English Entertainment
New British TV health series to target South Asians
MUMBAI: Britain’s health authorities have come up with a novel way to convey health messages to non-English speaking Asians: a television drama series.
Kismet Road, a groundbreaking new drama commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS), will be telecast from next month. It is the first television series commissioned by the NHS.
It will be aired in a prime time slot from 14 March on the Community Channel, a charity-funded channel available on Sky, Cable and Freeview, giving it a potential audience of 29 million viewers.
Research carried out for Sky shows the South Asian communities are keen users of digital TV – 70 per cent feel underserved by terrestrial TV.
According to Bradford Health Action Zone head Liz Kernohan, “Rates of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, serious mental health problems and infant mortality rates are significantly higher within the South Asian communities in Bradford than the indigenous population. There is a 12 per cent higher risk of dying under the age of 75.”
Government health messages prepared for and disseminated to the general population have not got through to the South Asians – “partly for cultural and partly for linguistic reasons. Kismet Road aims to redress this,” she said.
A soap opera/health promotion hybrid, Kismet Road uses drama to address a range of major health issues, from coronary heart disease and diabetes to asthma and impotence.
It also explores issues seen as taboo within the target communities, including abortion, homosexuality, drug and alcohol dependency and forced marriage.
Some storylines concern problems specific to Muslim families.
“For example, it may not be accepted for a woman to go out by herself,” Kernohan says.
“So her husband will go to the doctor on her behalf – a form of consultation by proxy that causes huge problems for general practitioners.”
Kismet Road’s path to the small screen has not been smooth. The major television networks shied away, while Liam Fox, the former shadow Health Secretary, claimed it was a waste of public money.
The series, developed by a steering group that included 12 Asian community focus groups, is populated by Asian actors and is scripted by Asian writers. Producer Rod Natkiel used to run BBC’s Asian Programmes Unit.
Although predominantly in English, about 10 per cent of the dialogue is in Urdu or Punjabi, reflecting the conversational habits of many British Asian families.
Producer Natkiel said, “If just one Asian man watches Kismet Road and avoids a heart attack because he has gone to his GP in good time, I’ll feel that we have succeeded.”
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.
