"While no guild decision has yet been made regarding the Grammys, if a waiver is requested for the Grammys, it is unlikely to be granted," said WGA spokesman Gregg Mitchell.

The Grammys are produced by John Cossette Productions in association with Ken Ehrlich Productions, and are written by Ehrlich and author/journalist David Wild. Mitchell says there's been no decision yet as to whether or not the WGA would picket the Grammys, which air on CBS. Mitchell notes that there have been "no discussions yet" with the production companies involved with the Recording Academy's awards show.

Since the Grammys honor musicians, not actors, it is unclear how much impact the WGA's decision will have on the show, though the dozen or so actors who typically present awards would not be involved. Last year, Quentin Tarantino, Luke Wilson, Nicolas Cage, Terrence Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, and David Spade appeared on the show. This year's nominees also include a number of musicans who have appeared in movies or TV, among them Justin Timberlake, Queen Latifah, Tim McGraw, Beyonce, Jack White, Jon Bon Jovi, and Fantasia. Among the Grammy nominee musicians who have historically refused to cross a picket line are Bruce Springsteen, the Beastie Boys, Joni Mitchell, John Mellencamp, and Steve Earle. And, obviously, writers would not contribute to the ceremony's script, though compared to other awards shows, the Grammys are a performance-heavy event.

"Over the past year, we viewed countless films and spoke with numerous studios in pursuit of finding the perfect film," Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said in a statement. "Just as we have demonstrated with music, we believe Starbucks can ultimately change the rules of the game for film marketing and distribution."

Schultz already has ties to the movie industry. He sits on the board of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., and he hired Ken Lombard, former head of Earvin "Magic" Johnson's Johnson Development Corp., to run the burgeoning entertainment division of Starbucks. The company doesn't break out results for the entertainment business.

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Gould also said Starbucks has been meeting with Hollywood studios about possible film projects and plans to begin selling books later this year. Starbucks has also been expanding its music business. In 1999 it bought Hear Music, a chain of music stores with locations in Seattle and Austin, Texas.

The company has since created larger Hear Music stores attached to Starbucks's coffee shops where customers can choose from more than 1 million song titles and burn their own CDs while sipping lattes. Starbucks won't have more than 20 CD and DVD titles at any one time in its stores so customers don't get overwhelmed, Gould said.