As most of you know, the third SAG-AFTRA Convention recently concluded. David White, our national executive director, gave a lengthy, informative speech regarding the current direction of our industry. He noted that the entertainment business is presenting a changing picture:
● Facebook is entering the entertainment industry and wants to change the way things are done.
● Apple has invested $1 billion dollars into scripted entertainment.
● Amazon is investing $1 billion dollars into original film production.
● Netflix is investing $6 billion, half of which is going into producing original content.
● YouTube, which is owned by Google, is now the No. 1 ranked media in the world.
● Other competitors are Pandora, Spotify and Sirius XM.
● Spotify is expecting to earn nearly $5 billion in revenue in 2017, a 40-percent increase over 2016.
In other news, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Spanish Broadcasting System relating to a series of unfair labor practice charges filed by SAG-AFTRA that included the unlawful terminations of eight employees, bad-faith bargaining, among others. SBS owns two popular Los Angeles Spanish-language radio stations, La Raza (KLAX 97.9 FM) and MEGA (KXOL 96.3 FM), whose talent providing on-air services voted by an overwhelming majority to unionize and join SAG-AFTRA in August 2016.
[Ed.: To learn more about the union’s SBS campaign or to sign up for action alerts, please visit sagaftra.org/sbsla.]
After the convention, SAG-AFTRA settled three unfair labor practice charges against the Spanish-language television network Telemundo, which were filed on behalf of the network’s telenovela performers. The settlement, finalized in late October, was reached after a year of litigation and just days before a trial was to begin at the NLRB.
Till next time, see ya!
Charles Ferrera
National Board Member and New Orleans Local Vice President
This item was originally featured in the December 2017 local newsletter.
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