English Entertainment
SundanceTV, Pace University & Media Storm ink partnership for social media campaign
MUMBAI: As part of Pace University’s Media Storm master’s degree programme in social media and mobile marketing, students will take part in developing an innovative social campaign for the second season of SundanceTV’s The Red Road.
This represents the first time any television network has partnered with the university’s Media Storm programme. The returning show, which premieres 2 April, 2015, is a gripping dramatic thriller that stars Jason Momoa as Philip Kopus and Martin Henderson as Harold Jensen, a local sheriff hiding a dark family secret. The two are forced to coexist amongst rising tensions within their two clashing communities: a Native American tribe and a small neighboring town. The fates of Kopus and Jensen are tied as the relationship between their communities becomes volatile.
The multi-media plan will include social media strategy, social networks, mobile apps, contests, user-generated content, blogger outreach, paid media, contests, games and experiential elements partially or fully created by Pace University students led by Professor Randi Priluck. Presentations will be submitted via video and, once reviewed by Priluck, will be sent to the Media Storm / SundanceTV teams to choose a winner. The winners will have the opportunity to have some or all of their projects weaved within the overall social plan for The Red Road.
“Pace University continues to be a leader in experiential learning, and we are thrilled to see our partnership with Media Storm and SundanceTV take flight. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with SundanceTV and provide our students with a truly hands-on academic program,” said Lubin School of Business deal and former NBC Network president and Viacom Entertainment CEO Neil Braun.
As the only Masters Degree in Social Media and Mobile Marketing currently offered by an Accredited Business School, this program closes the gap between academia and employer needs. “Social media and mobile technology have fundamentally transformed our culture. Bringing innovative thinking to clients like SundanceTV through our collaboration with Pace University’s Business School is critical in velocity disciplines like social and mobile media,” said Media Storm founder Craig Woerz.
SundanceTV SVP of marketing Monica Bloom added, “SundanceTV is constantly examining new and distinctive ways to introduce audiences to our programming. We are delighted to partner with Pace University and Media Storm on this remarkable program and are excited to collaborate with their students on creative marketing to support the second season of The Red Road.”
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.
