Writers strike officially at an end

Hollywood writers will return to work today after voting overwhelmingly to end the three-month strike that has crippled the US entertainment industry.

The Writers Guild of America announced the result of a vote of its members in New York and Beverly Hills.

Some 3,492 voted yes, with only 283 voting to stay on strike.

"At the end of the day, everybody won. It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognises the large contribution that writers have made to the industry," said Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp.

Mr Moonves was among the media executives who helped broker a deal after talks between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, collapsed in acrimony in December.

Payments for TV shows and movies distributed online was the most contentious issue in the bitter dispute involving the 12,000-member union and the world's largest media companies and other producers.

Under a tentative contract approved Sunday by the union's board of directors, writers would get a maximum flat fee of about $1,200 (€824) for streamed programmes in the deal's first two years and then get 2% of a distributor's gross in year three.

"These advances now give us a foothold in the digital age," said Patric Verrone, president of the West Coast guild.

"Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as television migrates to the internet."

One winner in the vote was the Academy Awards, which can now be staged on February 24 without the threat of pickets or a boycott by actors that would have dulled the glamour of Hollywood's signature celebration.

The strike's end will allow many hit series to return this spring for what is left of the current season, airing anywhere from four to seven new episodes.

Shows with marginal audience numbers may not return until autumn or could be cancelled.

The walkout stopped work on dozens of TV shows, disrupted movie production and turned the usually star-studded Golden Globes show into a news conference.

It also dealt a severe financial blow to a wide range of businesses dependent on work from studios.