English Entertainment
ABC.com to stream recap specials of ‘Lost’, ‘Desperate Housewives’
MUMBAI: ABC.com will stream in their entirety recap specials of its hit shows Lost and Desperate Housewives which have aired on the US channel.
This will be the first time that ABC.com is streaming a primetime programme in its entirety. Desperate Housewives: Sorting Out the Dirty Laundry began streaming on ABC.com a couple of days ago. Lost: The Journey was made aavilable yesterday 28 April.
The specials will remain live in ABC.com’s video player until 22 May and 25 May the season finales of the respective series. In addition to the shows streaming in their entirety, ABC.com will also offer streams of each act so viewers can watch the stories of each individual character.
ABC Entertainment Television Group senior VP business development Bruce Gersh said, “Placing these two specials literally at the fingertips of internet users is a great ‘first’ for ABC.com, and an exciting way to introduce new viewers to two of the most talked about new series of the year while also feeding the appetite of current fans”.
Lost: The Journey invites new and avid Lost viewers to take a fresh look at one of this season’s most talked about shows. The special promises to explore the series in a way that will bring new viewers up to date — but which current viewers will also find illuminating.
Desperate Housewives: Sorting Out the Dirty Laundry will bring new viewers up to speed on the biggest moments of the season while giving die-hard fans of the hit series fresh insight into the many mysteries of TV’s most famous street.
The hour recaps the stories-to-date of Susan Mayer, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van De Kamp and Gabrielle Solis, and looks back at the central mysteries that have kept viewers guessing. Why did Mary Alice kill herself? Who’s buried in the toy chest that Paul Young dug up from the bottom of his pool? And who is Mike Delfino, and what is his real agenda in moving to Wisteria Lane?
Meanwhile ABC has announced that it will air a six episode reality show The Scholar in June. The opportunity of a lifetime is about to come true for one of America’s best and brightest high school students in the unscripted series that will send the winner to a top-rated American university, all expenses paid.
Filmed on location at the University of Southern California The Scholar will be the first show ever to celebrate higher education as the ultimate American prize. For the chance at a full ride to the college of their choice, 10 qualified high school seniors — who might not otherwise have an opportunity to attend one of America’s top universities — will compete for a full scholarship, a prize valued at $250,000. They will have to demonstrate excellence in the areas of academics, leadership, creativity and community service, while facing sudden-death oral exams defending themselves to an Ivy League scholarship committee.
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.
