English Entertainment
Max gets a manga-nificent makeover with Japanese drama rollout
MUMBAI: Is it a romcom? A legal thriller? A dark comedy with a deadly title? Max says: Why not all of the above? In a bold eastward expansion of storytelling, Warner Bros. Discovery and Japanese streaming powerhouse U-Next are taking their relationship to the next level by giving Japanese dramas a global passport.
After launching Max within U-Next in Japan last year, the partners are now flipping the narrative. A curated bouquet of 10 Japanese series, including TBS’s much-awaited Love is for the Dogs and TV Tokyo’s deliciously morbid Please Die My Beloved, will be released across key international markets starting with the U.S., Brazil and Southeast Asia.
Also in the lineup: Ignite (a legal drama with teeth), Mr. Mikami’s Classroom, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?, La Grande Maison Tokyo, its special episode Light of My Lion, Until I Destroyed My Husband’s Other Family, and Baby Assassins. The slate cuts across genres from slow-burn psychological thrillers to culinary family sagas and assassin-led chaos ensuring there’s more than one flavour for every binge palate.
This cross-cultural programming exchange is no accident. U-Next president and CEO Tenshin Tsutsumi confirmed that since their exclusive tie-up with WBD in September 2024, expanding Japanese IP globally has been a core focus. “We’re handpicking shows that don’t just do well at home but hit the right emotional notes internationally,” he said.
U-Next currently offers the largest SVOD catalogue in Japan, per GEM Partners, with add-ons like e-books, e-manga, e-magazines, and a seven-year Premier League streaming deal thrown into the mix. Its 2023 merger with Paravi has also deepened its access to local favourites from TBS and TV Tokyo making it a treasure trove of binge-worthy content.
For WBD, it’s another power move in its global localisation playbook. Operating across 220+ territories in 50 languages, the media giant is leaning into regional partners to give local stories international wings, proving that you don’t need subtitles to go viral, just good storytelling.
The international rollout of the Japanese drama collection on Max will begin later this year. Dates? Still hush-hush. But the message is loud and clear: Japan’s dramas are no longer just for Japan. And Max is ready to stream the love.
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.
