David Zaslav’s Discovery Contract Extended Through 2027

Will Smith, like many others right now, is riding on the high of an incredible Super Bowl, but took to social media to celebrate a major career milestone that came with it.MORE: Will Smith celebrates his mother's birthday - and his own wins as wellThe actor shared on Instagram a snippet from the newly released reboot and dramatization of his hit sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel Air.WATCH: Will Smith releases Fresh Prince Of Bel Air reboot trailer - but fans have same complaintRevealing that the show, Bel Air, was officially now out on Peacock, the actor penned a heartfelt tribute to the series and urged fans to watch it.He wrote: "So proud of this cast, this crew, and Morgan cooper— you are a genius!! #BelAir is finally out and streaming now on @PeacockTV!"MORE: Will Smith releases Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot trailer - but fans have same complaintFans immediately took to the comments to react with excitement upon the release of this completely different take on the light-hearted 90s classic, with one commenting: "I am watching it right now."Another wrote: "It was sooooo goooood," with a third adding: "We're ready for this," and one even enthusiastically saying: "Gonna watch it noowww!!!"A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)Will shared a snippet from Bel Air to celebrate its releaseThe star also appeared in a commercial promoting the new series that aired during the Super Bowl, and is one of the show's executive producers.The King Richard actor also shared a clip of himself with family attending the premiere of the show, and by the looks of it, they were all quite happy.MORE: Will Smith shares poignant tribute to Sidney Poitier who dies age 94MORE: Will Smith's daughter Willow shares distressing details of mom Jada

It looks like Snoop Dogg‘s lucky charm works on the Los Angeles Rams as well! Ahead of his Super Bowl half-time show performance on Sunday night, Snoop shared a photo of him and his wife Shante Broadus rocking matching yellow-and-blue sweatsuits in support of their home team. That night, the Rams would go on to triumph over the Bengals in a close game ending in a score of 23-20. Though it’s impossible to know if Snoop and Shante’s style helped bring home the win, their adorable twinning certainly couldn’t have hurt.

Lizzo wants you to love all of her.

The movie world is mourning a comedy directing giant.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler reprised her role as Meadow Soprano in “The Sopranos” in a very nostalgic Chevrolet ad. The actress, who played the character from 1999-2007 cruised down the New Jersey Turnpike in the first-ever all electric Silverado as the series theme song “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3 plays.

Editor’s note: A previous headline erroneously referred to Reitman as the director of “Animal House” rather than the producer. TheWrap regrets the error.

Cooper Kupp was the MVP of the 2022 Super Bowl and his whole family was there to celebrate his big victory!

By By By By More from GlamourSee More Stories© 2022 Condé Nast. All rights reserved.

Matthew Stafford is a Super Bowl champion and he had his wife Kelly and their four adorable daughters by his side to celebrate the victory!

Earlier tonight, McDonald’s aired their brand new ad during the 2022 Super Bowl, and it featured a lot of notable faces.

Prince Harry is attending his first Super Bowl!

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WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, whose position was destabilized last week after Discovery and AT&T announced plans for a merger, says he will remain as CEO for the next 12 months.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav, a week after announcing a $43 billion deal to merge with WarnerMedia in a spinoff from AT&T, sees validation in today’s news that Amazon is swallowing MGM.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDiscovery’s CEO feels a combination of WarnerMedia and his company will create a new media company that is “uniquely competitive with Netflix and Disney,” and articulated the need to have a global footprint in the future in order to compete in the entertainment industry’s streaming wars.Discovery last week stuck a pact with AT&T to take over WarnerMedia operations in a deal that executives hope will pass regulatory muster by mid 2022.

AT&T will pay Discovery a $1.77 billion breakup fee if it backs out of its deal to sell off its WarnerMedia segment, according to a Plan of Merger filed on Thursday.If Discovery backs out of the deal, it will owe AT&T a breakup fee of $720 million. The terms were disclosed in a filing on Thursday.

One day prior to its massive merger with WarnerMedia, Discovery gave its CEO David Zaslav nearly 15 million stock options, which are valued at $190 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.A representative for Discovery did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.The Journal said the 14.8 million in stock options were part of Zaslav’s new contract, which was announced on Tuesday, one day after the merger announcement. The deal runs through 2027.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIt pays to pull off a massive media merger.Discovery chief David Zaslav is certainly being handsomely rewarded for his role in pulling off the merger agreement between his company and WarnerMedia. A day before AT&T announced it was spinning off WarnerMedia and combining it with Discovery, Zaslav received 14.8 million stock options on Sunday as part of a contract extension, which the Wall Street Journal reports are worth $190 million.

Discovery awarded CEO David Zaslav nearly 14.8 million stock options on Sunday, the day before the company unveiled plans to merge with AT&T’s WarnerMedia.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAs soon as news broke May 16 about AT&T’s proposed deal to combine WarnerMedia with Discovery, the guessing game began about what the megadeal would mean for top executives at the company.The initial takeaways: It’s a good sign for CNN boss Jeff Zucker and a bad omen for Jason Kilar, who in his one year in the job as CEO of WarnerMedia might have ruffled too many feathers as he tried to refashion the company for the streaming wars.Discovery CEO David Zaslav is set to run the new combined entity, and Kilar was not party to the deal talks, suggesting that AT&T CEO John Stankey had lost confidence in the ex-Hulu chief ’s approach and strategy after hiring him last year.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWarnerMedia tried to put its best foot forward on Wednesday by focusing on the future of its own media assets, rather than questions about its looming spinoff from AT&T and merger with Discovery.Executives at the AT&T-owned media conglomerate put a spotlight on the company’s broad array of media outlets and talent during an upfront presentation to advertisers. The showcase, largely pre-taped, featured Leslie Odom Jr.

Discovery announced Tuesday that it’s extended the employment contract of president and CEO David Zaslav through December 31, 2027. His previous agreement ran through 2023.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDiscovery brought a vision to advertisers this year that it will be hard to duplicate in sessions to come.The owner of the TLC, Food Network and HGTV cable outlets spent Wednesday morning explaining how its networks, focused largely on reality and documentary programming, could stand through even conditions spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. Programming and advertising executives nodded to new “at home” formats devised for popular hosts like Guy Fieri and The Pioneer Woman, while articulating new shows and series that will debut in weeks to come.

Discovery, a day after announcing a landmark, $43 billion merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia, delivered its first upfront presentation in two years to tout 2021-22 programming.

As the news sank in about AT&T winding down its Hollywood foray via a $43 billion merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, one word summed up the film industry’s prevailing reaction.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorThe first swing in the talks that led to the union of Discovery and WarnerMedia was an email sent by David Zaslav to John Stankey on Feb. 13.That was around the time that the Discovery CEO and his AT&T counterpart had planned to meet for a golf date at the storied Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament in central California that is sponsored by the telecom giant, as they did last year.

Discovery chief David Zaslav, whose sizable corner of the media business is getting a lot bigger, said he had previously looked at the idea of creating a “global HBO,” but all the best series were taken.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorShares of Discovery and AT&T moved in different directions in the wake of the proposed merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery.Discovery shares opened up 10% Monday — before the stock tumbled into negative territory. The stock was down 0.3% as of 11:01 a.m.

On Friday, people left work, came home and sat down with their friends and/or family, and watched something on TV. But John Stankey, the CEO of AT&T, and David Zaslav, the Discovery CEO, were holed up in the latter’s house hammering out a multi-billion dollar deal that would forever change the face of Hollywood.

Discovery combine into a single media juggernaut was hatched during a series of meetings and calls in the Greenwich Village townhouse of Discovery chief David Zaslav.But it might never have come about were it not for Zaslav and AT&T chief John Stankey’s shared passion for golf. The two men were commiserating via text message about how, due to COVID restrictions, they weren’t going to be able to see each other in person at last winter’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

calling the network “the elephant in the room” in the administration’s opposition. The deal won approval and was ultimately completed in June 2018.AT&T announced Monday that it was spinning off WarnerMedia into an independent company that will merge with Discovery Inc.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDavid Zaslav will lead a new combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery, the latest example of consolidation in the media and entertainment industry as the rise of video streaming continues to upend the entire sector.Zaslav was named CEO of the new company Monday, part of a surprising move by AT&T and Discovery to pool their media resources and make a bid to compete more directly with large rivals like Netflix, Walt Disney and NBCUniversal. Under terms of the deal, AT&T shareholders will control 71% of the new company, while Discovery shareholders would own 29%.

AT&T and Discovery Monday announced a definitive agreement to combine WarnerMedia’s  premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a premier, standalone global entertainment company led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorDiscovery CEO David Zaslav is, by his own definition, a “fighter.”He’s poised to record quite a knockout if he pulls off a merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit in a pact that will leave him as the ultimate keeper of the keys to HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros., Turner channels and a growing global suite of direct to consumer streaming businesses.News of Discovery’s pursuit of a union with the erstwhile Time Warner assets came on so fast that executives and recent alumni of HBO, Warner Bros. et al were dizzy with surprise as word spread Sunday morning.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDisney’s ESPN struck a new deal with Major League Baseball that will see the sports-media giant air a narrower package of games, primarily for its “Sunday Night Baseball” franchise.The new seven-year deal, which will commence in 2022, will last through 2028.More to come…