English Entertainment
&flix to air World TV Premiere of ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ on December 8
MUMBAI: &flix recently announced World Television Premieres of Hollywood movies. This time, the destination for the biggest Hollywood hits, is set to launch a new offering that is sure to delight viewers. The channel will offer movie enthusiasts a chance to leap forth into limitless possibilities as they witness World Television Premieres of Hollywood blockbusters now in native Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, along with English.
Available as part of the Zee Prime English Pack, &flix, in association with Sony Pictures Television, offers fans from across the country a chance to watch their favourite superheroes on television, before the world, just months after the worldwide movie release. Making it even exciting is the latest offering that will see Hollywood A-listers speak the Indian languages.
Come December 8, 2019, Spidey is all set to say Hello, Vanakkam, Namaste and Namaskaram with the World Television Premiere of Spider-Man: Far From Home on December 8, 2019, at 1PM, 7PM and 9PM in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. The channel has garnered support from premium brands such as Ray-Ban and Bose as Co-Powered By sponsors and Adidas as the Associate sponsor. With this, viewers will now be able to enjoy an unparalleled movie viewing experience and watch the biggest titles like Jumanji: The Next Level, Charlie’s Angels and many more that will soon be available on &flix.
To keep the momentum going, &flix also brings to its viewers a new programming block “Flix For All” now in your own language, weekdays at 9PM. The block includes a specially curated line-up of high-octane movies, which will not only be aired in English, but also in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. The library includes hits such as Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Bad Boys II, Venom, Brightburn, MIB: International, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and many more.
To launch this offering, the channel has taken an all-inclusive communication approach with multiple content innovations and marketing initiatives. These initiatives include associations with YouTube content creators, new age and print media platforms and even the Mumbai Metro. Additionally, &flix has also collaborated with its trade partners to introduce and create conversations around the offering.
Sharing his views, ZEEL Premium Channel Cluster Business Head Kartik Mahadev said, “The English movies category has always been metro focussed. However, NTO has homogenized the market, in the sense that viewers in the mega-cities and viewers in a remote Indian small town are both paying the same price to subscribe to an English movie channel. This makes for a compelling case for channel brands to broaden their approach.”
“Market studies and domestic box office collections reveal that the appetite for Hollywood movies has seen an upward trend. Language has brought in greater access to Hollywood movies. Viewers today increasingly look at watching movies in their native language to derive greater joy. This reflects in the reach for dubbed Hollywood movies on television as well. Offering viewers the flexibility to watch movies in the language of their choice, is an effort towards serving the wider demand for Hollywood movies,” he adds.
&flix offers some of the choicest Hollywood movies with World Television Premieres showcased before the world and in the language of your choice. The channel is available as part of the Zee Prime English Pack that includes 4 premium channels – &flix, Zee Café, LF and WION at a very attractive price of Rs 15/- per month only. That’s not all! For those who appreciate nuanced cinema, &PrivéHD brings riveting and award-winning films that stimulate the minds and bring alive the other side of cinema with Zee Prime English HD Pack comprising – &PrivéHD, Zee Café HD, &flix HD, LF HD is priced at Rs 25/-. Consumers can also subscribe to the Zee All In One Pack @ Rs. 59/- per 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.
