User blog comment:RRabbit42/Simpsons TV channel/@comment-961279-20111007070401

In related news, both the cast and producers of The Simpsons are in contract negotiations. 20th Century Fox Television says the show is too expensive to keep running, so they are trying to get everyone to take a pay cut. Some of the producers have already said they'd do it to continue on into Season 24, but not all of them have agreed.

For the actors, the studio wants a 45% pay cut. The actors countered with 30% pay cut and "a piece of the back end", which deals with reruns and merchandising. (Or it's the other way around, as reported by one site: actors proposed the 30% + back end percentage and Fox said 45% as an ultimatim.) Dan, Julie and the rest contend that they helped make something that will continue to earn Fox a lot of money for years to come even after the show ends, so they deserve to be compensated for that. Similar thing happened recently when Futurama was brought back, but these kinds of negotiations have been around for a long time. I remember when the casts of Seinfeld and Friends both negotiated as a single group for much the same reasons.