Film and TV writers prepared to go on strike Monday for the first time in two decades to break what has become a high-stakes stalemate with the world's largest media companies over profits from DVDs and programming on the Internet. Writers Guild of America board members voted unanimously Friday to begin the strike at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time (3:01 a.m. EST) unless studios offered a more lucrative deal with a bigger cut from video sales and shows sold or streamed over the Web.

Nightly shows such as The Tonight Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report are expected to go into reruns on Monday. The last time that there was a strike in 1988, it dragged on for 22 weeks. This time it has the potential to cost $1 billion in losses.

Source: Yahoo News