Strike Cost Nearly Surpassing 1988

Alan Gould, a senior analyst with Natixis Bleichroeder, told CNN that it is the price tag already being paid by CBS, ABC and Fox so far. He did not mention NBC, which recently laid off employees as a way to cut expenses during the strike.

There seems to be no end in sight for the strike, as both sides almost came to an agreement at the end of November, only to have the WGA shoot it down for what they called an unacceptable offer. In fact, if the studios want to make any headway in dealing with the union, they should consider approaching the WGA one-by-one, instead of through their own collective bargaining agency, said WGA West president Patric Verrone.

"If any of these companies want to come forward and bargain with us individually, we think we can make a deal," he told the Associated Press.

Verrone has blamed stalled talked on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the collective group representing the studios in the contract talks.

Production has already been shut down on nearly all genre television shows, although some movies which had completed scripts -- like "Star Trek XI" -- is still moving forward. NBC showed what could be the final episode of "Heroes" for the second season Monday night, and many of the networks are planning to start 2008 with scripted programming they held on from a fall release, and reality programming.

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