Must See TV: All New...Reruns?
For months our nation has been plagued with a crisis that has stripped us of our most prized resource. No, it's not the rising gas prices; rather, it's our television. Absent from our lives--Jack Bauer and Dr. House, leaving many to resort back to talking about coworkers and other trivial things, such as the election. Like a bad breakup, we are only left to ponder if those we have come to spend our evenings with will ever return. Randy Rosenberger, associate professor of business and economics, whose research focuses on bargaining and negotiation, discusses the writers' strike.
Question
How do the separate agreements reached with some big production companies (David Letterman, The Weinstein Company) affect negotiations?
Answer
I don't think they affect the broader negotiations a lot. There are so many writers, and they are such a fragmented lot, that a few agreements of subsets of writers won't have any great impact. Generally, I think that the public sides with the writers, particularly when people hear that writers are making only 4 cents per DVD.
Q
What do you think is the tipping point for management in negotiations?
A
I think if Hollywood studios had some sense that writers could get what they want outside of their arrangement with the studios, then management would have no choice but to go back to the bargaining table. That is, if there is some other vehicle or mechanism where writers can sell their work and have the delivery of the finished product controlled by entities other than Hollywood studios, then the studios would have to negotiate...and should do so in "better" faith.
Q
We've seen the delay of awards shows and programs like "24." Does this harm the writers union or management more?
A
In a lengthy strike, both sides typically suffer a net economic loss. Studios would lose more relative to the writers if there were a risk that people would find alternatives to television. This seems unlikely. TV has staying power; we are a television driven culture. If management thought a long-term decline in TV viewership was a risk, then they would be at the table. Advantage: Hollywood studios.
Q
How real is the threat of viewership dropping off permanently?
A
I like to think it will be significant, but in reality, it probably will not be. As a professor, in your fantasyscape perhaps, you think that people will read more, will engage more, but that probably won't happen.
Q
Would a third-party mediator be effective in this situation?
A
One thing that you risk when you bring in a third party is you give up some control over the negotiations. I don't see why the studios would want to cede any of their control. The studios hold a lot of power in this situation, since they control the delivery of the end product, and they would never willingly give up that power.
- Christopher Bender '10, student reporter