• Bloomberg News, Monday, December 10, 2007 10:45 AM

Just one week after talks had resumed, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild Association of America hit another impasse in their negotiations over digital media compensation. In a proposal last week, the writers demanded 3 percent from digital sales, or $632 every time a 60-minute show is broadcast 100,000 times on the Web, plus similar increases for each additional 100,000 broadcasts.

In his response, Alliance negotiator Nick Counter said in a statement that the Writer's Guild was asking for "money that doesn't exist, restrictions that are legally dubious and control over people who have refused to join their union." Counter added that talks wouldn't resume until the guild removed six of its demands. The guild's response: "They walked away leaving us sitting at the table. "We're not leaving the table."

It's only a matter of time before the stalemate wreaks havoc on the TV and movie industries. Most scripted TV shows will have stopped production by next week, putting some 15,000 people out of work. The networks, meanwhile, stand to lose tens of millions in lost ad revenue.

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