Listen up, “Battlestar Galactica” fans. A war is brewing, fiercer than anything involving Cylon robots. The battlefield: the Internet, where fans can get their “Battlestar” fix with three-minute mini-episodes created especially for the Sci Fi Channel’s Web site, SciFi.com. NBC Universal, the studio behind “Battlestar,” refused to pay residuals or credit the writers of these “Webisodes,” claiming they’re promotional materials.
So “Battlestar” executive producer Ron Moore said he wouldn’t deliver any more of them, including the 10 that were already in the can. In response, NBC Universal seized the Webisodes and filed charges of unfair labor practices against the Writers Guild of America, which advised Moore and producers of three other NBC Universal shows not to deliver any new Web content until they had a deal over residuals. “The guild unlawfully pressured producers not to perform,” says Marc Graboff, West Coast president of NBC Universal TV.
The “Battlestar” skirmish is only the beginning as the Writers Guild heads into negotiations for a new contract with the studios next year. The talks are taking place just as shows are being delivered and promoted on the Internet and through iPods and cell phones —none of which is covered in depth by the current guild agreement. “It doesn’t matter which technology wins out, the companies are going to make money, and we can’t get shut out,” says David Young, the new executive director of the WGA, West. The stakes are huge: viewers streamed “Battlestar” Webisodes 5.5 million times last month, doubling traffic to SciFi.com within two days of the premiere. By comparison, 2.2 million people showed up for the show’s third-season opener on Oct. 6. Talk of a Hollywood strike is growing louder. Some 900 writers, including “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry, attended a “unity” rally Sept. 20. Says “Galactica’s” Moore: “We’re all heading toward a collision over digital content. Somebody’s going to blink, but I don’t think it’s going to be the writers.”
© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.
Source: MSNBC – Newsweek Periscope
Written by: Jenny Hontz
Oct. 23, 2006 issue
I can see paying a flat rate to the actors and writers for the webisodes but not wanting to credit the writers, that’s just dumb. Can anyone say bargining chip.
Would residuals come into play if the ‘sodes are put on the DVD set?
“viewers streamed “Battlestarâ€? Webisodes 5.5 million times last month, doubling traffic to SciFi.com within two days of the premiere. By comparison, 2.2 million people showed up for the show’s third-season opener on Oct. 6.”
This just indicates that the method of measuring viewership for television programming is completely fd up. Why should we be forced by the network to watch at a certain time on a certain day in order to keep a show on the air? There’s no way that there was less interest in the season premiere than in the webisodes.
Well, in terms of the number of Webisode downloads vs. the episode Neilsen rating, keep in mind that a lot of people downloaded the Webisodes more than once, and that the number covers all 10 webisodes. So per webisode, it would have averaged 550,000 viewers. That’s not nearly as impressive as they want it to sound.
Well, in terms of the number of Webisode downloads vs. the episode Neilsen rating, keep in mind that a lot of people downloaded the Webisodes more than once, and that the number covers all 10 webisodes. So per webisode, it would have averaged 550,000 viewers. That’s not nearly as impressive as they want it to sound.
If they were only promotional in nature what was the justification for blocking them from being downloaded outside the US?
>Jay Penney Says:
>October 17th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
>If they were only promotional in nature what was the justification for blocking them >from being downloaded outside the US?
A possible answer might be that as the webisodes relate to source material that has yet to be seen on-air in other countries.
It’s possible, but it seems unlikely to me. It’s more effort (not a lot, sure) to block them than to not, so unless they were contractually obligated to block them I doubt they would have.
I’ve got nothing to back this up, but I assume that Sci-fi only has distribution rights in the US. That would mean they can’t distibute content outside that area. If so, blocking the webisodes would imply they are content.
Hi from Spain, I can’t see any of them except for number 5, and I have to say that we have already seen the whole first season and the webisodes are still blocked, also sci-fi is on air on digital.