Peter Bart: The Deal Gets Real At WarnerMedia As David Zaslav Ponders Its Power Structure

The ultimate woman crush! Dolly Parton’s career has spanned music, movies, multiple business ventures and more — and she’s shown no sign of slowing down.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery, Inc. president and CEO David Zaslav was awarded a one-time discretionary bonus of $4.4 million by the company’s board March 1 in honor of his “exceptional leadership” ahead of Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia.Per a Monday SEC filing, “The Board approved the one-time bonus (which is in addition to the 2021 annual bonus that Mr.

For the past seven years, Chris Licht’s favorite comic has been Stephen Colbert. As the new chairman of CNN, Licht’s focus has instantly shifted to the brilliant ex-comic from Ukraine named Volodymyr Zelensky, whose heroics are the story of the hour.

Gregory Peck was angry. As president of the Motion Picture Academy, the star announced he would veto the admission of a new voting member on grounds that he lacked professional qualifications. The Academy was becoming too populist in 1967, he argued. It must retain its elite status.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav dropped his usual quota of names during the company’s quarterly earnings call — John Malone, Jack Welch, Oprah — but one name didn’t come up: Jeff Zucker.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery CEO promises that the company is not in a race to win the “spending wars” on content when it closes its deal to acquire AT&T’s WarnerMedia and become Warner Bros. Discovery.“We’re going to spend more on content — but you’re not going to see us come in and say, ‘Alright, we’re spending $5 billion more on content,” Zaslav said during an investor call Thursday to discuss the company’s Q4 earnings results.Zaslav says the new company — which will run both Discovery’s current major streamer Discovery Plus and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max — will be “looking to monetize our IP to grow the value of the overall company.”Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels echoed Zaslav’s point, saying “it’s not about winning” and “spending more money doesn’t score goals.” Click here to sign up for Variety‘s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial and investment news, and more.Discovery revealed Thursday it reached 22 million paying streaming subscribers across its portfolio of offerings by the end of 2021.

engaged in oral sex with a 16-year-old male in South Florida.Parson, 53, has been charged with two felony counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison for each charge.Under Florida law, the age of consent is 18 years old.

Fans of Larry David have some good news — and not just good, but pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Sarajevo Director Exits After 27 Years

Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Courtney Love and the late rocker Kurt Cobain, is dating Riley Hawk, the son of pro skateboarder Tony Hawk!

Even as it celebrates its 27 Oscar nominations this week, Netflix unveiled its mega-slate of 86 titles for 2022. That’s far more than any traditional studio this year.

Focusing on the positive. After a difficult start at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin offered a glimpse at how she approached her remaining time at the international sports competition.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorDiscovery investors will be asked to approve the $43 billion deal to combine with WarnerMedia, which AT&T is spinning off, at a March 11 virtual meeting.Discovery announced the date in a letter to shareholders, which it disclosed in an SEC filing Thursday. On that same day, AT&T has scheduled a virtual investor conference where the company said it will provide “additional insight and expectations for financial and operational performance of AT&T’s Communications segment” following the close of the WarnerMedia transaction.The pact cleared a major hurdle this week after U.S.