• by Wayne Friedman , November 19, 2007

Yet another side effect of the writers' strike: The Association of National Advertisers' Family Friendly Programming Forum will be postponed. But its related event--the ANA's Family Television Awards show--will air as planned.

The Nov. 27 event--which would have been its fifth year--is an all-day conference, including sessions on family-focused programming with the Hollywood creative community. It will be rescheduled for sometime in 2008.

Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, said in a release: "Although our members are not directly involved in the strike, its unresolved issues impact the day's agenda." Although is it not contractually involved in the Writers Guild contract, the ANA said it encourages negotiations to continue.

The event runs one day before the ANA's related Family Television Awards, which will continue as scheduled. The awards show is now in its ninth year, and will be held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Wednesday, Nov. 28. The Family Television Awards is scheduled to air on Dec. 27 on the CW Network.

More than a few analysts have wondered if many of the winter season's award shows, aired on TV, could be affected by the strike. Much of the writing occurs from union writers. Calls and emails to the Writers Guild of America were not returned by press time. A CW spokesman said the show was still scheduled to run.

Family Friendly Programming Forum, now a group of 42 advertisers, provides seed money to networks for scripts to be developed into TV shows. If a script becomes a series, the network reimburses the fund. In turn, that money is redeployed to seed more scripts. The goal is to encourage networks to air more family-friendly programs between the hours of 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

This season, three shows were added to the list of Family Friendly funded shows: "Chuck" (NBC), "Bionic Woman" (NBC) and "Life is Wild" (CW). Five shows were renewed, including "Ugly Betty" (ABC); "Brothers & Sisters" (ABC); "Notes from the Underbelly" (ABC); "Friday Night Lights" (NBC); and "Everybody Hates Chris" (CW).