English Entertainment
Get bitten by the Love Bug on PIX
MUMBAI: With Valentines Day just around the corner …Love is in the air and not just for your sweethearts, it’s the love for your family, friends, pets, cars, diamonds your favourite box of chocolates, a trip around the world maybe? and while you are busy sharing your love for all these and more…PIX brings you an amazing line up of some great stories all through this month to satisfy your love for movies!!! Now isn’t that something to LOVE.
If you thought this is going to be another array of romantic mushy movies…you are wrong as this month PIX offers all its viewers an extremely unique and interesting line-up of movies that have a touch of love with lots and lots of wit and humor.
The month begins with the intense love story End of the Affair, starring Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes on 1st February at 10 pm. Having got you in the mood for romance, PIX follows it up with the Damn Good Drama, Everytime You Say Goodbye on Saturday, 3rd February at 10 pm. Tom Hanks plays an American Flyer who finds himself in Jerusalem, falling in love with a Jewish girl.
The excitement of love gathers speed as we tumble into the week with Monday – rediscover Peter Sellers and fall in love with great comedies again. It is Mondays with a difference – to wipe away your blues with a collection of the best Peter Sellers movies every Monday night on Perfect 10.
As Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling French policeman, Peter Sellers will have you roaring with laughter in The Pink Panther and its sequel, A Shot in the Dark on 5th and 12th February respectively. Catch one of Peter Sellers most memorable films, The Party, that has been an inspiration for many Bollywood films of the 60’s and 70’s, on 19th February and rounding off is What’s new Pussycat? on 26th February.
By the time of his death in 1980, Peter Sellers had over fifty films to his credit. And yet, it’s surprising how many of his finest screen performances have gone unnoticed by today’s audiences. PIX stands for “good stories” and it takes a step forward by bringing you some of the finest films of this well loved comedian.
Love is infectious and who knows that better than the English Bard – catch the joyous film adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing on 8th February on Perfect 10. The Love Bug has something for angst ridden lovers too – The Age of Innocence – Daniel day Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer are brilliant in this tale of love and betrayal. Don’t miss this Martin Scorsese masterpiece on 24th February at 10 pm.
Finally, February 14th, Valentine’s Day is incomplete without watching a romantic movie! PIX pays homage to the trials and tribulations of romance with a full-day marathon of romantic films. With a little twist in the tale, PIX will air more youth oriented films in the Prime Time slots like The Class at 8:00pm and Cruel Intentions at 10:00pm, which deals with the love troubles of today’s younger generation.
Therefore tune- in to PIX this Valentine’s Day and get set for that perfect date, you had always wished for!!! “February is crawling with these bugs and they are all over PIX! Damn, I am sure to get bitten by the Love Bug”, exclaims Gitanjali Murari, Programming Head, PIX.
So what are you waiting for, grab your space on the couch; cool your wine as PIX serves you the best “Love Recipe” to make your special moments just right.
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.
