Apple told the IATSE that it has only 20 million subscribers to TV+
Jason Sudakis won an Emmy for his portrayal of soccer coach Ted Lasso on Apple’s TV+ original
Thus, Apple is allowed to pay these workers less than the amount received by workers doing the same jobs for Netflix (209 million subscribers as of Q2 2021) and Disney+ which reportedly counted 116 million subscribers during the same quarter. Union members are reportedly considering going on strike as the most valuable publicly traded company in the world is paying wages at lower rates than other companies that are not worth as much as Apple is.
Productions intended for streaming have labor terms that are less onerous than those for traditional television shows and movies with theatrical releases. That is because the profitability of streaming content is “presently uncertain” and productions meant to be streamed need to be more flexible. This is stated in the current contract which was viewed by CNBC.
But as you might expect, union leaders disagree pointing out that streaming is no longer a new untested platform. The union leaders say that companies financing the production of streaming content should pay employees close to what they receive when working on traditional televised productions and those films meant for theatrical release.
The show, starring Jason Sudeikis, is about a U.S. college football coach who won a Division II NCAA title. The coach is subsequently hired to coach an English soccer team even though he knows nothing about the sport. Ironically, if the success of the show leads to more subscribers, Apple could end up being forced to pay more to its behind-the-scenes-employees.
