The national board of the combined Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) has unanimously approved the recently negotiated TV and radio commercials agreements, which must still be ratified by union members via mail and electronic voting next month.
SAG-AFTRA members who are eligible to vote will receive a postcard with ballot instructions explaining how to vote electronically or how to request a paper ballot. This postcard will be mailed to members on or about May 1, 2013. Ratification votes received by the deadline of May 31 at 5 pm PDT will be tabulated that same day.
Member ratification is regarded as a fait accompli. The contracts will result in $238 million in wage increases and other payments for all categories of performers, improvements in cable use fees, higher payments for work on the Internet and new media platforms, and an increase in the late payment fee. The new deal represents a six percent average wage and payment increase.
The agreements came out of formal negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA)-American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) Joint Policy Committee (JPC)–those formal talks began on Feb. 14 and concluded on April 6.
The new deal also mandates universal adoption of AD-ID, a provision long sought by the ANA. Ad-ID is the industry coding standard for identifying advertising assets across all media platforms. Use of Ad-ID will provide the necessary identification required by all parties for fair talent compensation. Per the JPC/SAG-AFTRA accord, all commercials produced for television, radio and digital platforms featuring SAG-AFTRA union members, must now use Ad-ID as the sole standard commercial identifier. A grace period through March 31, 2014 will be provided for conversion.
Ad-ID is a web-based system that generates and manages a unique identifying code for each advertising asset and applies that code to all media. Valid Ad-ID codes can only be issued from the Ad-ID system and include all basic information regarding the advertising asset. Ad-ID has developed extensive educational materials posted on http://www.ad-id.org/user-support including webinars, videos and FAQs to help the marketing community make this transition.
“This mandate is a critical step forward for Ad-ID and the advertising industry as a whole,” said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, and CEO of Ad-ID. “Full adoption of Ad-ID will enable greater transparency and accountability and eliminate costly errors associated with the inconsistent use of advertising asset identifiers. To ensure consistency with the SAG-AFTRA contract provisions, we strongly recommend that the transition to Ad-ID codes for all television, radio and digital commercial production begin as soon as possible.”
In October 2012, Ad-ID was unanimously endorsed by the boards of directors of the AAAA and ANA as the industry standard for commercial advertising coding.
Beyoncé’s Halftime Show Highlighted Netflix’s NFL Debut On Xmas Day
Beyoncé provided more excitement than either game during Netflix's NFL debut on Christmas Day.
Riding into her halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown Houston crowd with a nearly 13-minute performance on Wednesday.
She surprised fans by bringing along Shaboozey to perform "Sweet Honey Buckiin" and Post Malone joined her for "Levii's Jeans."
The action on the field didn't live up to expectations as the NFL showcased four of the AFC's top five teams.
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce exposed a glitch in Pittsburgh's defense during Kansas City's 29-10 rout in the first game.
The broadcast itself went off just fine, quickly becoming the second-most popular live title on Netflix to date, according to NFL Media.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens led C.J. Stroud and the Texans to 17-2 at halftime before Beyoncé stole the show.
Mariah Carey opened Wednesday's doubleheader with a taped performance of "All I Want for Christmas is You" and then the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs trounced the Steelers to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
There were no signs of any major streaming issues during the game after Netflix experienced minor blunders at the start of the pregame show. The broadcast opened with roughly 10 seconds of silence because it appeared studio host Kay Adams' microphone wasn't turned on.
Beyoncé's live performance at NRG Stadium was supposed to be the biggest test for the streaming giant and it seemed to go off without a hitch.
Mahomes threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns and Kelce had eight catches for 84 yards and one score as the Chiefs (15-1) earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The... Read More