There's good news and bad news coming from the on-going talks between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The bad news is that there has been very little progress in talks between SAG and the studios concerning a new contract.

With their current contract expiring on June 30th, SAG members are looking for higher pay for "middle-tier" actors, those making less than $100,000 a year, and a greater cut of profits from DVD and new media sales -- a main sticking point during this past winter's Writers Guild strike. In addition to those woes, there are bitter splits taking place between SAG members and those of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) after the smaller union ratified an agreement with the studios.

The good news, at least for film and television viewers, is that SAG has no immediate plans to strike.

Wal-Mart is launching a beta version of its new video download store today. While there's no shortage of sites offering up movie and TV downloads these days, Wal-Mart could be the one to give Apple's iTunes store a run for its money. That formula? They're Wal-Mart, the company that sells 40 percent of all US DVDs.

Wal-Mart will have about three thousand films and television episodes available for download, with movies going for $12.88 to $19.88 and TV shows for $1.96 per episode -- a whopping 4 cents cheaper than Apple's price. New releases will be available the same day they come out on DVD. Older movies will sell for $7.50, compared with Apple's $9.99.