English Entertainment
GSN acquires rights to ‘The Amazing Race’
MUMBAI: The Game Show Network (GSN) in the US has announced that it has acquired the off-network rights to episodes of the Emmy Award-winning adventure reality series The Amazing Race.
In India, the show airs on AXN while in the US it has helped CBS go from strength to strength in the ratings sweepstakes.
GSN made the acquisition from King World Productions. This marks the first time that The Amazing Race episodes will have been seen since their original airings on CBS.
The Amazing Race executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer said, “We are pleased that the one-of-a-kind adventures offered by the show have found a second home on GSN. We have received an outpouring of responses from our viewers that they would love to see the series again and we have many fans who came to the series after its beginning. The Amazing Race on GSN will satisfy both groups and hopefully bring in new fans.”
For the uninitiated, the show sees 11 pairs of contestants racing around the globe, completing challenges in hopes of capturing the $1 million grand prize. The series has toured South Africa, Paris, the Sahara Desert, Beijing, Alaska, and scores of other exotic locations. One episode even visited India.
In addition to the arduous traveling and grueling breakneck speed of the competition of the game, contestants along the way have had wallets stolen; sprained ankles; danced and begged for money; bungee jumped; skydived; rappelled down treacherous slopes; sold escargot; traveled in crowded hot and muggy trains and fought airport security. And if these globe-trotting obstacles were not enough, contestants also have had to overcome serious spats with their partners and other teams. Accusations of cheating, arguments over driving, anger and fear are some of the issues and emotions that have added to the excitement of this series.
The show’s co-creator Bertram van Munster says, “The Amazing Race is the most unpredictable of all game shows. Each episode is self-contained from different world wide locations fuelled by dramatic characters and a powerful, original story and ending.”
GSN’s deal includes the rights to the first eight editions and more than 100 hours of the series, as well as the option for the next two installments. The network will telecast each season consecutively and will program special marathons at various times throughout the year.
The Amazing Race premiered on CBS on 5 September 2001. The series has delivered consistent ratings growth over the last four years and had its best season to date in season seven.
The show is now preparing for its eighth season which will feature families of four, adding a new twist to the series.
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.
