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NBC Universal Fraks BSG Webisodes

It just seems like chaos over at NBC Universal...

Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ron Moore has halted production on any new BSG webisodes, as the company tightens the purse strings and plays hardball, according to TV Squad.

Citing that the webisodes were being considered promotional material, NBC Universal executives decided to withold residuals and credit for the writers of the webisodes.  When Moore heard this, he decided to cease production.  In retaliation, NBC Universal seized the webisodes and filed charges of unfair labor practices with the Writers Guild of America.  WGA then went to Moore and said to not deliver any more internet-based content until there was a residual deal.

Curiously, over 6 million people downloaded the webisodes within 2 days of the show's third season.  Compare this with the 2.2 million people who actually watched the show according to the Nielsen ratings, and you have an interesting situation...

One might say there's a virtual torrent of information there.

Posted by Nina Kincaid on October 20, 2006 - 8:50am.
Action | Drama | Science Fiction | Television | Television News

Druuna's picture
Everyone gets greedy

Posted by Druuna on October 20, 2006 - 9:22am.

They're going to destroy this show. The news about wanting to halt production on expensive, scripted shows doesn't bode well either. I know that BSG is on SciFi and not NBC directly, but they own SciFi.

Instant Karma's picture
Interesting.

Posted by Instant Karma on October 20, 2006 - 9:37am.

I bet that download to viewer ratio is scaring the hell out of broadcasters and advertisers. Currently I'm watching Lost, Dexter, Heroes, Jericho, Studio 60 and even (please dont laugh) Six Degrees. I get to watch them maybe 24-48 hours after they have aired in the US (or Canada for Studio 60) and with the benefit of having ad's removed.

Chances are most, if not all of these shows would end end up on free to air television in the UK eventually, but if the networks that created them were to start broadcasting them over the internet in paralell with their television air times, I'd happily watch them with the all important ad breaks included. I'm sure it wouldn't even be all that hard for them to provide localised advertising depending IP address of the specific viewer, since no matter how much I may want to, I cannot pop down to my local shop to buy a Twinkie...

Druuna's picture
That's probably why...

Posted by Druuna on October 20, 2006 - 12:54pm.

...they also want to shift to reality-based programming, where the ads are built right into the shows. I always had to laugh when Regis would say "thank you AT&T" when someone would "phone a friend" on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Probably the worst of these kind of things was on The Apprentice where the contestants would have to develop a pizza for Pizza Hut or something like that, and there would always be that spot where Trump would say "Pizza Hut sells 666 billion pizzas a year using cheap ingredients and lots of saturated fat, and yet people keep coming back for more... because they have great customer service and their latest ad campaign is going to be huge!"

TheThirdDude's picture
I'm about to drop big money

Posted by TheThirdDude on October 20, 2006 - 1:07pm.

on the DVDs for season 2 and the miniseries of this bloody show!! I already forked it out for season 1, you bastards!!! I've never seen it on TV and yet you're getting more money from me than from your average viewer, so QUIT YOUR WHINING, NBC!!!

seekshelter's picture
mmmmm pizzas.....

Posted by seekshelter on October 20, 2006 - 10:19pm.

yeah....i'm sure its hard to sell suvs on a show set in the future in an alternate univers....