English Entertainment
AXN rolling out seven new series over next two months
Continuing a programme push that began in April, AXN TV, the action channel from Sony Entertainment Television, is launching seven action series over the next two months, “Crime Scene Investigation”, “Sheena” and the third series of VIP among them.
And in an initiative aimed at promoting the brand in Indian homes, AXN is talking to Indian production companies to evolve a programme series with purely indigenous action content.
“We’re talking with leading local production companies and it is taking time. But we are optimistic that we will work something out. Especially in the area of adventure/lifestyle/sports. The interaction between SET and AXN in India has been mutually beneficial to both,” says Shantonu Aditya, senior VP, (franchise channels and distribution) SET.
AXN TV had announced in April that it was concentrating on developing five areas of on-screen entertainment – action series, adventure, sports, animation and movies.
In a first for AXN, Gena Lee Nolin, the actress who plays Sheena, will be in Mumbai and Delhi between June 25 and 29, soon after the launch of the serial. The four-year old AXN has not brought a celebrity down to Asia before and it hopes for more such promotions.
AXN hopes to hit the target with Jerry Bruckheimer’s blockbuster series. “Crime Scene Investigation” (CSI), premiering on 18 July at 9 pm. “CSI”, the hottest show of the 2000/2001 television season in the United States, will premier exclusively on AXN Asia, ahead of all other cable and satellite channels and terrestrial channels in the region.
Executive-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who also produced the newly-released Pearl Harbor and other top-grossing films such as “Top Gun”, “Con Air”, “Gone in 60 Seconds,” CSI was the highest-rated new drama series in the US.
“CSI pushes the envelope in terms of visual effects and cinematography. It is a ’21’ century Sherlock Holmes” that presents the crime and evidence the way real-life crime scene investigators see it – a concept that’s new to television audiences,” said Betty Tsui AXN’s Vice President of Programming & Acquisition.
Accompanying CSI’s entry into Asia on AXN in July are four new series, including the critically-acclaimed Now & Again (launching Tuesday, 17 July, 9pm), Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films Awards 2000’s Best Television Network series award winner Seven Days (Friday, 20 July, 9pm); Star Trek creator. Gene Roddenberry’s fourth season of Earth: Final Conflict (Monday, 16 July, 9pm) and Golden Globe nominee Lorenzo Lamas’ The Immortal (Thursday, 19 July, 9pm).
According to Gregory Ho, VP (marketing) AXN Asia, a half-yearly revamp and introduction of new programmes is a tradition at AXN, reflecting commitment to the viewers. Though in the Asian market, AXN which has tied up with Sony Entertainment Television, has no competitor yet in the niche group that it has developed: “We will have to compete with other channels for the time of the viewer, especially in markets like India, where channel loyalty has not taken root.”
AXN Asia is available to more than 22 million households 24-hours daily throughout Asia in Taiwan, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, South Korea, Macau, Papua New Guinea, and in hotels and VIP compounds in China. AXN channels operate in Japan, Israel and Latin America, and will continue to launch more channels worldwide, according to a company release.
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.
