The Writers Guild Of America (WGA) announced last night that it had finally reached a tentative deal with the studios to end its 14-week strike.

WGA West and East presidents Patric Verrone and Michael Winship contacted members in the small hours of Saturday morning to alert them.

The agreement with the AMPTP (Alliance Of Motion Picture And Television Producers) is set to run until May 1 2011 and was expected to be ratified at a meeting of members in New York and Los Angeles on Saturday evening.

Verrone and Winship said the deal 'protects a future in which the internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery.'

A summary of the tentative deal states among other things that minimum rates are generally set to increase 3.5% each year.

The exceptions are network prime time rates and daytime serial script fees which rise by 3% each period; clips fees which increase by 5% in the third year; and programme fees and the upset price which increase once by 3% in the second year.

A ratified deal would mean that the 80th Annual Oscar ceremony would go ahead as planned on Feb 24.

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