The Writer Strike

Itunes downloads of your fav shows was the catlyst behind the Writers Strike. Tom from Kerker emailed us with this insight on the issue. It's all over the news in the US and has already claimed some vistories. 24's premiere will be delayed, SNL will go into reruns and the finale of The Office may not be. Tom Buchok from Kerker writes; "Maybe you've seen the coverage and you're depressed that Lost will likely only have seven new episodes this winter. I'm sad about not getting my full share of Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the rest of the island gang, too. But I'm excited. The Writer's Guild of America strike is almost exclusively about the internet. You can read more about it here, but in short, the writers want to get paid fairly for their work that gets consumed online. With both the major producers and the WGA calling the internet the future of their business, there's a lot to be encouraged about within our world of advertising. In 2007, the primary role of the internet switched from Communications to Content. As the internet content business starts shifting into fifth gear (or sixth), they'll need to monetize the content. Forrester noted in May that ad-supported online video would begin to significantly eat into paid videos (like iTunes, Amazon Unbox, etc.). More importantly, seven of 10 internet users prefer ad-supported online content to fee-based. So as the WGA strike is bad for us TV viewers (and Lost superfans), it's great for us advertisers – the strike implicitly injects major relevance into online content. And that content needs to be monetized via ads." Thanks for the info Tom. All I can say to the big studios is let the writers have their money! They only get 4c for a $20 DVD dating back to a 1985 aggreement, so at least let them make some extra alcohol money from online. Track the developments on Google news.