English Entertainment
Screenz joins hands with Google to revolutionise TV viewing experience
MUMBAI: Screenz has announced its collaboration with Google to host the Screenz Real Time Platform, a global, live, interactive infrastructure for television shows enabling broadcasters and format owners to transform programs into live events.
The first show to use Screenz Real Time Platform is ‘Rising Star’– Keshet International’s hit TV show that first aired in Israel in September 2013, and will be launched in over 25 countries around the world including on ABC in the US on 22 June.
‘Rising Star’ is a trailblazing interactive TV format that marks a new era in home entertainment. The show enables real-time voting by viewers from their sofas via an innovative mobile app, fully integrated to the program. It is the first talent show where the viewer is the judge from start to finish. The show features performers making their debut on stage alone, from behind a giant wall of TV screens. They can only make their entry to the studio round by securing more than 70 per cent of the viewers’, judges’ and live audiences’ vote. The audience can see the results of their vote in real time and if they vote positively, have a chance that their picture will be shown on the giant wall. If a contestant achieves 70 per cent of the votes, the wall dramatically lifts revealing the studio audience and expert panel.
The collaboration between Screenz and Google delivers the scale to process a huge number of interactions per second and has been successfully employed so far to support the show in Brazil, Portugal and Israel. In testing the Real Time Platform processed a remarkable 100 million interactions per minute.
Screenz is working with broadcasters and TV production companies worldwide to leverage its unique Real Time Platform to create and support innovative new formats. The proven benefit of the Platform for broadcasters is the way it hikes up the level of engagement a viewer has with a show at the exact time when it is aired. The system also enables sophisticated audience targeting allowing broadcasters and brands to effectively identify viewer demographics and interests.
“Broadcasters and producers are constantly looking to introduce new formats which enable them to engage directly with TV audiences. By working with the Google Cloud Platform, Screenz will empower them to rip up the rule book and combine compelling live content with real time viewer interaction” said Screenz CEO Eli Uzan.
Google Cloud Platform director Daniel Powers said, “Screenz is at the forefront of a revolution which is changing the way we watch television. We are delighted that they have chosen to build their game-changing products on Google Cloud Platform. Our job is to make sure that the technology behind the Real Time Platform works effortlessly so that all viewers need to worry about is which way they are going to vote.”
Keshet International general manager production Granit Noham added, “We are very pleased that our partner Screenz is collaborating with the digital prowess of Google Cloud Platform to provide a robust platform and safe pair of hands for each and every international version of ‘Rising Star’.”
Screenz’s Real Time Platform utilises Google Compute Engine, Google Cloud Storage and Google BigQuery, which are part of Google Cloud Platform. The application is deployed globally on Google’s cloud infrastructure, to provide scalability and robustness. The needs of the local broadcaster and audience will always be met, even if multiple countries are broadcasting the live show simultaneously. By utilising BigQuery, Screenz is able to provide broadcasters with the ability to analyze the large amounts of data collected.
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.
