iWorld
Discovery extends David Zaslav’s employment contract
MUMBAI: When you swing a deal like he has done, you probably deserve to be rewarded. Discovery president & CEO David Zaslav played a key role in getting AT&T’s WarnerMedia to align itself with the network he leads, an announcement of which was made earlier this week. Well, his labour has yielded fruit as his employment contract has been extended to run through 31 December 2027 from its previous effective date of 2023.
Of course, we all know that the merger of the two media firms will lead to the creation of a behemoth offering WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports, and news assets and Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses. And it was announced that Zaslav will lead the proposed new company.
Since joining it in 2007, Zaslav has steered Discovery to new heights starting with taking it public in 2008, stream rolling it into the Fortune500 in 2014, acquiring Scripps Networks Interactive, in a transaction which closed in 2018 and ramping up its direct-to-consumer efforts under discovery+. The definitive real-life subscription streaming service launched in the US in January 2021 with more than 55,000 episodes, and internationally, continues its rollout to more than 25 markets and accounts for 15 million subs already.
The Discovery comprises nearly 20 per cent of ad-supported pay-TV viewership in the US and nearly seven billion monthly video views, making it the No 1 pay-TV portfolio in Uncle Sam, claims a press release. And its global distribution has surpassed three billion viewers.
Before Discovery Zaslav had a distinguished career at NBCUniversal, where he was instrumental in developing and launching CNBC and also played a role in the creation of MSNBC.
iWorld
Veto onboards B4U Network channels to boost its entertainment offering
Partnership adds films, music and regional fare as platform sharpens its large-screen pitch
NEW DELHI: Veto is stacking its content deck. The family-first CTV-focused OTT platform has onboarded B4U Network, plugging in a slate of Bollywood, music and regional programming to widen its appeal in India’s living rooms.
The tie-up brings B4U Movies, B4U Music, B4U Kadak and Bhojpuri+ onto Veto, offering a broader mix of films, songs and vernacular content aimed at diverse audience cohorts. The move is designed to deepen engagement and nudge growth as competition in connected TV heats up.
Ritu Dhawan, managing director, Veto, framed the partnership as a scale play. “At Veto, our vision is to redefine large-screen entertainment for Indian households by creating a trusted, free, and unified viewing experience. Partnering with B4U Network strengthens our ability to offer deeply engaging and regionally relevant content, helping us connect more with audiences across India,” Dhawan said. “As we grow, our focus remains on delivering relevant, high-quality entertainment that families can enjoy together.”
The integration is expected to expand Veto’s audience base while improving content discovery and depth. The platform positions itself as a no-login, large-screen-first service, bundling live TV, news, sports, movies, music, podcasts and on-demand programming into a single interface tailored for connected TVs.
As streaming fragments and screens multiply, Veto is betting on aggregation and simplicity. More content, fewer clicks, broader reach—the pitch is clear, and the living room is the battleground.
