English Entertainment
ZMZ on the offensive, acquires 240 films in 3 months
MUMBAI: Zee Movie Zone (ZMZ), thus far a distant third in English movie channel space to fierce rivals HBO and Star Movies, may just be about to give the competition a run for its money. During the period October- December 2004, the channel has quietly gone and bought itself the rights to a whopping 240 films.
In the process, ZMZ looks ready to provide answers to the questions raised in the industry after Zee’s English movie channel lost the MGM tagline in its title post the buyout of MGM Studios by Sony Pictures International.
Channel officials claim that out of these; 40 films are high profile premiers while the rest are either smaller titles or repeats. ZMZ business head Ajay Trigunayat is confident that such a strong portfolio of properties will help the channel to translate an increased market share in this segment. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com he said, “We have negotiated deals with Miramax, Paramount and Sony, among other studios. We have The Aviator with us. The Martin Scorcese film will be released theatrically across the country on 19 February and we will air it towards the end of the year.
The Aviator is one of the hot favourites to take top honours at this year’s Oscars, to be held later this month. Trigunayat is pegging his hopes on the movie which deals with a reclusive billionaire named Howard Hughes. ZMZ also has the rights to Kill Bill Volume 2. In March the channel will air the Ben Affleck thriller Reindeer Games. Trigunayat also informed that ZMZ has retained the rights to some films it has already aired. “The Silence Of The Lambs for instance is a classic. The repeat value is very high for this film.”
However, as the channel starts implementing its new properties, a more pressing issue that it is groping with is its distribution netwok. As of now the channel has not been able to acquire a prime band position. To counter this it has plans to spend the next two to three months in strengthening its distribution network. The channel, in association with Zee Turner, has initiated hectic negotiations with cable operators across the country to position itself on the prime band.
Trigunayat said,”Our efforts in the next couple of months will focus on increasing our reach. While research indicates that people do watch us there are some networks which do not carry us.”
“Even if they do carry us we are not on the right band. So technically, while we are available in 18 million homes, there are issues we are trying to sort out with cable operators across the country,” he opined.
Trigunayat added that work needed to be done on the technical front too. In many areas the channel’s reception is not clear. As regards marketing initiatives, Trigunayat said that they would kick-off once the distribution hassles had been sorted out
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.
