I’m in Hollywood

To revitalize a TV station, relying on only one popular program is certainly not enough. However, a popular program that is full of topicality and attracts media attention can significantly increase the popularity of related TV channels and bring more popularity to it. As long as the situation opens, and then continue to produce high-quality TV programs, TV stations will be able to enter a virtuous circle of continuous development and growth.

Eric’s expectations for the National Supermodel Contest are the same.

Fireflies have no big plans for M&A expansion in the next few years, and it does not mean that fireflies will stop growing.

Before Eric proposed the "American Supermodel Contest", Kasenberger has begun to increase the support of Firefly's record business. Eric understands the development prospects of the Western record industry and develops for Kasenberg. Although the plan is not eager, it has not stopped. Relying on strict copyright protection laws, the Western record market has become increasingly depressed due to the strong impact in the Internet era, but it has not declined to the point where the entire industry is gone.

In addition to the record business, more regulated commercial operations of the surrounding products of its popular films are part of Firefly's important development plans for the next few years, and negotiations with the Hasbro Group's upcoming toy perimeter are part of this plan.

After hearing the idea of ​​the "American Supermodel Contest", energetic Kasenberg immediately proposed the idea of ​​developing lietime TV.

As I said earlier, even if the "American Supermodel Contest" is once again successful, only one popular program will not support a TV station.

After many meetings and brainstorming, the management quickly developed a detailed set of original program production, TV network resource reuse, programming, and channel marketing plan. In the next three years, Firefly will invest 100 million US dollars each year for the production, procurement and marketing of lietime TV. It is expected to create a professional female TV station for young women who focus on fashion and high quality of life.

The parent company ae TV network of lietime TV is jointly owned by Firefly Group and Hearst Group. Therefore, this reform plan for lietime. There is also a need to negotiate with the Hearst Group and obtain relevant resources. The Hearst Group has hundreds of daily newspapers, weekly magazines and magazines around the world. These paper media resources are still indispensable for the promotion of women's channels. of.

After the Oscar, the awards season is finally over. Eric also handled most of the movie projects that needed to be personally focused. But before I had time to rest for a few days, a lot of things came again.

The Hearst Group is headquartered in New York, and the headquarters of ae TV is also in New York. Once it is planned, most of the lietime TV programs will be produced in New York. From any point of view, Eric needs to rush to New York. Relevant consultations and layout.

At the same time, the birthday of the two little guys is coming soon, and this year's Easter is also on April 16. On these special days, I have to take time to accompany women and children.

Hasbro's headquarters is in Rhode Island, very close to New York, and negotiations on toy development cooperation between the two sides will eventually be decided in New York.

The firefighting investment and telecom operator sp nt's capital injection negotiations have started, involving more than one billion dollars in investment, and some important occasions also need Eric to attend in person. Firefly investment and sp nt headquarters are in New York.

On the plane to New York, Eric simply calculated the schedule. I found that after finishing these things, the movie summer file is coming.

Just got off the plane. Eric has invested in non-stop work.

In the conference room of the Abbe TV in Upper West Side of Manhattan, the high-level of the Firefly TV network, the management of the ae TV network, and the representatives from the Hearst Group are holding relevant meetings. At the invitation of Eric, the Hearst Group is the third. William Hirst, the generation's head, also sat in the conference room.

"... According to statistics from 1994, the number of users of lietime TV is 31.5 million. Cable operators such as Comcast, Time Warner, and Telematics pay an average of 15 cents per user per month, lietime TV station's operator division last year was 56.7 million US dollars, advertising revenue was 33.5 million US dollars, annual revenue was 90.2 million US dollars, and profits were 13.8 million US dollars. We plan to use three years. Through the first phase of the reform program, will be lietime TV station The number of user subscriptions has expanded to 60 million to 90 million, and the operator has been increased to 25 cents. It is expected to deliver a series of high-quality TV programs, and the advertising revenue will exceed the operator's revenue, reaching an annual revenue of 500 million US dollars. The net profit is 100 million US dollars."

Kasenberger finished the simple report and was about to continue on the next topic. William Hirst, sitting at the top left of the long-form conference table, looked up and knocked on the documents in front of him, ignoring Kasenberg, but Eric, who is looking at the other side and sitting opposite to himself, said: "Eric, last year's Vimy big show, is a direct profit and indirect stock appreciation, bringing you more than $1.5 billion in revenue. In comparison, isn't this plan too stingy?"

Eric leaned on the back of a comfortable leather chair, holding a pencil in his hand, habitually turning a pen in his hand, and smiled: "William, it was an accident last year, and the road always has to go step by step. With the foundation of lietime TV station, it has been very good to achieve this goal in three years. Last year, the total profit of all TV business of Firefly was only more than 600 million US dollars."

William Hirst stared at the young man opposite, saying: "I don't pay much attention to the TV business, but I always feel that the plan is not perfect, or that some places are not clear."

The other party is not clear, Eric will continue to bend around: "This is just a draft, and it still needs to be revised. Otherwise, we will not have to hold this meeting today."

William Hirst looked at the somewhat lazy smile and said: "Eric, I mean, about the original production of lietime TV, there seems to be no explanation for what to do in this program?"

Eric replied: "Oh, I don't think there is any objection to this. In addition to the news, all the TV network programs are responsible for the Firefly Group's TV program production department, and of course this is the usual practice."

The two squatting, the crowd in the field took the initiative to calm down and listen patiently.

As an industry elite, most people actually know what the two big men are discussing. The two men said that even the clerical civilian staff who had been responsible for the minutes of the meeting had almost understood.

Eric and William Hirst discuss the copyright attribution of the original lietime TV program.

Usually, a TV program producer sells the first broadcast rights to the TV station, and the sales revenue is only a small part of the program revenue, and even the cost cannot be recovered.

Most of the TV show's revenue comes from the TV broadcast after the premiere, the videotape release of the drama and the income of the TV show syndicate, the so-called TV show syndicate, the simple explanation is the program distribution system.

A TV show is distributed through the syndicated program distribution system. In the United States and even more than 100 countries in the United States, the rights to broadcast the rights of TV stations and the sales of remake rights will definitely exceed the revenue of the first round of TV broadcasts. The videotapes of the hot dramas and the profits from syndicated revenues can even reach the production. More than ten times the cost, this is why many TV drama protagonists can get a million yuan per episode. If there is no videotape and syndicated, only the first round of advertising and cable TV sharing, TV network is absolutely impossible to open such a high price. Pay.

Most TV station production departments and distribution systems are integrated, and it is not necessary to distinguish these issues.

But the parent company ae TV network of lietime TV is different. The ae TV network belongs to Firebug and Hearst, and each party holds 50% of the shares. If the original program of lietime TV is produced by the ae TV network production department, then the Hearst Group will be able to share the profits of the videotape and the syndicate. However, if these programs are produced by the firefly's television department, the copyright of the program is not related to the ae TV network. Although the Hearst Group does not have to bear the risk of making investment, it cannot share the videotape and syndicated income. This is why William Hearst just said that the plan was 'small.' If TV stations only share cable TV and advertising, they can earn 100 million U.S. dollars a year. Videotapes and syndicates must not go far beyond this.

As everyone knows, Eric's projects, whether they are movies or TV shows, can be linked to the term 'profiteering'. The Hearst Group certainly cannot give up this profit at your fingertips.

Although the Hearst Group is in a huge position in the paper media industry, but there is not enough enthusiasm in the operation of the TV network, William Hearst realized that Eric invited himself to attend this meeting, not like the surface. So simple, at this time, I can only follow his line of thought, said: "Eric, I think it is more appropriate for Ae TV Network to produce this batch of original programs. Hearst Group can provide production funds according to the ratio. In addition, if we need paper media resources to support this, we can try our best to cooperate."

Eric seems to have heard something interesting, and he stood up and said: "When it comes to proportion, William, I think Firefly and Hearst have a more coordinated shareholding on espn. What do you think?"

Although he was prepared, William Hearst heard Eric’s words and almost threw the documents in his hand toward him. He shook his head without hesitation: “Eric, this is not a good thing, absolutely not.”

Firefly and Hearst's shareholding in ae TV network is five or five points, but in espn's shareholding is two or eight points, Hearst accounted for 20%, and fireflies accounted for 80%. At the beginning, Hearst and the original Metropolitan Media Group's rights in espn were also in the same league. In the 1980s, espn had not yet emerged. At that time, Tom Murphy from the Hearst Group and several others. The minority shareholders bought most of the espn shares. At that time, they only spent less than 50 million US dollars. Now espn is already the largest sports channel in North America. In 1995, the annual profit exceeded 200 million. It was only the Hearst Group. The share of the company produces more than 50 million yuan a year.

With such a lesson in the past, it is certainly impossible for William Hearst to make such a stupid thing again.

Hearing that William Hirst was excitedly rejected, Eric shrugged and said, "William, if you disagree, then forget it."

William Hurstington was silent for a moment before he continued: "Eric, I have already heard your vision of the "American Supermodel Contest". This project requires a lot of support from paper media resources. Fireflies will be all last year. The paper media assets have all been sold. Without Hearst, it is difficult for you to make this project bigger."

"William, I think this is a win-win situation, we get resources, you can get more news material," Eric shook his head, his mouth hangs a confident smile: "And, you made a mistake. Nothing, no Hearst, Condé Nast, and News Corp., the relationship between Firefly and the two is just right. Even I have Yahoo in my hands, although the influence is temporarily incomparable with traditional paper media, but the user population However, it has a lot of overlap with the fashionable female audience of lietime TV. I think you can definitely see the potential of media operation that Yahoo displayed during the Vimy show last year."

William Hirst opened his mouth and could not find a suitable rebuttal vocabulary for a while.

Although he is not willing to admit it, he has to reluctantly admit the fact that the Hearst Group is very strong in the media industry, but for the more abundant fireflies, the Hearst Group is not essential. In turn, away from the fireflies, the Hearst Group is not difficult to further expand the ae TV network.

The current situation is that Eric has already put forward the conditions. Fireflies want most of the shares of ae TV. If the Hearst Group does not agree, they will not be able to share most of the profits that Lie TV may bring after its growth. But if compromised, the Hearst Group will almost certainly repeat the mistakes of the original espn.

Another tangled, William Hurst said: "Eric, fireflies want to account for 80% of the shares, this is certainly impossible, we will give up the absolute controlling stake, you can completely modify this according to your own ideas How about home TV network?"

Eric shook his head: "William, Hearst Group's business focus is on paper media. I don't think you have to defend these TV network assets. So, I will take another step. Fireflies only need 75%. This is my bottom line. ""

"No, no, Eric, up to 55%. If you are taller, I would rather give up the power of ae TV to undertake the production of the program and keep it as it is."

"Hey, William, you know, last year's "Emergency Room Story", the production cost is less than 30 million US dollars, but only the first quarter of the syndicated sales profit exceeded 150 million, we will release video tapes in the near future, this The income will be more objective. Look at the advertising revenue, $45 million, and the profit is only one-tenth, one-tenth of the syndicate."

William Hirst looked helpless: "Well, Eric, 60%, if I am tall, I am afraid I will be harassed by shareholders."

"You can't lie to me, William, the Hearst family has always firmly controlled the Hearst Group, no one will oppose your decision, 70%, this is the bottom line that the fireflies can bear, if you can't accept it, Fireflies do not rule out the acquisition of a cable TV station alone."

"..."

"..."

Everyone in the conference room listened to the two waves ss you came to me, the mind was quick, the speed of speech was fast, it seems that he did not hesitate to blurt out, but everywhere he was savvy and calculating, his heart was amazed, Westerners rarely saw the dishes. Market-like bargaining.

In the end, the dispute was more than ten minutes, and the two sides finally decided that they were barely able to accept the plan. The firefly held 65% of the shares, the Hearst Group left a 35% stake, and the lietime TV program was produced by ae TV. The Sterling Group fully cooperates with the paper media resources. (To be continued.)