TV on Strike examines the 2007 upheaval in the entertainment industry by telling the inside story of the hundred-day writers' strike that crippled Hollywood. The television industry's uneasy transition to the digital age was the driving force behind the first significant labor dispute of the twenty-first century. The strike put a spotlight on how the advent of new-media distribution platforms is reshaping the business models that have governed the entertainment business for decades. The uncertainty that sent writers out into the streets with picket signs laid bare the depth of the divide, after years of industry consolidation, between the media barons who rule Hollywood and the writers whose works support the industry. With both sides afraid of losing millions in future profits, a critical communication breakdown spurred a brief but fierce fight with repercussions that continue today. In the years since the strike ended, the rise of digital distribution has changed the business landscape in ways that few could have predicted.--From publisher description.