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FACTBOX: Highlights of U.S. actors' TV labor deal

Tue Jul 8, 2008 11:34pm EDT
 
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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.  Continued...

 

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