English Entertainment
Sherlock s4 to premiere on AXN; partners Uber for campaign
MUMBAI: This is the best way to begin the new year for all the Sherlock fans. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have come together one more time for a brand new season of BBC drama Sherlock that will air exclusively on AXN India from 7 January every Saturday at 8 pm.
After three successful seasons, the latest addition to the most loved thriller series will showcase new faces and bigger hurdles for Sherlock Holmes.
Returning from his forced exile, Sherlock reunites with Dr. Watson to figure out how his nemesis Moriarty, could be back from the dead. Adding to this intensity is another murky villain Culverton Smith played by Toby Jones.
“AXN is home to some of the best shows and characters in the English entertainment space. AXN has been home to Sherlock ever since the show launched and grew tremendously in popularity. We have been keenly waiting for the launch of the new season. It is the most awaited show of 2017 and we wanted to air it around the same time as its world premiere for our viewers. There is a strong line up of more such exciting shows and new seasons in 2017,” said Sony Pictures Networks India EVP and business head English cluster Saurabh Yagnik.
The channel has rolled out a robust marketing plan across on-air, outdoor, radio, social media and on-ground to make this the most celebrated Sherlock season. AXN, in association with Uber, will run a three-weeklong on-air campaign across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore starting with a pre-screening buzz.
In the pre-launch week, fans need to unlock the Sherlock code on the Uber app and a lucky few will get a chance to attend the exclusive Sherlock season 4 premiere, thus gifting themselves a chance to watch the show before the rest of India does.
In the following weeks, Sherlock viewers will have the amazing opportunity to get special discounts on their Uber rides by using the code that flashes on AXN during the show.
To ensure maximum eyeballs for the premiere, AXN has also initiated a two-week interactive experience across the three cities at Social Cafésto make people think, feel and live, Sherlock. Wearing the Sherlock hat, guests have to seek some clues in order to become eligible to win an iPad or exclusive AXN hampers.
To intensify the Sherlock fever, AXN has signed on East India comedy artist, Azeem Banatwalla, to take the viewers through the Sherlock journey. Coupled with Banatwalla’s wacky humour, this especially designed video will summarize all the last seasons of Sherlock.
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.
