For fans of The Simpsons it is devastating news: their beloved television program could, after 23 years and 488 half-hour episodes, come to an end.

The six main voice actors - Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer - are locked in what looks at first glance to be a pay dispute.

Rocky ground ... The Simpsons could be going off the air because of a pay dispute. Credit:AP/Fox

But the deal-making surrounding the story - and the question of whether the studio, 20th Century Fox, will strangle the most golden of its stable of geese in pursuit of the almighty dollar - reveals an even more complex world of studio economics.

As presented in the news, it reads like any wage dispute, albeit with immensely greater stakes. On one side we have the titanic studio, anxious to keep the money rolling in. On the other, a motley assortment of voice actors who believe they have been exploited by one of Hollywood's most productive profit machines.