English Entertainment
MGM Networks to launch channels in Portugal, Korea
MGM Networks, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has entered into agreements to launch MGM-branded channels in Portugal and South Korea.
These channel agreements, combined with MGM Networks’ launch in the Middle East earlier this year, nearly doubles the number of countries in which MGM has established a channel presence to date. MGM now has equity interests in foreign channels that reach more than 40 countries around the world, according to an official release. In India, the network has a joint venture with broadcaster Zee for its English movie channel Zee MGM.
In Europe, an MGM Movie Channel is planned to launch in May in Portugal. MGM commenced its Europe footprint by launching the MGM Movie Channel in Malta on 1 February and in Russia on 1 March this year. The MGM Movie Channel was launched in Malta on Melita Cable, the release states. In Russia, MGM Networks inked a deal with Metromedia International, which introduced the MGM Movie Channel into the market of the former U.S.S.R. on 1 March, initially launching on the Kosmos MMDS system in Moscow. In Portugal the MGM Movie Channel will commence on cable systems owned by Cabovisao, S.A.
The MGM Movie Channels in Russia and Malta are owned 100 per cent by MGM Networks. The Portuguese service will be provided by MGM Networks Latin America LLC, which operates the MGM Networks Latin America business. In South Korea, MGM has announced an alliance with the country’s leading DVD distributor, Spectrum DVD, to launch a customised Korean language service later this month. The MGM Movie Channel – Korea will be carried on the new Skylife DBS platform. MGM Networks will own 33 per cent of this channel, the maximum permitted under Korean law.
All the channels offer round-the-clock offerings from MGM’s celebrated 4,000-title library, the largest modern film library in the world, claims the company. Films include the pyschological thriller Hannibal, the Reese Witherspoon comedy Legally Blonde, and Heartbreakers which is about a pair of mother-daughter con artists.
The library also includes 19 Woody Allen films, and the popular James Bond, Rocky and Pink Panther franchises.
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.
