English Entertainment
AXN to continue moving along the pay route post CAS
NEW DELHI: Reiterating that AXN will continue to be a pay channel even after conditional access system is introduced in India, whenever that is, V-P marketing AXN Asia Gregory Ho said that in the initial phase of CAS most pay channels’ viewership will get “impacted.”
“CAS will usher in an era in India which will be similar to any other market in Asia like Japan where there will be an ala carte menu and also premium fare.” Ho made these remarks while addressing journalists concerning the channel’s plans for the show Alias which will premiere on the channel next month. Pointing out that Indians are “very fortunate” as they hardly have to pay anything for a whole gamut of channels, Ho said that in Singapore, for example, the basic tier costs as much as Singapore $30 per month.
Over and above that for every other channel the subscribers have to pay extra and all movie channels were part of the pay package and charged a premium. Terming India as the “rising star” in the scheme of AXN, Ho said: “India has the potential and if we get it right, this market will become a cash cow.” At the moment, the most lucrative market for AXN is Taiwan where cable penetration is as high as 95 per cent. Though Ho was a bit cagey about revealing revenue figures, he did admit that AXN’s Indian operation garnered more revenue out of advertising as ”subscription revenue in India is quite low”.
Pointing out that India could have become the cash cow last year itself but for the economic slowdown which hit the global economy, Ho said now as per their expectation, the Indian market will take another couple of years to become the proverbial cash cow. “The market is slowly picking up but there is a guarded optimism (amongst advertisers),” he added.
To build up the brand further the channel is extending its roadshows involving screening of movies, as part of on-ground marketing initiatives this year to 10 cities which also include non-metro centres like Chandigarh and Cochin. The 28 movies that AXN will screen over seven days include Gladiator, Nighthawk, the two Mission Impossible films with Tom Cruise and some Jackie Chan movies. Efforts are also on to get some action-oriented Hindi films like Aawara Paagal Deewana also to be screened as part of the festival.
Assistant V-P (marketing and sales-AXN) of SET India Rohit Bhandari said SET distributed and took care of marketing and sales of AXN in India.
A brand evaluation, which took place sometime last year, highlighted that though the popularity of AXN channel is high, the perception and clarity about the channel’s image was a “bit fudgy”, Ho said.
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.
