Actors' union achieves tentative agreement

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood producers and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced a tentative three-year contract agreement yesterday that puts more pressure on a larger actors union to do the same and avoid a crippling strike.

AFTRA said its deal established higher fees for downloaded content and residual payments for streams and clips that are supported by advertising.

It also sets a deadline for developing a system for actors to consent to the online use of clips containing their images or voice.

"It's a terrific deal. It's a victory for actors," Roberta Reardon, president of the 70,000-member union, told the Associated Press.

She said she hoped the agreement would serve as a model for the larger Screen Actors Guild, which was set to resume its stalled contract talks yesterday.

The current contracts of both actors' unions are set to expire June 30.

SAG represents 120,000 actors in movies, TV and other media. The TV and radio federation represents, among others, actors, singers, announcers and journalists. SAG and AFTRA share 44,000 dual members.

Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer who formerly represented the writers' guild, said he expected SAG to resist pressure to sign a deal similar to the one cut by its smaller counterpart.

"This is not going to be another two days of negotiations and we're done," he said. "This is still a long process."

The AFTRA deal, involving a handful of prime-time TV shows such as

Curb Your Enthusiasm

and

Rules of Engagement

, came after 3 a.m. yesterday, the second straight late-night session since bargaining began May 7.

The agreement boosts minimum wages 3.5 percent in the first year of the contract, 3 percent in the second, and 3.5 percent in the third.

It also sets a 90-day deadline after ratification to develop rules that would have actors consent to use of clips in a commercial market similar to iTunes, Reardon said.