MTV workers begin strike

Hundreds of MTV employees are staging walkouts in protest at the lack of benefits for the company's freelance workers.

The Viacom-owned MTV Networks - which include MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Logo and Spike - currently do not provide services such as health insurance for so-called “permatemps” - staff who have been working there for many years but are still only employed on freelance contracts.

According to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, the walkouts began next Monday and will continue for the rest of the week with protests being held in New York's Times Square and outside the company's ‘Total Request Live’ headquarters on Broadway.