English Entertainment
AXN and CBS Studios lock multi-year television content deal
MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) English entertainment channel in India, AXN has announced a multi-year content deal with CBS Studios International. The new deal gives AXN access to all content distributed by CBS, including exclusive rights to air some of the studios’ biggest existing television series, Hawaii Five-0 and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The deal will also give AXN the access to all new shows produced by CBS Television Studios.
Commenting on this occasion MSM CEO NP Singh said, “This acquisition marks a memorable milestone in the journey of MSM. It has been our endeavour to create a differentiation for our viewers through product offering and innovations, both through our marketing and content novelties. The CBS deal allows us to more effectively build and deliver a rich library of content to our viewers, thereby strengthening the commitment of MSM to the Indian entertainment market.”
Talking about the deal MSM English cluster head Saurabh Yagnik commented, “This deal with CBS Studios International has only strengthened our long-standing relationship with them. Increasing our brand presence and reach in key markets is a cornerstone of our growth strategy. Now, with the new deal, we are bringing some of the most cutting edge shows from the US. This deal is all set to strengthen the ever expanding bouquet of AXN programming.”
CBS Studios International president of sales Barry Chamberlain added, “We are thrilled to expand our relationship with AXN India and deliver more of our world class programming to audiences across India and the subcontinent. We have an exciting slate of new and returning content that will be right at home on the channel.”
CBS Studios International distributes some of the best long-running shows, like Blue Bloods, Survivor, Elementary, Beauty and the Beast, NCIS, Hawaii Five-0, among others. Hawaii Five-0 won the favourite new TV drama award at the 37th People’s Choice Awards. Last year, Lucy Liu, who stars as Joan Watson in Elementary, won Best Actress at the Teen Choice Awards and the Seoul International Drama Awards.
The Studio distributes some of the most exciting new series. Extant, starring Academy Award winner Halle Berry and from Amblin Television, is a mystery thriller about an astronaut trying to reconnect with her family when she returns after a year in space. Her experiences in space lead to events that ultimately change the course of human history. And in Penny Dreadful, some of literature’s most famous characters – including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula, all re-imagined in a whole new light – have become embroiled in Victorian London. The series stars Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton and Eva Green.
This year’s line-up has shows including CSI: Cyber, a spin-off of the hit CSI franchise focused on the Cyber Crime Division of the FBI and NCIS: New Orleans, a sequel to the popular NCIS procedural set in the Big Easy. Other new CBS dramas include Madam Secretary, which stars Tea Leoni as the newly appointed secretary of state and Scorpion, which is about an eccentric genius and his team of brilliant misfits who help protect against high-tech threats of the modern age.
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.
