English Entertainment
AXN ‘Survives’ cautiously amidst plans to air new reality show in November
After having burnt its fingers with the second season of the reality show ‘Survivor’ AXN is not taking chances with its third season.
After just four episodes of the season which was set in Australia the channel was compelled to yank the show off the air in India as viewers – especially PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) – were uncomfortable with scenes depicting cruelty towards animals.
To avoid a repetition of this embarrassing situation the third season will start airing on 19 October, a week after it starts in America. This will give AXN’s team time to review and edit out any objectionable material that might offend Indian sensibilities. However, other countries in the Asian region which gave the show a thumbs up will start showing it about eight to 12 hours after America.
The third season of the series is set in Africa and the rules will be exactly the same involving two teams. Each team will have seven members and there will be 14 episodes. In the first nine episodes, according to an AXN representative, eight people will be voted off the island.
According to him, when the show started last December, it took a while for people to warm up to a new concept but once they did, ratings definitely soared. Coke was one of the sponsors of the second series and though the channel has not yet managed to attract any sponsors for the third season it is hopeful of doing so. In the west there has been a marked audience apathy towards reality based shows especially after the terrorist attacks. However in India, since ‘Survivor’ is the only reality show that AXN will show, the channel is confident of doing well in the rating sweepstakes.
Regarding further programming initiatives, the spokesperson said the channel was hoping to finish the year with a bang. From the second week of November the channel will show an eleven episode reality series called ‘The Amazing Race’. In America the show started airing last week. It has been produced by Jerry Bruckheimer who is all too familiar with the action terrain having produced movies like the ‘The Rock’ which starred Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery and Ed Harris and ‘Pearl Harbour’ a World War II epic
‘The Amazing Race’ involves 11 American couples who each have a different relationship with each other. They could be a recently engaged couple, brother-sister, husband-wife, mother-daughter etc. They will be dropped off in Africa and they have to make their way to America.
The spokesperson said that this show would be much more visually attractive than ‘Survivor’ since the movement of all eleven couples will be constantly tracked. A performance evaluation will be held after every three to four days and the team which is lagging behind will be eliminated. The winning couple gets one million dollars.
AXN sees the show as being much more challenging than ‘Survivor’ as participants have to perform physically enduring tasks like bungee jumping and crawling down a rock with the help of a rope. The relationship between the couples will be severely tested, as they not only have to survive but also have to trust each other to make the right decision. However transportation vehicles will be provided. This was not the case with Eco Challenge, an action series which AXN has shown. Participants in that event had to make their way by foot. The last event was held in Malaysia. The next event in the Eco Challenge series will take place in New Zealand from the 20th and will be telecast on the channel next April.
Another major attraction that AXN has lined up is the Oscar winning martial arts stunner ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ directed by Ang Lee. It will be sired in December.
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.
