and other events over the course of the year
- versus national networks that produce a
fraction of that number,” Torossian said. “Further,
right now these games and seasons remain
postponed, unlike, say, March Madness, which
was canceled. We are operating under the
assumption that all of the postponed games will
ultimately be played.
“Of course, the situation is fluid and we are
constantly assessing and re-assessing ways to
further assist freelancers as we are able.”
Leslie Fitzsimmons, the vice president of IATSE’s
Local in Milwaukee, said in a statement that
“they refuse to believe this is the best it can do.”
“Sinclair reported an 80-plus% year-over-year
increase (fourth quarter 2018 to 2019). Sinclair’s
CEO made $7.5 million last year. We’ve lost all
our income. We need help,” Fitzsimmons said.
“Not only that, we are losing out on our health
contributions, which puts our ability to maintain
coverage at risk. It’s a double whammy.”
Regional networks currently are mostly filling
their time by rebroadcasting games that many
affected crew members worked on. However,
crew members do not earn residuals when those
are re-aired.
Cushing said seeing those games on television
while everyone is struggling has been tough
to watch.
“They are now rerunning all the work we’ve
done. They no longer have to pay a crew. They
are saving money on production costs but still
getting subscription fees,” he said. “It could be
argued they are making more money than
producing games and still getting good ratings.”