FACTBOX: Highlights of U.S. actors' TV labor deal
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The following are key provisions of the new three-year labor deal ratified on Tuesday by members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or AFTRA, for work on prime-time TV programs.
Terms of the AFTRA pact are essentially the same as those contained in the "final offer" the major studios presented to Hollywood's larger performers union, the Screen Actors Guild, last week as talks broke off on their TV and film contract.
* DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
The contract doubles the rate for reuse fees, or "residuals," that are paid for TV shows sold as Internet downloads, to about 2.1 percent of the distributor's gross revenues from roughly 1 percent. But the higher rates would kick in only after the first 100,000 downloads.
* PRIME-TIME TV STREAMING
The contract sets a separate new residual fee structure for advertising-supported online streaming of broadcast network television shows.
All ad-supported streaming of "library" shows, those produced between 1977 and the effective date of the contract, July 1, 2008, will pay actors a residual of 6 percent of the distributor's gross revenues.
Actors on new shows, produced after July 1, will earn a smaller fixed amount (based on a percentage of their total minimum upfront payment), but that sum kicks in only after a residual-free window of up to 24 days of streaming.
Once the show has been on the air for a year, it is treated as library content and pays residuals at the higher 6 percent of distributor's gross.
Residuals for streaming of cable TV shows are negotiated under a separate contract.
* MADE-FOR-INTERNET COVERAGE
The agreement requires studios to hire union actors when producing certain entertainment content especially for new media, whether it be original Web-based TV shows or "derivative" material adopted from existing programs.
Original made-for-Internet shows are exempted if they fall below various production-cost thresholds -- $15,000 per minute, $300,000 per program or $500,000 per series.
But cheaper webisodes would still be deemed union work if any "covered" performer -- defined essentially as a professional-level actor -- is hired to work in them.
Actors who appear in original made-for-Internet productions costing at least $25,000 also earn residuals of 3.6 percent of distributor's gross following an initial 26 weeks of exhibition. This applies only for downloads and streaming content that consumers pay for directly. Ad-supported content would be exempt from those residuals.
* INTERNET CLIPS CONSENT
The contract establishes new provisions for obtaining actors' consent for displaying TV clips of their performances on the Internet.
For clips taken from studios' libraries of old TV shows, the exact mechanism by which actors will give or withhold their consent remains to be ironed out by the studios and AFTRA in future talks.
Consent for Internet play of excerpts of future TV shows will be bargained for at the time an actor is hired.
In either case, special individual consent would have to be sought for use of any clips involving nudity, advertising or "blooper" outtakes.
* NOTABLE OMISSIONS
The contract contains no provisions to increase residuals from DVD sales or to compensate actors for commercial endorsements made through product placement in TV shows -- both key demands pressed by the Screen Actors Guild.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Sandra Maler)
