English Entertainment
AXN leads the game with highest women viewership in its genre
MUMBAI: AXN has already smitten the ladies with the best of programming. Taking further its brand promise of being home to iconic shows and characters, AXN takes a unique approach and dedicates the month of November to wow the ladies with its special program line-up.
For the first time ever, AXN will air movies with edgy and strong female leads like the feisty Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2, the indomitable Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, the gorgeous Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train and the resilient Charlize Theron in The Huntsman: Winter War. Catch these irresistible women who are Academy and Golden Globe nominees, take over AXN every Saturday at 11 AM and every Sunday at 6 PM.
Next up is the most powerful and inspirational women character on TV – Elizabeth McCord aka Tea Leoni – with the new season of ‘Madam Secretary’ (Season 4). Airing every Sundayat 10 PM, the show truly makes one believe that a woman with strength can have it all.
Adding to the fun, the channel brings a host of drool-worthy men under the property ‘AXN Hunkathon’. The sophisticated Hollywood fixer – Ray Donovan leads the way followed by all-time favourite Matt LeBlanc in the thrilling show ‘Top Gear’. Next comes the high functioning sociopath ‘Sherlock’ and lastly the rebellious Ragnar Lothbrok in ‘Vikings’.
AXN also brings back the hottest brothers on screen, Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester with the new season of Supernatural (Season 13) every Saturday at 10 PM. The popularity of these brothers is ever rising especially with the women viewers.
Lastly to add excitement, AXN offers the Emmy award winning singing reality show, The Voice Season 13, every Saturday and Sunday, 8 PM onwards featuring the gorgeous and talented duo Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson along with the dashing heart throbs, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.
Sony Pictures Networks India EVP and business head Tushar Shah siad, “SPN’s English Cluster has very strong content offering for all its viewers. This is reflected by the BARC numbers of this fiscal year where AXN has emerged as the top channel in the English GEC category with 27% market share*. We also have the highest number of female viewership amongst all GEC channels with 29% market share**. So, we have dedicated the month of November to the female audience. We are confident that our edgy and appealing content line-up will reinforce AXN’s leadership position with our TG”
*NCCS 15-40 AB, AI 1 mn+ (wk 14 – Wk 42’17)
** NCCS 15-40 AB Females, AI 1 mn+ (wk 14 – Wk 42’17)
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.
