English Entertainment
Viacom18 ditches FTA in UK, now entirely pay
MUMBAI: With the launch of its two channels, MTV Beats and Colors Rishtey, on Virgin Media Viacom18 has transitioned from free-to-air (FTA) to entirely paid platform. Viacom18’s channels will now only be available with a subscription on Sky and Virgin Media.
Talking about leaving the Freeview platform, IndiaCast Media Distribution group CEO Anuj Gandhi says, “We are currently steering our business in a new direction in Europe and have decided to go pay and as a result, current channels will no longer be available on any free to air mode but will continue to be available on paid platforms.”
The company gained significant viewership via Freeview, which reaches 11 million homes untapped by pay TV. Freeview contributed to 10 percent of its eyeballs in the UK. Rishtey and Colors at times received as high as 41 percent viewership contribution from it.
Viacom18 channels on Virgin Media are in the mix pack which reaches to over 2.7 million subscribers. The growth is expected to be in line with Virgin’s growth forecasts.
Viacom18 has a mix content strategy for its UK consumers. Curated programmes from India make up the bulk of its content while a tiny part is local programming. “Viacom18 is exploring further investments in local programming which will happen in the next fiscal, ” he reveals.
On the advertising front, 90 percent comes from UK based companies. It has three sets of distinct advertisers. First – the local ethnic home-grown businesses, second – the mainstream multinationals and third is Indian companies that export to NRI audiences.
Advertisers are clamoring to get airtime especially during Big Boss. “As a matter of fact, all our channels currently are utilising 100 percent of the available inventory and we are not even in our peak season, he adds.
The buzz-creating idea of Viacom18 is to make sense to three categories of people living in UK – the first generation, their children/youth who have less exposure of content being produced in India as they have a variety of options to choose from and last one being people who have moved here in last few years as an intra company transfer or project based.
While keeping the three categories in mind, Gandhi says that sometimes even small trade or local event associations give a higher ROI as compared to a high profile above-the-line campaign.
Selecting the right marketing mix is crucial when you are in a niche market. That said, even the language used for communication will ensure success or failure.
Viacom 18 partnered with Virgin Media in April 2011 to launch its General Entertainment Channel, Colors, on the cable platform. Colors has been available on Sky since January 2010. When launched, Colors was included in Virgin Media’s new Asian Mela bundle which comprised 11 TV channels, including ARY Digital, B4U Movies, B4U Music, SET Asia, MAX, Star Plus, Star News, Zee Cinema, Zee Punjabi, Zee TV and Colors TV, along with popular Asian radio station Sunrise Radio and priced at £11 a month.
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.
