Actually, I'm beginning to wonder just how relevant the issues of this strike really are. I mean, sure, they're very relevant, but there's a lot of ways in which this strike feels like mammals striking against the dinosaurs for not getting with the program and going extinct already, so the mammals can occupy their niche.
Okay, that metaphor isn't really working, and maybe the future isn't all that imminent, but a future is coming (or at least looking more and more likely) where these studios just aren't relevant any more. I think maybe the writers and other creative types should start thinking about cutting out the middle man, and it seems like some of them are already talking about it.
In the meantime though, I think it is relevant, because the conglomerates have already stopped re-running some shows on the airwaves, which means that even now, the writers are getting less in residuals than they used to. For example, just look at Lost. That sucker is never re-run on TV. It's re-run all the time, online -- ad supported, too. The writers get nothing. Five years ago, it would have re-run over the summer on TV, and during the winter hiatus, too.