The Hollywood Writers Guild has published a new report on the effect of streaming platforms on the industry, calling on the government to regulate this type of service. The Union has denounced that Disney, Amazon and Netflix carry out “anti-competitive practices”.
The report “The New Gatekeepers: How Disney, Amazon and Netflix will take control of the media”, which the Union presented this Thursday, argues that these large companies accumulate power and influence in the market, offering the ability to abuse from their position to increase profits, hurting their competitors, inflating prices and reducing wages.
After more than 100 days of strike, the Hollywood Writers Guild has expressed its concern that the conglomerates will end up controlling the media industry and lose “the advances of the streaming era in favor of creativity and the freedom of choice”.
Screenwriters and actors ask for better salaries
The report accuses Disney of using its power to cut film production, shut down its competitors’ studios and remove independent content from its distribution networks.
He explains that Netflix went from being “an innovative competitor” to using its influence as the main “streaming” service to “reduce spending on innovative content and increase prices for consumers”, emphasizing the low salaries of screenwriters. He also highlights Amazon’s “anti-competitive” behavior by hurting its competitors by favoring its own businesses and reducing the pay of its employees.
In the report, the union calls for “antitrust agencies and lawmakers” to proactively crack down on anticompetitive practices.
The scriptwriters’ union began a strike on May 2 and is currently holding talks with the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP), which brings together the main studios, for the realization of a new collective agreement.
Hollywood actors (SAG-AFTRA) joined the strike on July 14 and, so far, the union representatives have not returned to the negotiating table with the AMPTP.
Both the SAG-AFTRA and the WGA seek improvements in the salaries of their members -especially with regard to the remuneration for the distribution of their content on streaming platforms- and that the uses of artificial intelligence are regulated , among other issues.
