On the heels of earning an Emmy for his role in HBO’s Grey Gardens, Ken Howard scored another victory with his election to serve a two-year term as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
Howard won 47 percent of the ballots cast, easily outdistancing Anne-Marie Johnson who finished second with some 32 percent of the 27,295 votes.
Howard succeeds outgoing president Alan Rosenberg whose Membership First coalition had backed Johnson. Howard is part of the Unite for Strength wing of SAG which is billed as being more moderate in its approach to negotiations and other unions. Howard in fact campaigned on the promise that he would strive to establish a closer bond with the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (AFTRA) as a means to help strengthen SAG’s position at the negotiating table with producers.
Unite for Strength also gained additional clout within the union as its candidate Amy Aquino won election to a two-year term as secretary-treasurer, outdistancing chief candidate Connie Stevens. Furthermore, Unite for Strength won a majority of the 22 seats up for grabs on the 69-member board spanning SAG’s Hollywood, New York and Regional Branch divisions.
Johnson and Stevens, however, were elected from the Hollywood division as national SAG board members.
“Despite the sharp differences that those of us active in Guild affairs sometimes have over strategy and tactics, we need to continually remind ourselves that we’re all on the same team, fighting for the same thing–and by pulling together, we’ll only grow stronger.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More