English Entertainment
Star World to air Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Quantico’ in India
MUMBAI: Priyanka Chopra’s debut international television series, ABC’s Quantico will air in India on Star World & Star World HD.
Quantico will be available to Indian audiences almost immediately after its US airing, which is slated for 27 September, 2015. Star World will be launching the show with great fanfare later this year.
Produced by Disney–ABC Television Group’s television production division, Quantico has created a lot of buzz since the launch of its first trailer in May this year.
A Star India official spokesperson said, “This is a first for Bollywood as well as for India where an A-List actor like Priyanka Chopra is playing a lead in an international TV series. There is a lot of chatter and excitement in the country for this show and we are thrilled that Star World will give this magnum-opus show an imposing launch platform that it rightly deserves.”
On the launch of her first international TV venture, Chopra said, “Quantico is my first international TV venture and I am truly proud of it. I’m equally excited that the Star Network will showcase Quantico as part of its primetime line-up on Star World and Star World HD in India, and I couldn’t think of a better launchpad in India for my TV debut. What makes it even more special for me is that it will be real-time.”
“Audience response to our first trailer has been fantastic and I am looking forward to working with the Star TV team to create a memorable launch campaign for the show. Being part of a major TV show like this has been a whole new experience for me. I’m looking forward to a weekly date with viewers from across the world, and I hope this is just the beginning of a long lasting relationship with Star Network,” Chopra added.
Disney India VP and head of marketing and distribution Amrita Pandey said, “Quantico is one of the most exciting shows in ABC Studio’s portfolio this year. We are happy for the show to be on Star’s network and this is a great addition to our existing shows on Star like Castle, How to Get Away with Murder and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We are really happy to extend our long standing association with Priyanka Chopra from celluloid to a global TV show. After collaborating with us on incredible movies like Fashion, Kaminey and Barfi!, in which she played remarkable characters, we hope that Priyanka’s character in Quantico too, will resonate with television audiences.”
Quantico, which is touted to be one of the biggest shows of fall 2015, will also be the first American show to have an Indian-national playing the lead.
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.
