Television Industry Labor Relations

Like Ike Pappas in the upcoming "Moon Over Parador," Peter Hackes, the smooth-talking network news president in "Broadcast News," used to be a network correspondent. He spent more than 30 years with NBC News. But in contrast to Pappas, who was fired by CBS News, Hackes, who also lives and works in Washington, voluntarily took early retirement. He says NBC officials "were very nice to me" in working that out.

The National Labor Relations Board is investigating a complaint brought against CBS Broadcasting Inc. by the local chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which contends that the company has not been forthcoming in detailing its affirmative action and promotion policies for minorities, women and the disabled. The board has scheduled a Nov.

Did NBC reject talk show host David Letterman or did Letterman reject NBC? That may become the next big battle in the long-running television talk show wars. Sources close to the talks insisted on Wednesday that NBC, in a last-ditch move, offered Letterman the coveted "Tonight Show" slot held by Jay Leno just before Letterman accepted CBS' offer.

Actors and studio executives, both lacking the stomach for a strike, breathed a collective sigh of relief Wednesday after negotiators for actors' unions and movie and TV producers reached tentative agreement on a new three-year contract. Actors particularly were gratified that they will be getting more money for shows rerun on cable TV. They also were pleased that Fox Broadcasting Co.

The nation's three major television networks have abruptly pulled out of contract talks with Hollywood's two actors' unions, creating an impasse that could lead to a crippling shutdown of film production if talks do not resume shortly. Representatives of CBS, NBC and ABC late Wednesday walked out of the bargaining sessions between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the two unions--the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Fresh off a clean sweep in the July ratings book, KNBC Channel 4's news department will eliminate at least nine union jobs before the end of the year, according to a local representative of the National Assn. of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET). Additional layoffs of non-NABET newsroom personnel are also expected at the NBC-owned station.

The announcement last week that the possibility of a Hollywood work stoppage had been averted with tentative agreement between producers and actors on a new three-year contract may have been premature, at least as far as television is concerned. A strike involving the three major TV networks and about 120,000 members of both the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild could still happen.

As the Hollywood writers strike lumbered into its 22nd week, the prospect of a settlement looked bleak. At a press conference Sunday, the producers described their talks with striking writers as hopelessly deadlocked. But the swarms of TV cameras had barely taped those words at the producers' Sherman Oaks headquarters when--somewhere on the Beverly Hills side of the Sepulveda Pass--attorney Kenneth Ziffren got back on the telephone.

Brent Hershman, an assistant camera operator on "Pleasantville," a modestly budgeted comedy for New Line Cinema starring Oscar nominees Joan Allen and William H. Macy, had put in a grueling 19-hour day on the Long Beach set of the film. The father of two small children, Hershman was headed for his West Hills home about 2 a.m. on March 6, exhausted from the day of filming that had started at 6:30 a.m.

An open letter signed by more than 100 comedians, including Jay Leno and Tim Allen, appeared in Hollywood trade newspapers and publications in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., on Thursday, protesting Black Entertainment Television's stand-up comedy show "Comic View." The action, sponsored by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, is the latest move in an ongoing effort to pressure BET into better compensating comedians who appear on "Comic View."

Negotiators for studios and 135,000 actors agreed late Tuesday on a new film and TV contract, ending one of Hollywood's longest and most tense periods of labor unrest. The tentative three-year deal, coming two months after writers settled their contentious negotiations, ends any threat of a devastating strike this summer. It also caps an extraordinary turnaround in Hollywood's labor fortunes.

Residuals paid for programs shown on cable TV remained a major obstacle Tuesday as contract talks between Hollywood studios and actors unions continued to creep toward a midnight Saturday expiration date. Although both sides in the talks have downplayed the potential of a strike, sources involved in the negotiations said frustrations have risen this week. Three other issues are also proving sticky: minimum payments to actors (actors want a 5% raise, compared with a studio offer of 3.

The fallout from averting a strike by Hollywood writers appears to have claimed at least one series as a casualty. The Fox television network pulled the plug Wednesday on a Paramount series it had ordered in advance as a hedge against possible work stoppages this summer. The network, a division of News Corp., dropped "When I Grow Up" even though Paramount has completed a half-dozen episodes of the series, rushed into production several months ago to beat the strike deadline.

Shares of the major media conglomerates showed no significant reaction Monday in the wake of Friday's settlement of a new contract with television and film writers, suggesting that investors believed the companies had little to lose if a deal hadn't been struck, analysts said. A limited work stoppage by writers would not have hurt the bottom lines of such studio parent companies as News Corp., Walt Disney Co., AOL Time Warner Inc. and Viacom Inc., according to the analysts.

Warner Bros. Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer, right, was the backroom business brain behind the studio's television operation before being catapulted to the front office 18 months ago. He has built a reputation as an astute deal maker. Paramount Pictures Chairwoman Sherry Lansing is the highest-ranking woman in the movie business and a former producer whose credits include "Indecent Proposal" and "Fatal Attraction."

Hollywood studios and writers finally called it a wrap Friday afternoon, ending a weeklong cliffhanger by reaching agreement on a new three-year labor contract that averts what would have been a pummeling entertainment industry strike. The agreement was valued by the Writers Guild of America and the industry's Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers at about $41 million over three years, less than the nearly $100 million writers had hoped for.

When Fox distributed program-development booklets to advertisers last month at the Four Seasons hotel, the glossy folder of proposed series included one page titled "Contingency Plans."

Paul Amos, executive vice president in charge of programming for Cable News Network, confirmed Tuesday that he is leaving CNN today. He was said to have been unhappy at not becoming president of the company last year. "After 11 years with the company, I looked at what was in store over the next couple of years, and I had some reservations about a long tenure in middle management," Amos said in an interview. "I have a desire to run my own business."

CABLE TV RESIDUALS Before: Writers have felt shortchanged as the cable TV industry has exploded. They get 2% of the license fee cable channels pay. After: Writers received no increase in the formula when network programs are sold to cable. But they receive more money for original shows made for pay TV networks and cable channels. FOREIGN TV RESIDUALS Before: Writers have felt shortchanged amid a boom in sales to foreign markets. They get a one-time payment of 35% of their minimum fees.

Now that writers have reached a tentative agreement, it is the actors' turn to take center stage in this year's Hollywood labor drama. The 135,000 actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild and the much smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists will soon begin negotiations with the major studios on a new three-year contract. The existing contract expires July 1.