So a commercial has to run on a cable network with at least 350,000 subscribers for actors to be paid anything other than the session fee. That shouldn t be hard. According to a source on the negotiating committee, advertisers are running ads on as many as 4500 units, which translates to 1.57 billion subscribers. The tiered structure the actors unions are proposing starts at 50 units for the first four tiers, then jumps 800 units for the fifth tier and 1000 units for the sixth. That tops actors out at 2000 units.
Any ads run over that are a bonus for the advertiers.
The final numbers the actors are proposing is a bit off of what the advertisers proposed for cable at the beginning of the negotiations last spring. Those are the maximum numbers. Both sides agreed that the Internet was in its infancy and that it requires more study. Advertisers had no problem with that kind of action, but they refused to say that the unions had jurisdiction over the Internet, which proved to be the sticking point that killed the deal. Home Check out the numbers likely to make it into the next contract.