English Entertainment
CEO Mariam Zamaray quits TERN International
MUMBAI: Mariam Zamaray has quit channel operator TERN (Television Entertainment Reality Network) by mutual consent, with COO Rian Bester taking over responsibilities on an interim basis. The company’s website shows Bester as CEO.
Zamaray said, “It was an exceptional challenge. I was given a lot of support and opportunities within this company, but now that Tern is active and expanding, it’s time for me to look for new challenges.”
The board of TERN International said in a statement, “Mariam established TERN and its unique position with one of the first UHD channels available in the world today, with her unparalleled creativity, passion and drive. We thank her for all her hard work and wish her all the best with her future activities.”
A a year and a half or so ago, Mariam decided to launch Insight, a UHD or 4K channel, with the backing of General Satellite from Russia and other foreign investors. To start with she built up a strong management team: Qunita Baars (formely of Fox International Channels), Marjolein Duermeijer (previously head of international sales and development, Tuvalu Media) and Natalie Boot (2waytraffic and Sony Pictures Television interactive manager).
Zamaray had worked with Fox International Channels in Amsterdam for a couple of years as channel manager in the previous decade. She later founded Luxury Life a life style cross media format with which she was associated for eight years. She was involved with WizCraft’s IIFA Awards which were held in Amsterdam in 2005 as its local partner.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
