English Entertainment
Binge with Star World this September
Mumbai: India’s premiere entertainment channels Star World and Star World HD, are set to add some much needed drama and more to your weekends come September! Home to some of the best English entertainment in India, ‘Star World Weekend Binge’ will showcase three Emmy-nominated shows all through September. These include Season 2 of the musical drama, Empire; Season 2 of the legal drama, How To Get Away With Murder; and Season 2 of the family drama, Black-ish.
The first three weekends of the month will be the perfect time to catch up on all that one may have missed in the previous seasons of Empire and How to Get Away with Murder, especially with new seasons of both shows being just around the corner on Star World and Star World HD. How to Get Away With Murder will air on 3rd, 4th and 10th September and Empire will air on 11th, 17th and 18th September on both the channels. This is the perfect opportunity for viewers to recap the happenings with the Lyon family in Empire and the Keating 5 in How to Get Away With Murder.
An American musical drama centered around a mix of hip hop and soul music, Empire highlights the many complications and goings-on in the glamorous yet dark underbelly of the entertainment industry as the Lyon family fights to reign control over their company. With numerous popular stars such as Ludacris, Kelly Rowland, Chris Rock and Alicia Keys, to name a few, making their appearance in Season 2, this is definitely one of those shows one cannot miss this September.
How To Get Away With Murder follows the journey of Annalise Keating as she not only guides her clique of students in the art of legal proceedings but also grapples with dark secrets of her own and her students. Season 2 of the show starts by focusing on the death of Rebecca and the adoptive parents of the Hapstall twins. With a whole lot of mystery coupled with an award worthy performance by Viola Davis, this show should be on everyone’s watch list.
Ending September on a comic front, fans will get a watch the antics of the Johnson family led by patriarch Andre, ‘Dre’ Johnson, as he maneuvers his and his family’s life to match that of the society. ‘Black – ish’ will air on the channels over the weekend of 24th and 25th September.
So mark your calendars this September and get ready to binge on some of the biggest shows the year has to offer!
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.
