English Entertainment
HBO gets into Oscar mood with specials, contest
MUMBAI: They may not have the rights to the live telecast of the most important event in cinema The 75th Annual Academy Awards but that is not stopping HBO from gaining leverage by innovating around the event.
The channel has announced what it claims is the most extensive television tribute to the Academy Awards by presenting an Oscar feast of Oscar winners spanning over five decades of cinematic excellence. Viewers can catch blockbusters like Lawrence Of Arabia, Ben-Hur, The Exorcist, Gladiator every Saturday after the 9:30 pm movie and after the 9 pm movie on Sunday.
An official release informs that ever since its launch, HBO has been credited with the tradition of making March an Oscar month showcasing the best of the Oscars through the month. This year the theme is ‘quality vs. quantity’. The eight films being showcased have earned a combined total of 39 Oscar awards including four for Best Picture and another four for Best Director. ‘So why settle for the nominated “could have beens” when you can get the real deal on the one & only true Hollywood channel HBO’ is the pitch that has been made.
In order to create viewer interactivity the channel has gone a step further through its HBO Oscar Pick the Winners contest. The contest is about nominating a winner each from the four main categories: picture, director, actor and actress. Winners will get bumper prizes for getting all correct answers. Also even the ones who get at least one right answer will not be disappointed.
The contest is hosted on hboasia.com and is actively promoted on the channel as well. Film buffs can also catch HBOs 75th Academy Awards highlights, which showcase the respective nominees in each category. The promos will also include movie clips and interviews of various stars and footage on the potential Academy Award winners. Right now the musical Chicago is the film to beat with 13 nominations. Martin Scorcese could at long last wear the best director cap for Gangs of New York. . Star Movies will air the event live once again on 24 March and it will be interesting to note if the ratings fall drastically from last year due to the absence of Devdas.
The telecast schedule on HBO is as follows:
Date Film Time Number Of Oscars
1 March Batman 11:30 pm 1
2 march Ben Hur 11 pm 11
8 March Lawrence of Arabia 11:45 pm 7
9 March The Nutty Professor 11:15 pm 1
15 March The Bridge on the River Kwai 12:30 pm 7
16 March The Exorcist 11:15 pm 2
22 March Saving Private Ryan 11:30 pm 5
23 March Gladiator 11 pm 5
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.
