FIRST OFF . . .

Staff and free-lance directors at ABC, CBS and NBC will soon receive ballots on new three-year contracts proposed by the networks, a Directors Guild of America official said this week. Guild negotiators originally recommended that the guild accept NBC’s offer and reject those of CBS and ABC. However, the guild leadership decided to send the offers out without any recommendations. Nearly 500 of those voting are network staffers. They work in network news, sports and entertainment, and at network-owned stations, including KNBC-TV Channel 4 in Burbank, and KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KABC-TV Channel 7 in Los Angeles. The ballots are due back by Oct. 26, and the vote results will be announced shortly afterward, said Alan Gordon, executive director of the guild’s East Coast office in New York.