I’d like to share a new development concerning one of my last entries about the writers strike. I read an article recently about how NBC, as well as a few other major networks, are reimbursing advertisers for not supplying the guaranteed ratings levels the advertisers were promised. The networks blame a new ratings system but anyone who has turned on the tube lately will notice that TV sucks significantly more than it did before the strike. The drop in ratings can be attributed to the lack of new material that has led many networks to endlessly rerun their most successful shows. This lack of written material has also led to an increase in reality programming which, despite the popularity of shows like American Idol, the average television consumer can only take so much of. These reimbursements average about $500,000 per advertiser, which multiplied by the number of advertisers, is a significant loss for the networks. Of course the networks problems are about to get worse as their small stockpiles of original scripted shows start running out. With the writers’ strike possibly lasting until, or even through, the spring, I have a feeling that the networks will feel enough pressure to give in to the requests of the writers. As I mentioned in my last entry, the networks are faced with a much different entertainment landscape than they were in the past. Television has lost some of its captivative power with the advent of Netflix and the popularity of television shows on DVD as well as on the Internet. Ironically, shows on the Internet and DVD are exactly what the writers are striking about.