The Writers Guild of America board will meet on Friday to make a formal decision and set a strike date against producers. It would be the union’s first strike in nearly 20 years.

Steve Skrovan, a screenwriter for the Fox show “Til Death,” said a strike is all but inevitable.

Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers President Nick Counter said the news was no surprise.

“By the WGA leadership’s actions at the bargaining table, we are not surprised by tonight’s recommendation,” Counter said in a written statement. “We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend.”

The labor impasse concerns royalties from DVD sales — last negotiated in 1988. Writers also want royalties from the so-called new media — all the various places their works are now distributed, including internet downloads

If the roughly 12,000 writers do go on strike, late-night television and programs such as “The Daily Show” will bear the brunt first. Because of their topical nature, networks do not typically write or record these shows in advance.

Daytime soaps normally stockpile about 30 days in advance, and most prime time shows would likely make it through the end of the year without any impact on programming.

But networks would have to resort to reruns, news programs and reality shows to fill the schedule in 2008 if a strike were to drag on.

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