…or molest their children.
"From the research I've done since SAG/AFTRA announced they were going on strike, it appears one of the big sticking points (as we all assumed) was a fair share of residual payments from streaming programming. The majors have ALWAYS remained pretty silent on just HOW MANY VIEWS a show really gets when they call it a hit, and now it appears they have not only shot themselves in the foot, but they are going to have to come clean in order to get this settled.
"I can tell you from experience that TV shows streaming on the Internet get FAR, FAR LESS views than what a show gets when it airs on broadcast TV or cable - FAR LESS. That didn't stop the majors from proclaiming shows like "The Wonderful Mrs. Weasel" (or whatever the hell that Amazon show is called) or "Better Call Saul" or "House of Cards" are enormous hits and watched by millions - that, like when they say the Oscars are watched by a billion people around the world each year, is all total horse manure.
The problem for them now is when they do produce the real viewer clicks to try and reach a fair settlement and show that the numbers are not what they were bragging about - even though they never did reveal them in the first place - nobody is going to believe them; it will be the old "Hollywood Accounting" story. But this time it's true - the money to be made in streaming is a far cry from the old model...all of the studios over-extended their budgets to try and compete with Netflix and now they are not only deeply in the red, but the whole thing is going to bite them in their posteriors" and blow up in their faces. They are all slowly discovering that the old model of commercial TV is the only way they will attempt to recoup some of their investments, but no way at least right now can they charge per ad what they do over the air or on cable. They will never sell and keep enough subscriptions to justify the billions spent on new content, most of which nobody watches. The next several weeks are going to be quite interesting."
(Why is your cable bill so high? Overspending by networks and studios and high sports rights fees--ESPN (which the Mouse wants to keep though they may sell ABC). Then add the money lost on theatrical bombs like Elemental.