The release of new episodes of most popular evening entertainment television shows in the United States will be suspended because of the first strike by Hollywood scriptwriters in 15 years, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
According to its reports, TV shows such as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Seth Meyers, among others, are paused. NBC, ABC and CBS will have to air reruns of previous episodes of these shows during the evening hours.
The hosts of the popular late-night shows have been making regular phone calls over the past few weeks to coordinate their actions in case the strike starts, according to the publication.
The decision to go on strike comes after six weeks of negotiations with Netflix, Amazon, The Walt Disney, Paramount and Apple TV for new agreements and pay raises.
As CNN notes, the strike could last for several months. The last writers’ strike was in 2007, lasted 100 days and caused $3 billion worth of damage to the industry. According to TV channel, the union Writers Guild of America West represents the interests of 11.5 thousand writers. In addition to the suspension of TV production, the strike will affect work on new series and films.