AFTRA, Producers agree on deal

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have reached a deal which mirrors the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America pacts in many of the new media provisions. The new media provisions cover programs streamed over the web and downloads of TV shows along with setting the same thresholds as the DGA and WGA for coverage of made-for-Internet programs. As with the director and writer deals, the AFTRA pact did not include any gains in DVD residuals. The AFTRA pact also retains actors' consent over online use of clips, an issue that has unexpectedly emerged as a dominant concern at both the SAG and AFTRA negotiations. AFTRA president Roberta Reardon told Daily Variety that the clips discussion took up the majority of time during the 18 days of talks - partly because the unions had not been anticipated the companies pushing the issue and partly because no business model currently exists. Both SAG and AFTRA had opposed the AMPTP's proposal that actors agree to drop the consent requirement for online clips while the companies had contended that the change was essential in order to establish a viable business model that could compete with the massive levels of pirated clips on the web. AFTRA said the pact calls for it and the companies to "develop a mechanism" by which performers can provide or withhold consent for non-promotional use of clips from TV libraries. Reardon said there had been several proposals under discussion, adding that ratification will trigger a 90-day deadline for both sides to come up with a specific framework.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986517.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=...