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The bump came mostly from option awards which Starz‘s former parent, Liberty Media, was eager to award last year. The company feared that the feds might tinker with the corporate tax deduction for performance-based pay “in response to the widespread ‘fiscal cliff’ concerns,” Starz says in its first proxy as an independent company, filed today at the SEC. Liberty spun it off in January. CEO Chris Albrecht‘s package consisted of $1M salary, $100,000 bonus, $11M in option awards, $750,000 in non-equity incentives, and $25,834 in other compensation. His total is 7.8 times the median for Starz’s other top executives, well above the level that causes concern among corporate governance activists that the CEO wields too much power. Liberty Chairman John Malone controls about 42.8% of Starz’s voting stock with additional shares held by allies Robert Bennett (3.2%) and Comcast (3.2%). That should make short work of the company’s annual meeting, to be held June 6 in Beverly Hills.
Starz CEO Chris Albrecht Made $12.9M In 2012, +132%
Chris Albrecht Touts Starz’s Independence, Original Programming Rampup: TCA
Starz CEO Chris Albrecht gave a brief state of the network at the opening of Starz‘s portion of TCA’s press tour. He addressed the company’s pending spinoff from Liberty Media. “This month Starz will become … Read More »
Starz’s Chris Albrecht On Ending ‘Spartacus’ And Launch Plans For New Series: TCA
At the top of Starz’s portion of the TCA summer press tour, the network’s president and CEO was asked about the decision to end the costume drama Spartacus after the upcoming third season. Albrecht said he joined Starz when the network was editing the first season of the show. “When I saw the ending of the first season, I said: ‘Uh-oh’, Spartacus just exited the franchise; it exited the Upstairs, Downstairs aspect of gladiators and Romans living together”. With the gladiators taking to the hills and the Romans in town, “we had to tell two distinct stories, and that is never the ultimate way to do a TV series”, Albrecht said. The series also had to deal with the departure of beloved original star Andy Whitfield. “Ultimately, rather than trying to string the story with one more argument, one more villain showing up, we decided to follow the historic trajectory and bring Spartacus’ story to an end. Better leave viewers wanting more than diminish the overall impact of the franchise”.
Spartacus creator Steven S. DeKnight, who is under an overall deal at Starz, is already working on his next project for the pay cable network. “Steven just returned from Hawaii where he shot ‘proof of concept’ for a show he’s developed”, Albrecht said. That show is sci-fi drama Incursion, which Albrecht described as “Band of Brothers meets Halo” and involves a lot of creatures.
Albrecht also gave an update on Starz’s upcoming series. Da Vinci’s Demons, which is currently in production, is eyed for the end of first quarter or second quarter of 2013. The series stars Tom Riley as young Leonardo Da Vinci. The Michael Bay-produced pirate drama Black Sails is currently in pre-production in South Africa where standing sets are being erected with the goal to also build one or two boats. The series is looking at a launch in early 2014, possibly inheriting the Spartacus slot. Read More »
Starz Chief Warns Investors That “It Will Take Money” To Produce The Original Programs It Needs
Although Starz appears to be off the market for now, CEO Chris Albrecht told investors today that his channel should still be in the catbird seat as digital media grow. But “it will take money” to produce the … Read More »
Does John Malone Have A Big Deal In Mind For Starz?
Analysts attending Liberty Media’s annual investor day on Thursday will be listening carefully when Starz CEO Chris Albrecht discusses his channel’s plans. His boss, Liberty Chairman John Malone, loves to buy, sell, and swap assets — as long as he can do so without paying a big tax bill. And there’s a growing belief that Malone is positioning Starz for a deal as the company focuses its branding efforts around more than 50 hours of original programs — including Boss, Magic City, Spartacus, and Da Vinci’s Demons — instead of theatrical films from Disney and Sony. For example, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield says in a blog post today that “a transaction may…be coming to turn Starz into an asset based security” instead of just part of the Liberty Starz tracking stock. Janney Capital Markets’ Tony Wible says that Starz’ “strategic benefits could make it an M&A target.” Maxim Group’s John Tinker agrees that Starz “should be merged into a larger entity.”
Albrecht reinforced those views recently by talking up his desire to have the channel stand out as a premium service. On Friday he elaborated at the Monaco Media Forum on points he made earlier in the week on the Liberty earnings call: The channel scrapped its effort to negotiate a new streaming deal with Netflix because it didn’t set Starz apart from the video pack. Read More »
Video: Chris Albrecht Talks Starz And Media
We just caught up with this video of Chris Albrecht speaking at last week’s Monaco Media Forum 2011:
Starz Signs Multi-Year Production Deal With BBC Worldwide Prods
On the heels of their collaboration on Torchwood: Miracle Day, Starz Entertainment and BBC Worldwide Prods have signed a multi-year production agreement. Under the deal, the two companies will co-develop and co-finance multiple series that will be produced by BBC … Read More »
Starz Hires Russell Schwartz As SVP Business & Legal Affairs
Starz Entertainment has hired longtime HBO executive Russell Schwartz to be its SVP Business & Legal Affairs. He will be based in Los Angeles, where he will help spearhead the company’s growing Starz Originals and TV production business, which has been … Read More »
TCA: Chris Albrecht On ‘Spartacus’, Comedy
Spartacus: Blood and Sand will continue. Ending months of speculation, Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht confirmed that the costume drama will proceed with Season 2. “We are officially going ahead with the long planned but unfortunately delayed second season of Spartacus,” he said at the opening of Starz’s TCA … Read More »
Starz Sells Animation Studio Film Roman
Chris Albrecht has been unloading assets since he took over Starz as president and CEO last December. Following the July deal with Relativity for Overture, Starz has now found a buyer for its Film Roman, the animation studio behind The Simpsons. Starz has been focusing on its core TV network business, building the channels’ original slate. It continues to operate Anchor Bay Entertainment.
October 11, 2010 – Starz Media, LLC, has reached an agreement to sell its animation studio Film Roman to a group of investors lead by former Film Roman President Scott D. Greenberg. The deal was announced today by Starz, LLC, President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Albrecht, and Greenberg. The terms of the deal will not be disclosed.
Overture Duo Were Fired By Blackberry
My pal Claudia Eller has a funny little scoop on the LA Times website about how Starz chief Chris Albrecht made a Blackberry mistake that led to Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett’s exit from Overture. (So I gotta ask: is this why moguls like Alan Horn and Ron Meyer refuse … Read More »
Starz Pushes McGurk And Rosett Out Of Overture As Chris Albrecht Takes Control
Enough is enough is enough. Starz topper Chris Albrecht at first was just going to shut down Overture and its home video arm Anchor Bay. (Founded in November 2006, Overture Films has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Starz LLC, which is … Read More »
Starz To End Both ‘Party Down’ & ‘Gravity’
EXCLUSIVE: Starz has decided not to renew comedy series Party Down and Gravity. I hear the pay cable network may make the announcement later today. Both shows were developed and launched by Starz’s previous regime, but new president and CEO Chris … Read More »
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