English Entertainment
Times Network launches campaign to promote its HD feed
MUMBAI: Speaking of the digital era, the number of LCD television sets sold each year has only been growing. For 2015, an Ernst & Young study had projected that 12 million television LCD and LED sets would be sold in India, reinforcing the point on the CRT to LCD/LED conversion. But this same conversion is not reflected when it comes to consumers going from SD to HD feed, especially in the case of English Entertainment television channels. The issue, Times Network English Entertainment Cluster senior VP and head Vivek Srivastava feels, is not in affordability but in awareness.
“HD channels’ have shown 93 per cent increase in viewership over the last year and doubled their advertisement revenues. But the one thing that remains a hiccup in the segment is the adoption rate of HD feed. It is estimated that 12 million HD enabled TV sets are sold every year but there are only 6 million HD subscribers. That means there are another 6 million who have the equipment but not the content pipeline. There is immense growth potential. So both for us, we as a network and for the industry, there is a need to educate consumers on the perks of HD quality video. This campaign will benefit not only our own English cluster, but the entire industry,” explains Srivastava.
Times Network has initiated steps to educate its consumers with a 360 degree ad campaign that the network will launch starting today – 2 May. Given the fact that its core English Entertainment channels are mostly in HD, it makes sense for Times Network to propagate the cause for HD conversion in the country. The campaign aims to push the HD subscription for its three HD English entertainment channels — MN +, Movies Now and Romedy Now HD. “Across the globe the main drivers for HD viewership have been sports and movies. In India, while the sports genre has seen that positive change, movie entertainment channels are lagging behind. Being a major player in the English entertainment space with a huge movie library, it was in our interest to push this cause,” says Srivastava.
Created and conceptualised in-house in three months, a TVC that is a fun-take on how Hollywood is viewed in India, features actor Purab Kohli enjoying a home theatre experience at home in all its glory. The punch line — ‘Raise your standards to High Definition’ — comes when the audience is made aware that all this luxury comes to a nought if the picture quality is not in high definition, thereby urging movie lovers to go HD. The campaign intends to play with the urban movie buffs minds that swear by their Hollywood movies and prefer a quality experience even at home.
“For the last three or four years, most of the HD TV commercials have spoken about the best quality and sound making one believe that all one needs to do to experience that is to buy the TV. But in reality that’s just the first step; and getting the content pipeline by switching to HD feed is what completes the process,” said Srivastava as he reveals the idea behind the ad.
The campaign will be heavily promoted across networks, with heavy emphasis on television and a strong digital backing. The campaign will also see some presence on print. “With reach being the primary objective, we are trying to expand the number of eyeballs as much as possible, especially amongst the television audience. The campaign kicks off on our network and will be gradually carried across all channels on other networks as well. We will not necessarily promote it on English entertainment channels alone. Out of the 650 million (65 crore) television watchers, around 30 percent watch English content, so obviously there is an increased need to reach out to a cross section of audiences to propagate the message better. We will have a presence on Hindi GECs, movie channels, news channels. Even music channels are a part of our media plan mix.” The ‘across channels’ promotion will be carried in parts, while the campaign will be kept alive within the network.
While Srivastava agrees that the Times Network channels primary viewership comes from the metros, this particular campaign is targeted pan India. “The metros have some awareness about the HD feed, but it is the tier II and tier III cities that we really need to touch base with,” he further reveals.
Given the ‘all in’ nature of the campaign, Srivastava also reveals that the network is spending slightly higher than the marketing budget for a regular mainline premiere on Movies Now.
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.
