English Entertainment
‘For strong ROI in India’s TV biz, price controls must go’ : Fox International Channels president & CEO Hernan Lopez
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Price controls are limiting the revenue growth for broadcasters in India as they earn net income of $700 million from subscription after paying out carriage fees of $400 million. Investments in programming are muted and, as a result, India is not able to export television formats and finished content while software, music and animation is travelling overseas.
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, Fox International channels president, CEO Hernan Lopex says price controls have to go if the industry is to see strong ROI. He also talks about the company‘s growth plans worldwide. 
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Q. Do you see India‘s television broadcasting industry growing at the right pace? |
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Q. What you are suggesting is that pay-revenues should scale up. What is the ideal revenue mix between subscription and advertising revenues?
Relative to the size of the Indian economy as measured by GDP, this is only 0.04 per cent, and this ratio keeps declining. By contrast, in Colombia, a country with 1/25th of the population, broadcasters get over $200 million in subscriber fees. That is equivalent to 0.07 per cent of the GDP in Colombia, and that ratio keeps rising – partially due to the efforts that Colombia is doing to fight content theft and subscriber under-declaration. |
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Q. So India should learn from Colombia and allow its content industry to flourish?
In Colombia a TV episode costs $150,000 compared to India where an episode costs around $20,000. The turnaround there was the emphasis on creating a dual revenue stream. New channels were launched for underserved audiences. Consumers also wanted content in Spanish and Portugese.
That is because Colombia has a strong system of TV production, has great writers, animators, actors and the country also fights strongly against piracy. In India under declaration, along with controls, means that the broadcasters are getting squeezed.
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Q. But ARPUs (average revenue per subscriber) are low in India. How do you make consumers pay more for quality content? |
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Q. So you are not happy with FIC‘s growth in India? |
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Q. As a market how is India different from the rest of Asia in terms of challenges and opportunities? |
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Q. With digitisation set to take off in India, do you see the carriage fee structure being rationalised based on the experience in other markets or will disputes happen with big operators like what happened in the US with Comcast?
There will be teething issues like in any new technology, but market forces will aid the stakeholders in arriving at an understanding. |
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Q. News Corp restructured the Fox Networks Group last year. What was the aim and how did this impact Fox International Channels? |
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Q. Aren‘t you looking at doubling operating profit and reaching $1 billion by 2015?
This is what we call “brands with fans” – and get a fair share of wallet for it. In order to do that, we are investing more in content (both global and local), marketing and our teams. |
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Q. How much revenue does Fox International Channels contribute to News Corp’s TV business and what growth has been experienced year on year? |
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Q. How do you split up the global market into regions and which are your three biggest markets globally? |
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Q. Globally what is the split between subscription and ad sales and which area do you see growing faster? |
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Q. Pay TV you have said is turning from a “nice to have” to “must have” service. How is this changing the dynamics of your business? |
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Q. What challenges is the current economic slowdown posing? |
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Q. Has Fox International Channels done recent research to find out what consumers globally want and how they view your brands? |
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Q. Digitisation globally is allowing FIC to have more specialised offerings in genres like Crime. How has their offtake been? |
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Q. Are there any genres that are currently underserved globally? If so, how do you plan to service them? |
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Q. What role does sports play in your portfolio as it is a challenge to control costs given the intense competition for rights?
We simply must be disciplined in our approach, but we have the benefit of a wide portfolio of channels – includingentertainment channels – that can both contribute to and benefit from having sports in the portfolio. |
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Q. Globally, how has FIC expanded?
We have added Fox Sports to our portfolio in Latin America, and continue to increase ratings at the National Geographic Channels. And yet there is still so much more to be done. |
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Q. How difficult is China due to government regulation? |
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Q. New media is growing globally. Are you launching channels for the mobile and Internet? |
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Q. How is Fox International Channels leveraging high definition? |
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.
