English Entertainment
Live it up with Romedy NOW this July
MUMBAI: Here’s the best way to jumpstart July and keep the pace going without a moment’s rest. There’s the very best of love and laughter in store for you throughout the month that will keep you coming back to Romedy NOW, the exclusive English General Entertainment channel, for
more and more. Catch the handpicked series and movies lined up just for you!
With the world’s most popular series that has its fans asking for more, don’t miss your daily dose of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Monday – Thursday at 8 -9 PM. Catch the regular antics of Skip who lives at the most influential address of the US in ‘1600 Penn’, Fridays 8 PM. Score for the highest goal in ‘Back in the Game’ Fridays 8:30 PM. Watch out for crazy experiments in ‘Better Off Ted’, Saturdays 8 PM and add to the share of the cup-cake business with ‘2 Broke Girls’, Saturdays 8:30 PM. Join the world of friends, each of whom think the other has it better in ‘Friends with Better Lives’! Watch #FWBL every Saturday at 11pm. Don’t miss the sassy lawyer in ‘Ally McBeal’ from Monday to Thursday at 11 am. This July, Romedy NOW offers another successful series adding to its existing line-up of popular series called ‘Jake in Progress’, starting July 25th, Fridays at 8pm. Experience the life of a celebrity publicist as he juggles with his clients and keeps them away from potentially scandalous and possibly career damaging situations.
Brace yourself as Romedy NOW presents an all new meaning to the words ‘Living it up’! With movies that showcase true passion for life and zest, Romedy NOW says ‘Live it Up’ starting 7th July from Monday to Thursday, 9pm. Watch the beautiful Debra Messing in The Wedding Date where she hires a complete stranger as her escort to her half-sister’s wedding. Next it’s time for Crazy Stupid Love, as we see Cal Weaver go through life as a sudden and reluctant single and all the confusion that follows with teenage crushes, heartbreaks and angry dad’s protective of
their teenage daughters. Certainly not to be missed is ‘Letters to Juliet’ which is inspired by the art of letter writing the old fashioned way. Also catch movies such as Valentine’s Day, Horrible Bosses, Love and Other Drugs, the ever favourite Marley and Me and a lot more.
Get ready for one of the most romantic stories on screen ever on ‘Romedy of the Month’. Watch The Notebook on Saturday, 26th July, 9 PM. The No. 4 at the box office and 12th highest romantic drama grosser is all about love, love and more love. Set in the 1940s, the movie is about a rich heiress Allie Hamilton (Rachel Adams) and a country boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) who fall in love at a carnival. But the two are separated because of social class barriers after which Allie moves to New York and Noah joins the army. After waiting for Noah to write to her but in vain, Allie gets engaged to a wealthy lawyer, Lon only to discover that her mother had been hiding the letters. But before the arranged nuptials, Allie must choose between her first love and her commitment to Lon. Surrender yourself to the beauty of a canvas being painted where shades from different palettes come together and consolidate your belief in love.
“If music be the food of love, play on!” Thus spoke Shakespeare. Here’s your chance to hum the tune of love with ‘Romedy Playlist’. Starting 4th July, experience the emotions of sweet notes every Friday, 11 PM with favourites such as The Sound of Music, The Wedding Singer, Music and Lyrics and Moulin Rouge.
Feel more of love, life and laughter all this month only on Romedy NOW!
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.
