English Entertainment
Sony Pictures Networks India is recognized as one of India’s Top 100 Best Companies for women
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), India’s leading entertainment and sports broadcast network, has been ranked for the 2nd consecutive year, as the Top 100 Best Companies for Women to work in India. This award is based on a prestigious study conducted by Working Mother, a global leader on gender equity, and AVTAR, a pioneer in diversity and inclusion in India. SPN is the only media and broadcast network to be featured in this year’s top 100 companies. Empowering women and attaining gender equity has been SPN’s key focus area and the network has taken consistent efforts in this direction.
Currently in its third edition, the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) study, aims to recognize and highlight the sustained initiatives undertaken by companies to increase women workforce participation. The 2018 edition had 345 participating companies from across industries. This study was done with the most rigorous, credible and comprehensive methodologies on performance measured across seven key policy clusters namely, workforce profile, flexible work, women’s recruitment and retention, benefits, paid-time off/parental leave, company culture, safety and security.
Over its 23-year journey, SPN has undertaken several award-winning initiatives to create a work atmosphere in which employees can truly fulfil their potential. SPN places emphasis on values, culture and fosters an environment of transparency and empowerment. SPN was one of the first organizations in the country to extend maternity, adoption and surrogacy leave up to 6 months, well before the law mandated it. Pregnant women can also avail preferential parking in the office premises. Further, the network has a special provision of a mothers’ room across its offices, where a new mother can pump and store milk for her baby, and offers near-site crèche facilities for employees to avail for their children. SPN also prioritizes women’s safety, reflecting it in several initiatives such as providing transportation for employees working late, sensitizing employees on prevention of sexual harassment (POSH) and training women employees in self-defense techniques.
Comments:
N.P. Singh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sony Pictures Networks India:
“We are honored to receive this recognition and feature in the list of Top 100 Best Companies for Women in India for the second consecutive year. At SPN, we believe in creating an inclusive environment that promotes equity and equal opportunities. This recognition is a push for us to Go-Beyond in our attempts to create a holistic and rewarding career experience for our women colleagues.”
SPN has won prestigious employer awards in the past – AON India Best Employers 2017 and Top 10 Companies in India for Best Health & Wellness Practices 2017 (awarded by the Society of Human Resource Management and CGP Partners for the fourth consecutive year). These awards are a testimony to the outstanding people practices undertaken by the network.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
