are
likely
to
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Several analysts have suggested that the strike will end with each side losing. Ratings at each of the networks except Fox are down substantially since the strike began, with advertisers being given rebates or "make goods" because of the ratings fall. Producers of scripted television shows have been informed by the networks that "efficiencies" are being instituted that in some cases will result in the networks skipping the pilot process. Networks often pay as much as $2 million to develop a pilot, only to decide later that it is unsuitable to develop into a series. Indeed, the networks are likely to cut back on scripted TV series in general after audiences demonstrated during the strike that they preferred many cheap game shows and reality series. With fewer pilots and scripted series in production, writers are likely to find work opportunities substantially curtailed. Moreover, while it had been presumed earlier that existing series whose production had been cut short by the strike would resume once it was settled, several reports cast doubt on whether marginally rated shows would return. It had previously been reported that Fox's 24 would be postponed for a year and that ABC's Lost would probably have its 16 episodes cut to 13 this season.
