Hollywood writers approve contract

LOS ANGELES - Striking Hollywood writers are going back to work.

The Writers Guild of America said its members voted Tuesday to end their three-month strike that brought the entertainment industry to a standstill.

Writers will go back to work today after voting in Beverly Hills and New York.

"At the end of the day, everybody won. It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognizes the large contribution that writers have made to the industry," said Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp.

Moonves was among the media executives who helped broker a deal after talks between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers collapsed in acrimony.

One winner in the vote was the Academy Awards, which can now be staged Feb. 24 without the threat of pickets or a boycott by actors.

The strike's end would allow many hit series to return this spring for what's left of the current season, airing anywhere from four to seven new episodes. Shows with marginal audience numbers may not return until fall or could be canceled.

The combined New York-Beverly Hills count was overwhelmingly in favor of ending the strike: 3,492 voted yes, with 283 voting to stay off the job.

Writers did not vote on whether to accept the tentative contract that won approval from the union's board of directors.

The guild will mail contract ratification ballots to members over the next few days. Writers can also vote at meetings. All ballots must be cast by Feb. 25.

ASSOCIATED PRESS