English Entertainment
MGM Channel is now AMC
MUMBAI: AMC Networks has announced that its premiere movie channel MGM will now be renamed as AMC, starting today. This will give way to the first distribution of AMC Networks outside of North America, showing the company’s intent to extend itself beyond the US.
Later this year, AMC will be launching locally-versioned channel feeds across Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This will be accompanied by AMC VOD, HD and TV Everywhere services.
AMC Networks’ original series Halt & Catch Fire and The Divide, produced by AMC Studios, will be one of the first original series to premiere on the channel internationally this year. This apart, the channel will also feature films from big libraries including MGM, Paramount and Sony.
AMC Networks COO Ed Carroll said through a statement: “In recent years, AMC has re-defined dramatic storytelling on Pay-TV via its cinematic approach to original series, including ‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘Mad Men,’ and ‘Breaking Bad.’ It is our intention to replicate our successful US strategy, extending the AMC brand worldwide and creating a broad pipeline for our original content.”
AMC Global and Sundance Channel Global president Bruce Tuchman said, “There is a huge appetite for AMC original programming abroad. That interest, coupled with our successful history of curating films from all the major studios to complement our original programming, gives us a great opportunity to make AMC Global a top-tier entertainment destination worldwide. We are confident AMC Global will be a valuable addition to our distribution partners’ platforms as we continue to work together to grow their business.”
Tuchman is responsible for the programming, marketing, business and strategic development of its global networks.
Liberty Global managing director programming Jeroen Bergman added: “AMC Networks has an excellent creative and business track record and we are pleased to offer this premier entertainment destination to our subscribers.”
Telefónica Director Global Content Ignacio Fernandez Vega stated: “We are delighted to add the new AMC channel to Movistar TV. With this new addition, we continue to consolidate our content offering and positioning the channel as a leading pay TV platform in Spain and Latin America.”
Indovision VP director Handhi Kentjono said: “AMC has established itself as a high quality popular network with outstanding entertainment and we are confident that our subscribers will respond strongly to this new offering. We are thrilled to continue our long and successful partnership with AMC Networks and its channels.”
Last month, the company announced the re-brand of its recently-acquired Chellomedia business (which included the MGM Channel) to AMC Networks International. AMC Networks International consists of six operating units namely Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, Iberia, Latin America, Zone (EMEA) and DMC, a global media technology and distribution company.
Halt and Catch Fire hails from the executive producers of AMC’s celebrated series ‘Breaking Bad.’ The series captures the rise of the personal computing era in the early 1980s, during which an unlikely trio – a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy – take personal and professional risks in the race to build a computer that will change the world as they know it. The 10-episode series is created by Chris Cantwell and Chris Rogers and executive produced by showrunner Jonathan Lisco (‘Southland’) and Gran Via Production’s Mark Johnson (‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘Rectify,’ ‘Diner,’ ‘Rain Man’) and Melissa Bernstein (‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘Rectify’). Filmed on location in Atlanta, the series stars Lee Pace (‘Lincoln,’ ‘Pushing Daisies’) as Joe MacMillan, Scoot McNairy (‘Argo’) as Gordon Clark, Mackenzie Davis (‘Smashed’) as Cameron Howe, Kerry Bishé (‘Argo,’ ‘Red State’) as Donna Clark and Toby Huss (‘Cowboys & Aliens’) as John Bosworth.
‘The Divide’ is an eight-episode series written by and co-created by the Academy Award and Emmy nominated Richard LaGravenese (‘Behind the Candelabra,’ ‘The Fisher King,’ ‘Water for Elephants,’ ‘The Ref,’ ‘The Bridges of Madison County’) with Tony Goldwyn (‘Scandal,’ ‘Conviction,’ ‘Justified,’ ‘Damages,’ ‘Dexter’) co-creating the series and directing the premiere episode. ‘The Divide’ is a thought-provoking and suspenseful drama that explores the personal cost of morality, ambition, ethics, politics, and race in today’s justice system through the eyes of Christine Rosa played by Marin Ireland (‘Homeland,’ ‘Boss,’ ‘Side Effects’), an impassioned caseworker with The Innocence Initiative, and Adam Page played by Damon Gupton (‘The Newsroom,’ ‘Prime Suspect’), an equally passionate district attorney and political rising star.
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.
