OH

It seems like just yesterday -- it was actually Saturday -- I was wondering what effect DVDs would have on free television, where half the channels occupy upward of five hours a day with fare such as “Friends” and “The Simpsons.”

I’m told National Public Radio has touched on the issue. But, flattering me with its responsiveness, The New York Times addressed it just yesterday:

“Counting on DVD sales to replace summer reruns or syndication sales contains significant risk, several executives said. ‘I think DVD sales works on a Stephen King [miniseries] model,” Mr. Levin of WB said. ‘But it won’t work for every show.’

“In addition, both actors and writers do not have contracts in place that allow them to share significantly in the revenue from DVDs, which goes to the show’s owners. (Though the owner is generally a production studio, because networks now tend to own or have a stake in most of the shows in their schedules, they get a hefty share of DVD sales.) Negotiations to work out those terms with production studios could prove contentious, and eventually costly.

“ ‘The battle over DVD sales is going to get nasty in a hurry,’ one senior Hollywood production studio executive said.”

Oh.

So the short-term answer is that contracts will be renegotiated: Actors and writers will get less for syndicated reruns on the presumption DVD releases will make money for them instead. The long-term question, which is how the television industry will operate, and what our television stations will play when syndicated reruns are in less demand, has yet to be answered.