• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 7, 2006

Ensuring there will not be any disruptions in TV and radio commercial production for the foreseeable future, the two top commercial talent unions late Friday announced a new two-year deal with Madison Avenue. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) also said the new deal, which covers the period running through Oct. 29, 2008, covers ads produced for the Internet and various new media platforms.

The agreement, which was negotiated with the Association of National Advertisers' and the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Joint Policy Committee on Broadcast Talent Union Relations, still needs to be ratified by the unions' membership and the associations' boards, but if approved, would call for a study to be conducted to explore alternative methods of compensating actors for participating in commercials across a growing array of electronic media. The groups announced plans to explore such as study earlier this year, but details have yet to be disclosed.

In addition to TV, radio and the Internet, the agreement covers commercials that would appear on other new platforms such as cell phones and even newer ones that have not yet been developed.

Under the terms of the agreement, actors would receive a six percent increase in basic compensation, and their contribution to union pension and health plans would go from 14.3 percent to 14.8 percent.

One important element of the agreement is that it will give advertisers and agencies greater flexibility to edit commercials created for TV and radio for use on the Internet and other new media platforms. Madison Avenue would also receive a one-year waiver to allow marketers and agencies to experiment with a shorter cycle of use of commercial content in the new media.

Results of forthcoming joint study will be considered in the next bargaining process. Nine consultants from the industry and academia were invited to respond to a request for proposal for the joint study on May 17.