Sigh of relief as writers' strike ends

Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, Brothers and Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Pushing Daisies and the Academy Awards Ceremony were some of the programmes that threatened to disappear from M-Net screens because of the four-month writer strike in the US, which was recently resolved.

Although most M-Net audiences weren't aware of the impending crises, American audiences were shown re-runs of series- to fill airtime since the industry was immobilised in November 2007. M-Net and Oracle Airtime Sales (OATS) had a contingency plan in place, had the strike continued.

Series such as Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy and Pushing Daisies, which are currently on M-Net, do not have all the completed episodes, but the international studios are expected to resume production soon. These shows started airing in the US in September 2007 and, based on their proven audience ratings, were acquired before the strike started.

Adjustments to local schedules

There may still be adjustments to local schedules if new episodes are not available in time. In this case, programmes in a particular timeslot will be substituted with programmes aimed at the same target audience, such as replacing Pushing Daisies with Ugly Betty.

However, M-Net has acquired many shows that were completed before the strike began, such as Damages, Army Wives (starting on M-Net in April 2008), Weeds, Dexter and Californication (for which David Duchovny received a Golden Globe).

M-Net viewers will benefit from the strike as top international series planned for the second half of 2008 will be aired sooner.