English Entertainment
Turner, Intel and Mark Burnett ink content partnership
MUMBAI: Compelling branded storytelling, strategic content distribution and advanced advertising are the pillars of a partnership that was inked between Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Intel Corporation.
In 2016, the two companies will team up with Emmy-winning executive producer Mark Burnett to launch a brand new TBS original series – America’s Greatest Makers (working title). Building on the success of last year’s Intel ‘Make It Wearable’ challenge, the series will be an entertainment event spanning the breadth and scope of the Turner portfolio, across multiple screens and levels of engagement.
At the core of the series, Burnett will encourage makers to develop the next big innovation. Innovators will be tasked with producing breakthrough technology that is built on the Intel Curie, an integrated hardware module that can power a range of wearable and smart connected consumer devices.
Digital and socially driven content will kick off the early stages of the challenge leading up to the announcement of the semifinalists. TBS will then launch the series America’s Greatest Makers, which will showcase the excitement of the semifinals. The series will debut with a kick-off special introducing the semifinalist teams who are determined to create the next big innovation in wearable technology.
Turner and Burnett will immerse viewers in the America’s Greatest Makers experience through long and short-form content presented across Turner’s multi-screen portfolio of leading brands. TBS’s chronicle of the high-stakes semifinals will be joined by an array of short-form, sharable content that will expand the storytelling to brands like TNT, Adult Swim, truTV, HLN, CNN and Bleacher Report. Produced in the style and voice of each brand, the short-form content will feature various lifestyle innovations that resonate with the brand’s particular audience.
In addition to the content elements, the partnership will utilize Turner Broadcasting’s position in advanced advertising capabilities by aligning around Sociology, a new marketing capability that allows brands to engage key segments of Turner’s massive social media following.
“This first-of-its-kind partnership starts with a compelling content idea, then uses Turner’s capabilities to distribute that storytelling at scale, across all of our premium properties and platforms. As we embark on this new partnership with Intel and Mark Burnett, we have the opportunity to encourage innovative spirit, empower and inspire viewers to share content, reach the right audiences and, in the end, drive business results that matter,” said Turner Broadcasting Ad Sales executive vice president of integrated marketing and branded content Dan Riess.
“This is much more than just a linear TV series. This is the next evolution of storytelling, told simultaneously across many platforms and in many different ways. This is the future. Intel drove the past from ‘inside,’ and now we will watch it drive the future from both ‘inside AND OUTSIDE!’” said Burnett.
“Through this exciting collaboration with Intel, we are celebrating the spirit of innovation across the Turner portfolio. We look forward to working with Intel and Mark Burnett onAmerica’s Greatest Makers and can’t wait to see the truly awesome technology that emerges from it,” said TBS and TNT senior vice president of unscripted development, late night and specials David Eilenberg.
“The next big technology innovation may be just a concept in someone’s mind or an invention being built in someone’s garage. Intel welcomes America’s inventors, makers and entrepreneurs to inspire us all with their ideas on this new and powerful stage provided by Turner Broadcasting and the imagination of Mark Burnett,” added Intel chief marketing officer Steve Fund.
America’s Greatest Makers (http://www.americasgreatestmakers.com/) is a key component of Intel’s global initiative to inspire ideas and fuel innovation. It encourages makers to create groundbreaking wearable technology and smart connected consumer electronics that are fresh, exciting and practical. Last year’s challenge winners created a drone camera that can wrap around a person’s wrist and a cost-effective prosthetic hand created using a 3D printer.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
