I'm back to TV with commercials but guess what? The writers are not getting paid for the shows that I am watching.
Many of you may be ahead of me on this issue. I have known that there was a writer's strike going on but it hasn't really affected me so I didn't take the time to figure out why.
Our friend Ashley is in town and the writer's strike came up over a glass or two of wine last night. Jenna brought up this video which is a nice, concise description of the reasoning behind the strike.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk]
Granted, this is from the writer's perspective and I have had a hard time finding a good opposing view.
However, from what I have heard I can believe that the studios are doing whatever they can to hold onto Internet revenue. They know, as well as the writers, that the Internet is the future of entertainment. The lines between conventional television broadcasting and the Internet are weakening all the time. This is the future and in pure capitalistic form the studios want to hold on to the largest piece of the pie that they can for as long as they can. Of course, knowing this it makes sense that the writers would fight tooth and nail for their own piece of the pie.
Now, I don't agree that the studios should not give away the writer's content for free. Find a way to market it the way that television has survived since it's inception, advertising. Only now there is another option. Paid, on demand content like iTunes. I don't mind paying in one way or another for my content whether it is paying for an episode of a show or watching a couple of commercials on hulu.com. I just love that I have the choice.
I say fight for your rights writers. Get all that you can from that entertainment pie. Everyone else will. Just make sure that you don't allow them to turn it around and stick it to the viewers or we will find something else to watch. There is plenty of free content on the web and it is getting better all the time.
My $0.02.