Chernin: Strike Deal Must Be Good For Industry
News Corp. COO Says Nets Can Withstand Work Stoppage for “A Period of Time”
By Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 1/9/2008 8:45:00 AM
Perhaps taking a shot at film studios that have reached separate deals with the Writers Guild of America, News Corp. president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin said that while he wants to settle the dispute, he won’t do a deal that he feels hurts the rest of the industry.
Chernin, speaking at the Citigroup Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications conference in Phoenix, said that he takes the strike very seriously both professionally and personally, but added that his responsibility is not just to News Corp. shareholders, but to the entertainment industry as a whole.
“I feel a responsibility not only to News Corp. shareholders, but frankly to the future of the industry not to make a deal that is economically indefensible,” Chernin said. “We are in a very competitive environment. We are in a world in which there are tremendous pressures on production costs, in which there are tremendous pressures to migrate away from traditional media anyway. I couldn’t responsibly participate in doing things that are short-term motivated that could potentially hamper or handicap the industry.”
On Jan. 7 United Artists studios reached an agreement with the WGA. Terms of that deal were not disclosed, but the WGA said in a statement that it “addresses issues important to writers, including new media.”
The WGA went on strike Nov. 5, mainly over the issue of new-media residuals and the union’s bid to get jurisdiction over animation and reality shows. The strike, now in its tenth week, has halted production on many broadcast television and cable shows – including several that air on News Corp.’s Fox and FX.
Asked whether it would be better to ask the writers to “go away” for six or eight months and restart negotiations in the fall – given that the fall production window has essentially closed – Chernin said that the economic benefits of not paying writers “aren’t that significant.”
“We are in the business of making product and we should try to start making product as quickly as possible,” he added.
While he wouldn’t speculate as to when the strike will end, Chernin said that Fox and the other broadcast networks “are in good shape to withstand a strike for a period of time.”
“We are anxious to figure out a solution,” he added. “But we are only anxious to figure out a viable, workable solution for the industry.”
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