English Entertainment
&Privé HD to showcase top notch film titles at prime time
MUMBAI: Ooh la la! Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s premium English movie channel &Privé HD has even bigger plans to tickle the fancy of its exclusive audience. The channel has announced that its prime time programming slot from 9 pm to 12 pm every day will feature some very recent gee-whiz award nominated or winning titles. Among the titles which will be on offer includes: the critically acclaimed Steven Spielberg directed, Meryl Streep Tom Hank starrer The Post, the Aaron Sorkin directed Molly’s Game, the Luca Gauadagnino directed, James Ivory written Call Me By Your Name. Most of the films in this slot will be those which were released theatrically in the US in the last two months of the calendar year 2017. The overall catalogue of &Privé HD today consists of 450 library and 48 premieres. At launch, it was at 350 titles with 40 premieres.
The new content been curated from different studios and distributors such as Paramount, Reliance, Tanvir and PVR. “We picked up the content from small, small producers from Europe who own three to six movies. That meant dealing with close to 30 independent studios globally,” says Zeel business cluster head – premium & FTA GEC channels Aparna Bhosle. Some of these will be available on Zeel’s soon to be launched OTT play – Zee5.
It has plans to push the top daily pick movie through newspapers like the Times of India and Hindustan Times. “On the digital front, we will be using Google and YouTube banners or video promos,” reveals Bhosle.
&Privé HD, which competes with Star Movies Select HD, MN+ and Sony le Plex for the estimated Rs 600 core English movie advertising pie, has been doing well since its launch in September 2017 with its non-conformist 22-50 age group viewers. It was number one in its fifth week with the film Lion and also in the month of December in six metros according to BARC ratings claims Bhosle. The channel has gained a lot of traction in Mumbai and Delhi.
“The way we design and package the channel – it is the constant effort and is the endeavour that the ad rates should increase,” Bhosle points out. “The ad rates are absolutely comparable to channels that are considered leaders in the space.”
Bhosle is hoping to expand the channel’s distribution with deals being signed with distribution platform operators that have not been showcasing &Privé HD as yet. “Talks are still in progress with Videocon D2H, as they had some bandwidth issue at the time of launch. We are planning to have a deal with Hathway in some time” she adds.
The channel – by virtue of its positioning – is aimed at high net worth homes and individuals who can afford a high definition viewing package. Their tribe has swelled to around 14 million in India today. And Bhosle believes that it is this audience which will ensure that the English movie genre will continue to do well. “The OTT platforms will never affect the business of English movies channels. Yes, they could offer some competition – but finally content is king,” she says.
Adds an analyst: “A part of the audience that consumes &Privé HD content has access to massive internet bandwidth as well as smart TVs in their homes. They could not care how they consume – through OTT or through linear TV. If &Privé HD can lure them to watch the linear TV service of the channel, then it could be on a good wicket. Additionally, all these movies are freely available on pirate streaming and torrent sites. How it manages to curtail the pirates will also help build its audience.”
That’s a challenge the entire media and entertainment sector faces.
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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.
