English Entertainment
IAtas to launch Intl Emmy World Television Festival in November
MUMBAI: In a bid to create more awareness about the products that the global television industry has to offer, The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Iatas) has announced that the first International Emmy World Television Festival will take place on 19 and 20 November 2005 in New York.
The festival will showcase the best in television from all over the world. It will incorporate the seven year old iEMMYs Festival, which traditionally offers festival goers an opportunity to screen the International Emmy Awards nominated programmes and meet with their producers and directors.
The festival will serve as a percussor to the 33rd edition of the International Emmy Awards which takes place on 21 November 2005. On 11 August 2005 Indiantelevision.com had organised the semi final judging round for the Asia and Africa region for the International Emmy Awards. The nominees will be announced at Mipcom on 17 October 2005.
Iatas president and CEO Bruce Paisner said, “The International Emmy World Television Festival is a natural extension for our iEMMYs Festival, as the Academy continues to recognize the best in television worldwide. This Festival is definitely a first for television, a forum for outstanding programming from around the world.”
The newly expanded festival will feature screenings, panels and presentations from TV organisations in different countries, as well as breakfasts, lunches and cocktails hosted by international sponsors. Traditionally, over 600 participants attend the iEMMYs Festival each year. The International Emmy World Television Festival will open its doors to a larger audience of both industry professionals and television enthusiasts.
Highlights will include a news coverage panel, where television journalists debate on a news topic, and the presentation of two Academy Foundation fellowships: the Renato Pachetti Fellowship for News and the Sir Peter Ustinov Young Scriptwriter Award. Partners include Sofitel, the Hong Kong based Phoenix Television, Microsoft, Savvis, which is encoding the International Emmy Awards nominated programs and HBO.
The International Emmy World Television Festival has already inked deals to showcase the newly launched Ariana Television Network (ATN) from Kabul, Afghanistan, and the sub-Sahara African Broadcast Network (ABN). Discussions with several other networks from Europe and Asia are in advanced stages.
As far as the International Emmy Awards gala on 21 November is concerned, it will be co-hosted by Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton and Chinese television personality Yang Lan. Lan is the co-founder of the Chinese media group Sun Media Investment which has interests in television, newspapers, magazines and online media.
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.
