• by Wayne Friedman , July 10, 2008

The TV strike season, the sequel, may be approaching in the coming days.

The Screen Actors Guild gave today as the date to respond to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers final offer of $250 million -- the offer it received over a week ago.

AMPTP made its final offer to SAG on June 30, just hours before the actors' union contract expired. The offer ended negotiations between the two groups. Since then, the sometimes militant union has taken a more gentle approach, running ads in the Hollywood trade magazine with the message: "Let's Keep Talking."

The Thursday deadline comes just a day after AFTRA members approved a contract with the producers. Slightly more than 62% of the voting members said yes to the pact, results that were revealed on Wednesday. SAG officials say, however, that actors who are both AFTRA and SAG members voted against the agreement in large numbers, adding that yes votes for the deal came from AFTRA's non-actoring members --TV and radio news people, sportscasters and DJs. SAG has been pushing AFTRA member to vote against the new proposed deal, adding that a vote in the majority would give it less leverage in negotiating against the producers.

A press release from SAG said: "The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee remains dedicated to achieving a fair TV/Theatrical contract for SAG members as soon as possible. The SAG national negotiating committee anticipates an equal effort and commitment by the employers and their representatives to achieve this goal."