English Entertainment
Comedy Central announces its new year line up with four new shows
MUMBAI: A brand new year calls for brand new reasons to smile and Comedy Central India, India’s only 24×7 laughter destination is bringing to its audience the perfect mix of humor that will set the ball rolling for a fabulous year ahead.
Monday, 20th January 2014 will see the Indian premieres of – House of Lies,World’s Craziest Fools as well as the latest season launch of Arrested Development. Monday was never so much fun before!
January also witnesses the premiere of Just For Laughsfor the first time on Comedy Central India starting 23rd January.
Show synopsis
House of Lies:
This American drama comedy television series created by Matthew Carnahan follows a group of management consultants who stop at nothing to get business deals done. It is based on the book, House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time, written by Martin Kihn, a former consultant and is a subversive, scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm. Marty, a highly successful (played but Don Cheadle), cutthroat consultant is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his clients the information they want.
Don Cheadle has received the Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in 2013 and 2013 amongst other awards for best actor like Critic’s Choice Television Award. Tune in to Comedy Central India on 20th January at 10 pm every Monday-Wednesday and you will see why!
Arrested Development
Join Michael Bluth in the latest season as he juggles his job and the disruptive family his imprisoned father left behind. Since its debut in 2003, the series has received widespread critical acclaim, six Primetime Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe Award, and has attracted a cult following, including several fan-based websites. In 2007, Time listed it among the magazine’s “All-TIME 100 TV Shows”. In 2008, the show was ranked 16th on Entertainment Weekly’s “New TV Classics” list. In 2011, IGN named Arrested Development the “funniest show of all time”
Catch up with the Bluth family frenzy on Monday-Wednesday at 10:30 pm as Comedy Central brings back the madness this year!
World’s Craziest Fools
This show features all sorts of silly accidents that people around the world have and in turn look like fools! From jumping off things they shouldn’t be on, parking in absurd places and indulging in a little too much magic water – this show will have you giggling forever. Presented by Mr. T – it showcases clips, sometimes viral of people from all over the world. The more believable it is, the funnier– you could have been in a similar situation too!
Tune in from Monday-Thursday at 11 pm to catch fellow humans in acts of silliness, on your favorite comedy channel – Comedy Central India!
Just For Laughs
Just for Laughs is a comedy festival held each July in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest international comedy festival in the world. Each day, street performers and other acts both vocal and visual perform throughout the city, particularly in the “Latin Quarter” — an area known for its theatres, cafés and boutique shopping. In the evenings, the nightclubs and live venue theatres offer special programs supporting the performers.
Thursday-Friday at 10 pm, tune in to Comedy Central India and experience the magic of this festival of laughs!
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.
