Little Progress Made at TV Syndication Talks : Entertainment: The FCC chairman says he’s not optimistic that an accord can be reached before a June 14 deadline.

Hollywood studios and television networks appear to be far apart in their negotiations over the rules governing who shares in billions of dollars from TV reruns, industry officials told federal regulators Monday.

After meeting with studio and network executives, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Alfred C. Sikes said, “There was not much I heard this morning that makes me optimistic a resolution will be reached by June 14.” Sikes has given the negotiators until then to file a proposed compromise with the FCC or have the agency begin looking at revising the rules on its own.

Although Sikes said an agreement could still be reached “in the final hours,” he added that it was still the FCC’s intent “to commence a full review” once the deadline is reached.

At stake in the negotiations are billions of dollars generated by the sale of reruns to local television stations and to satisfy the growing appetite for programming of new commercial stations overseas.

Under current regulations, the networks produce up to five hours of prime-time programming per week and can only sell the rerun rights to a distributor “wholesale.” Networks say they should be able to participate in the market for syndicated programs, arguing that competition from new outlets like Fox Television and cable channels no longer make the Big Three the monolithic entities that they were when the rules were adopted in 1970.

Robert M. Daly, president of Warner Bros. and the lead negotiator on the studio side of the table, said he thought the studios “made some very good progress. . . . We don’t think the conversations are bankrupt at all. We think a deal can be made.”

Although the cap on network in-house production is set to expire in November, Daly said the studios are now willing to allow the networks to participate in rerun profits on an on-going basis, which is a significant advantage over selling program rights to distributors for a lump sum.

But Richard Cutting, general counsel for NBC and one of the negotiators at the table, said that “anybody listening to the conversation (with Sikes) would have come away more pessimistic than optimistic.” Cutting said the networks and studios were still far apart on at least eight major issues, including participation in the overseas market for reruns.

Cutting said the networks still sought “full participation in the global marketplace” while ensuring “safeguards for independent producers.”

Daly, meanwhile, said the studios conceded on two issues in the latest round of talks with the networks. First, Daly said, the studios are now willing to allow the networks to negotiate for a financial interest in the syndication of shows they air, but that are produced by outside suppliers.

Heretofore, the studios would not budge on this issue and maintained that the networks could not become part owners in television programs with the studios or independent producers.

Second, he said, the networks also would be allowed to participate in the revenue from the sale of television shows in reruns, provided they were shows already wholly owned or produced by the networks.

The meeting with the FCC came in the middle of NBC’s annual affiliate convention, which is usually staged in Los Angeles. But this year, the network gathered more than 200 affiliates in Washington for an intense all-day lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill. NBC hopes to win support in Congress for adjusting or overturning the rules.

The prospect of not presenting a negotiated settlement to the FCC by June 14 has consequences for both sides, although some network officials believe they are winning the public relations war in Congress and even the FCC. Each side stands to lose significant ground that it otherwise might be able to retain through negotiations.