More than six weeks after the WGA and SAG demanded a code of conduct governing product integration and a financial stake for writers and actors in branded entertainment deals, the guilds' demands have largely fallen on deaf ears, with most networks, studios and producers unfazed by the WGA's threats to take their protests to the FCC.

The five major networks and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers all declined comment on the WGA demands, but network and studio insiders say writers and actors should have no rights to product integration revenue and believe the guild is using its salvo against branded entertainment to gain leverage in its battle -- so far a losing one -- to represent reality writers.

Network, studio and WGA sources say there has been no discussion of product integration since the guilds very publicly unleashed their demands for full and clear disclosure of product integration deals at the beginning of each TV show and a creative and financial role for writers and actors in branded entertainment deals.

Several industry insiders said the WGA has not even made any overtures to networks, studios or producers about launching a dialogue since issuing its white paper on product integration Nov. 14 at a widely covered news conference and threatening to file a complaint with the FCC if the companies did not open negotiations on the issue.

"Since they threw that initial stink bomb, they have not reached out to anybody to start any formal conversations," one network insider said. "There was a big stunt designed to get attention, but there haven't been any efforts to reach out and start a dialogue."

WGA West president Patric Verrone said the WGA and SAG "unequivocally asked the companies for discussions on product integration in every newspaper, radio and television station" that covered their news conference. "Is an engraved invitation necessary?" he asked. The WGA also said it soon would be sending out a letter signed by other unions asking for formal talks on the issue.

But even if networks and studios agree to sit down with the guilds to discuss product integration, it appears highly unlikely they will give in to their demands for a code of conduct or a share of the revenue. "They're paid a huge wage, and how the network or producer makes the money to pay them is none of their business," said a high-placed studio insider who declined to be named. "They're not getting paid by the word or the kind of word they write. It's part of their job to be creative."

Further dissuading networks and studios from taking the WGA demands seriously is their perception that the guild is not truly interested in product integration but rather is using it as a negotiating tactic to win concessions in its campaign to represent reality writers as well as on other issues it considers more critical, such as residuals from DVDs and the repurposing of content for off-air platforms.

"It's a negotiating tactic to get what they really want -- representing reality TV writers," said Jim Johnston, partner at the law firm of Davis & Gilbert Llp. "The FCC threat seems to have little if anything to do with their real goals and seems to be a repositioning in order to get some traction on an issue they haven't made any significant headway with so far."

Michael Davies, executive producer of such shows as "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," "Wife Swap" and "Iconoclasts," said the WGA white paper seemed to be more about "throwing firebombs at reality television" than wanting to be part of the conversation about brand integration. "I'm not convinced how genuinely felt any of this is."

Several industry insiders said they didn't expect product integration to come up at all until new contract negotiations get under way -- probably sometime in 2007, when the current WGA contract expires. "I would say certainly at this point ... there's nothing the producers and networks are going to do," Johnston said.

But Verrone warned in a statement Wednesday, "If this matter isn't resolved in a timely fashion, further action with the FCC is assured."

However, even the threat of FCC intervention doesn't seem to be having much impact. Networks, studios and producers say they don't expect much action from the agency under a Republican administration more concerned with indecency than interfering with free-market issues. They believe the current disclosure of product integration during a show's end credits satisfies FCC regulations and say that because the FCC already is investigating product integration because of a complaint filed in 2003 by the consumer watchdog group Commercial Alert, they don't expect that an additional complaint from the WGA will change much.

"The FCC is already involved, and if it (product integration) was something they were really concerned about, I'm sure we would have heard about it by now," said Alan Brunswick, labor attorney and partner at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips Llp. "They apparently have bigger fish to fry."