English Entertainment
‘Our revenue target is to grow upwards of 30%’ : Star India senior VP, GM English Channels Saurabh Yagnik
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star India is aggressively building a wide portfolio of English entertainment channels. Its aim: to capture specific needs of different viewers.
Backed by a rise in audience share, Star is eyeing a revenue growth of 30 per cent from its English channels. 
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto, Star India senior VP, GM English Channels Saurabh Yagnik talks about the strategy the network has adopted in growing the consumption for English entertainment channels.
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After Star India started overseeing the operations of the English channels, what has been the difference? |
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Could you elaborate on the growth of these channels, particularly with reference to this year? |
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Even in revenues? |
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What are the challenges before English channels at this point of time?
We have done local shows on Star World like ‘Koffee With Karan’ to drive viewership. We are also doing localised promotions around shows. For Masterchef Australia, we brought a jury member down here. Among other things a live chat happened which was well received by the audience. We put legs to our promotional strategy to ensure that people find content that is relevant and relatable. Then you intersperse it with aggregator shows like Koffee With Karan. This is how you break barriers for English consumption. |
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Do content costs present a challenge to the business model? |
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With more players coming in, how is Star Movies fine-tuning its strategy to hold on to its position?
Also, there are a huge amount of online viewers. We will use this to market and talk about our properties. |
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Is viewer loyalty growing for this genre or is it still very much title driven? |
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Is HD the future for this genre? Do all English movie channels need to move towards it? |
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By when do you expect to breakeven on the HD feeds? |
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Tam data shows that Star World has increased its share despite new entrants. What have been the reasons for this? |
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Which are the genres that are working the best for you? Sitcoms and crime dramas work very well as does local programming. ‘Masterchef Australia’ is also performing well. The range of shows that do well is broad based. |
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What role does localisation play for Star World? |
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| Is non primetime becoming important? Yes! We see viewership here as well. The scheduling is based on viewership patterns so that we get unduplicated audiences across time bands for various shows. We slot shows based on viewer profile. We run omnibuses of our weekly offerings on the weekend. So people can do a catch up. This allows more viewers to watch us outside primetime as well. |
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Could you talk about the increase in marketing innovations?
We are doing a high decibel campaign around ‘Terra Nova’ which is a sci-fi show. The Torrentz property on weekends is to bring shows as close to the US airing date to India. This is how we build Star World as the destination for the best American shows fresh from the US. |
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| Are you expanding distribution beyond DTH for FX and Fox Crime? Digital is the right place. This is where a large part of consumption of English GECs is going to happen. The kind of audience that we target is affluent and will move towards DTH as the viewing experience there is better. That is where people consume more. We believe that digital is the right way to go. We don’t have analogue plans for them. |
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| Is the English GEC big enough to have channels according to TG and audience profile? We have had a different strategy based on our own insights. Star World has a healthy portfolio. Fox Crime is not based on a demographic cut or of the TG; it is based on the fascination that people have for a particular genre. With FX, we looked at catering to the evolved sensibilities of the more discerning viewer. Our strategy is based on viewer behaviour and mindset. |
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| As more entrants come in, how much of a challenge is fragmentation? There is enough penetration but lesser category share. We are the second largest English speaking population in the world. But the share of English GECs is nothing to talk about in relation to that. With more affluence, education and people becoming more global in their mindset, the consumption of English content will only grow. Also disposable incomes are growing and the propensity to consume branded products is the highest in this category. |
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.
