A good story in HREsq about how Hollywood’s labor leaders, who believe current residuals paid for content sold over the Internet already are too skimpy, are now being asked to accept even slimmer payments for ad-supported streaming of TV shows. The thought process is that in this period of experimentation, streaming is best viewed as merely promotional in nature, and that actors, writers and directors are thus owed no extra payments for Internet-repurposed programming. This is similar to iPod and download issues (for which negotiations have been done and some status quo has been reached), though this is more acute.
As the story explains, the guilds normally are paid residuals by producers, not distributors. Yet even producers are being shut out of any streaming disbursements for the present, so the guilds must seek residuals directly from the TV nets.
Nobody is holding their breath for meaningful dialogue among the various parties anytime soon.