IBEW prepares to negotiate new FOX contract

Just in case you have an interest and didn't already know...

FOX Contract Negotiations

Hello Everyone,

FOX Sports contract negotiations are tentatively scheduled to begin in the middle of March.

Please contact your Business Manager for details and to inform them of your ideas/proposals.

We need to hear from you about what needs to be changed and added to the contract!

Include examples of situations as to why your proposals are needed.

We have also set up a FOX Sports contract web site to send us your ideas;

www.ibew.org/fox

Should you have any questions or need additional information, do not hesitate to contact me at anytime.

Thanks!

Ro Wratschko

International Representative
Broadcasting & Recording Dept.
IBEW
Washington D.C.
202.728.6147

Speak now or forever hold it!

BOMBED BACK TO THE STONE AGE

The US threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the stone age following 9/11.

KJZZ-TV in Salt Lake City threatens to do the same with our industry.


This was discovered on Craigslist:

Part-time Summer Video Work

---

Reply to: see below Date: 2008-02-15, 2:59PM MST

The Utah Jazz and the Salt Lake Bees are looking for individuals to fill the following positions: Camera Operator Instant Replay Operator Editor Techinical (sic) Director Utility/Grip

We are looking for creative individuals with experience and knowledge in shooting sporting/other events, video editing and interviewing. If interested mail your resume and demo reel to: Human Resources 301 W South Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84101

• Location: Utah Jazz/Salt Lake Bees
• Compensation: $50/event
• This is a part-time job.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 575282979

Oh my lord, where to start?

Despite what your common sense is telling you, this ISN'T for a scoreboard feed in a minor league ballpark.

THIS IS THE REAL THING! Or as real as Salt Lake City gets, anyway (we kid, we kid).

We can look beyond someone's Utopian ideal that camera ops, tape ops, editors, TDs, and utes all deserve the same pay, as long as the rate is whatever the highest position normally gets.

Paying a utility TD money is fine and generous, but it wouldn't work in reverse. Can you name a TD that would work games for accepted utility wages?

But KJZZ takes that issue and goes about one hundred steps further. The pay is FIFTY DOLLARS per game for ALL positions! These games will be broadcast over-the-air in SLC with approximately 60 translator stations relaying the signal to viewers in Utah, Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho. And that's not counting cable and satellite viewers in the region.

This ain't no public access channel. A quick look at the KJZZ line-up reveals that they have syndication deals for "Friends", "Scrubs", "Entertainment Tonight" and everybody's favorite self-promoting fraud, "Dr. Phil".

But they're going to pay FIFTY BUCKS to freelancers working on their baseball games?

We can't wait to see how that looks.

But if you can imagine, the future may look even worse.

Kim Jong Mil, leader of rogue regime threatening sports TV workers

KJZZ is owned by the Larry H Miller Group Of Companies which controls a vast array of retail, food and entertainment businesses, financial service institutions and automotive dealerships in seven western states. The Utah Jazz and the EnergySolutions Arena, plus the aforementioned Salt Lake Bees baseball team (AAA - LA Angels) all fall under the Larry H Miller umbrella.

Conveniently, KJZZ also broadcasts 40 Utah Jazz games, which includes 22 home games this season. SLC's freelance pool continues to work these games, but what about next season? What if KJZZ offers their FIFTY DOLLAR A GAME crew the home package for 2008 - 2009? Who's to say that FSN Utah wouldn't eventually follow suit for their games?

There's nothing to stop them. Utah is a right-to-work state, and while KJZZ's actions will no doubt result in a grass roots IATSE movement, there's no legal remedy against anyone not wishing to join.

According to the their web site:

The vision at KJZZ remains, "To enhance the quality of life in Utah."

Except perhaps, for the quality of life of Utah's TV freelancers.


(By the way, companies that can't spell "technical" correctly in their help wanted ads shouldn't expect to find many Mensa applicants knocking on their doors.)

GOLDEN GLOBES: GONE BABY GONE

We're posting this item because of the affect on numerous SoCal sports freelancers who also work these events:

Despite what has been and is being reported by mainstream media, we have learned that NBC has indeed canceled the Golden Globe Awards scheduled for January 13.

An announcement confirming the decision will take place on Monday.

That makes the score something like WGA 3, AMPTP 0.

PEACE IN OUR TIME

On Saturday November 30, HDNet returned to Staples Center in Los Angeles for a Kings hockey game.

This time however, all local crew members were under the IATSE contract and received their regular hours and benefits contributions. The crewing service HDNet employs and the IA came to an understanding and all future HDNet shows in Southern California are expected to be under the IA contract.

HDNET RECEIVES CLEAR SIGNAL FROM IATSE

Although some of the details remain sketchy, this much is clear: if somebody thought they could hire local crew for a sports remote in Southern California and easily sidestep IATSE, they thought wrong.

We’re told that HDNet found that out on Thursday at Staples Center during preproduction for that night's Ducks - Kings NHL game. In the past, HDNet utilized Pettigrew Crewing to hire and payroll any local crew for their shows. Pettigrew Crewing is one of several companies signed to the LA and SD area IATSE sports contracts, and they also provide similar services for ESPN and Turner Sports.

The motivation is unknown, but apparently HDNet bypassed Southern California entirely and crewed the show through Chicago (Carzoli). The local crew members were all IA card holders, but were told the show was non-union.

To make matters even more awkward, the HDNet show was actually a four camera dual feed with Fox Sports' FSN West, sharing Mobile TV Group's 10 HDX.

Now it gets really interesting.

The President/COO & General Manager of HDNet is Phillip Garvin, who also holds the same titles at Colorado Studios. Mobile TV Group is a subsidiary of Colorado Studios. Who else owns a piece of MTVG? Fox Sports, of course!

In fact, it was Garvin and Fox Sports who teamed to open Mountain Mobile in 1994 (coincidentally the same year the freelancers in Southern California formed a sports local with IATSE).

In 1999, Garvin and Fox opened Lone Star Mobile in Texas, and then Mobile TV Group after that.

So, an active imagination could envision a scenario that Thursday's events at Staples Center may have been the beginning of an aggressive stance by Fox Sports against IATSE freelancers as the two parties head toward negotiations for a new contract next July. If aggressive is too strong a word, perhaps it was just a test to see what would happen.

However, sources say that FSN West and IATSE have had a productive relationship, so an unprovoked act by Fox Sports appears unlikely.

An IA representative was dispatched to Staples and met with HDNet's production team. No aspect of the HDNet show was interrupted and the game was televised as planned. What happens next remains to be seen. HDNet returns to Staples Center on December 8.

Stay tuned for that.

We all know and work with lots of freelancers from Southern California. These were the guys who started the IATSE ball rolling in the regional sports TV industry. Southern California became the model for all the other regions who have unionized in the last 13 years. Many of the members were in their 20s when they felt that health benefits and pension plans were things worth fighting for.

Their fight included a four year work stoppage against LA-based VTE Mobile Television Productions, which played a key role in the eventual downfall of that company in 1998.

Now, those same guys are in their 40s, and they know those are things worth fighting for.

Maybe it would be wise not to test their resolve.