Thursday morning headlines

Strike vote deadline: The WGA will start counting ballots for a strike authorization, which gives guild officials the power to call for a walkout as early as Nov. 1. Meanwhile, there's no sign of progress at the bargaining table, despite the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers removing that dastardly proposal to revamp the residual system. Talks aren't set to resume until at least Friday. From Variety:

Two key questions have emerged among observers: Will the WGA agree to a contract extension in exchange for a multiyear study of compensation, even though it spurned the idea in July? And can the AMPTP sweeten an extension deal enough to get the guild leaders aboard? At first glance, the answer to both questions would be "very unlikely." The WGA's been dismissive of the idea ever since AMPTP president Nick Counter first unveiled the proposal for creation of a jointly funded outside study group in April. Still, there may be some wiggle room for negotiators, such as reducing the length of the study by a year or two and agreeing in advance to make retroactive payments.

SAG-AFTRA slugfest: The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists haven’t gotten along for almost 80 years – and they’re not about to start now. SAG accuses AFTRA of poaching contracts on cable shows, and AFTRA is accusing SAG of muscling into its turf. It sounds like more of the same sniping, but it comes at an inopportune time. Next year, both unions are expected to begin joint negotiations on a new contract. You might recall the backstory - AFTRA tried unsuccessfully to merge with SAG in 1999 and 2003; SAG members were concerned about losing autonomy. (Variety)

Relaxing media rules?: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is talking about a plan that would allow companies to own a newspaper and TV or radio station in the same market. That would be a very big deal for our friends at Tribune, which has been getting around its ownership of the Times and KTLA through temporary waivers (Tribune’s pint-size potentate, Sam Zell, has been pushing hard to change the rules). The proposal appears to have the support of a majority of the five commission members. From the NYT:

The deregulatory proposal is likely to put the agency once again at the center of a debate between the media companies, which view the restrictions as anachronistic, and civil rights, labor, religious and other groups that maintain the government has let media conglomerates grow too large. As advertising increasingly migrates from newspapers to the Internet, the newspaper industry has undergone a wave of upheaval and consolidation. That has put new pressure on regulators to loosen ownership rules. But deregulation in the media is difficult politically, because many Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned about news outlets in their districts being too tightly controlled by too few companies.

New copyright guidelines: Look for a bunch of media and tech firms to announce today new standards for protecting copyrights online. Among those participating: CBS Corp., Dailymotion, Microsoft Corp., NBC Universal, News Corp.'s Fox and MySpace units, Viacom Inc. and Walt Disney Co. MIA is Google, which has been mired in copyright litigation. The agreed-upon principles, according to the WSJ, include eliminating copyright-infringing content uploaded by users to Web sites and blocking any infringing material before it is publicly accessible.

Rents on the rise: This is what usually happens when the housing market tumbles - folks who might otherwise consider buying a home get discouraged and wind up renting. In L.A. and Orange counties, the average third-quarter rent rose 5.2 percent from a year earlier, to $1,630. That's the highest average in California. The occupancy rate is 95.6 percent, which is considered fully occupied. Rental bargains continue to be in the Inland Empire. (LAT)

More nonstops to London: And they’re on Air France. Service from LAX to Heathrow will begin next summer, part of a joint venture between Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines (Delta passengers will be able to book certain Air France flights through Delta and vice versa). L.A. passengers now have a choice of seven airlines and 11 daily departures. (LAT)

Food warning letters decline: But that's not because the nation's farmers and processors are suddenly doing things the right way. It's because the Food and Drug Administration cut its inspection staff 28 percent from four years ago and visited fewer of the 329,000 facilities in the U.S. and abroad. The number of FDA warnings was a quarter of the comparable 2001 total. "The potential for greater risk is there," Mark McClellan, who was FDA commissioner under President Bush from 2002 to 2004, told Bloomberg. "Limited resources are stretching the agency too far'' after managers diverted staff to drugs and medical devices.

The analysis of warning letters excluded citations for improper marketing claims, failure to include allergens and other violations not directly related to safety. The FDA uses the letters to signal possible enforcement action after inspectors find violations such as unsanitary conditions and potentially dangerous additives. The number of warnings declined partly because Bush appointees barred field offices from issuing letters until they are approved by the FDA's general counsel, said William K. Hubbard, an FDA associate commissioner for 14 years before he retired in 2005. "The Bush folks didn't like warning letters," Hubbard said.

Interpreters end strike: The California Federation of Interpreters voted to go back to work without getting a new pay schedule. Courts have had to use a small number of interpreters who were willing cross picket lines. Los Angeles Superior Court management, which says there's just no more money in the kitty, has remained open to renegotiating the union contract next year. (Press-Telegram)