Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

As the first version of the promotional film was broadcast on major TV networks, various posters about "Apollo 13" soon appeared on newsstands and magazines.The posters released in the first issue are all character posters. Jed specially asked the publicity department to use them as news pictures to make the posters. In addition, when the movie was originally filmed, the scenes were restored to a high degree, so these posters were released. After going out, many people couldn't tell whether it was a movie or a historical photo left behind.

Due to the high enthusiasm of the public, both the print media and the TV media have produced programs about the "Apollo Project", among which the programs of the two cable stations "Discovery Channel" and "History Channel" are the most popular.Discovery Channel, History Channel and the National Geographic Channel to be established in the future can be regarded as the three channels with the most clear market segments in the history of TV. According to the general communication theory, such a professional and niche channel will inevitably be popular in the TV market. However, these three channels are the channels with the highest number of subscribers in the United States and even in the world.

Although their viewing market is very narrow, but their viewing group is the richest, so the placement marketing program fees of these three channels are also the highest.However, these three channels eventually became the possession of News Corporation, so Jed had to admire Murdoch's ability in the TV media.In addition to the Discovery Channel, the History Channel is operated by News Corporation's AETN International, while the National Geographic Channel is jointly operated by News Corporation and the National Geographic Society; and the Discovery Channel's operating rights in Asia also belong to Star Media, a subsidiary of News Corporation. .

When Jed thought of Murdoch's sly fox-like smile, he couldn't help being envious and jealous.Because he agreed to Hunan TV, Jade found Mark Pedewitz, the future president of the CW TV network through a headhunting company, and invited him to set up Dongfeng Broadcasting Media Company.But at present, this company has neither a direct affiliated station nor an affiliated or franchised station. The only reason why Mark will not go berserk is that this company owns nearly [-]% of the shares of Wizard Satellite TV Company, and Wizard Satellite TV Company Under the operation of News Corporation, it has gradually surpassed Echo Satellite TV Company in the North American market, gradually consolidating its position as the market leader.At Mark's request, Jed had to say that he would organize his first channel for Dongfeng Broadcasting Media Company before the end of this year.

After watching the Apollo program documentary program launched by the History Channel, Jed decided to persuade Murdoch to use this TV station as equity in his own TV company.As for why he didn’t choose the Discovery Channel, it’s because Jed knows that the Discovery Channel is already a very profitable company, and their parent company, Advance Publishing Group, is not the one who is short of money, so Jed The abacus will be hit on Murdoch.You must know that the History Channel is a new channel that was launched on New Year's Day this year. God knows if this channel can make money in the future.Moreover, in addition to operating the history channel in AETN International, Murdoch also operates a life cable TV network, which means that one side is a serious documentary channel, and the other side is a very entertaining variety channel.It was also due to the confusion of AETN that News Corporation later sold the company to NBC Universal, a subsidiary of General Electric and Vivendi Group.

Jed was not surprised by this result. AETN was jointly established by News Corporation and Hearst Publishing Company. Hearst Publishing Company is "ELLE", "Harper's Bazaar" Owners of other fashion magazines.Therefore, the cooperation between these two companies is a very inexplicable combination, and it is only natural that they broke up in the end.Taking advantage of the fact that Hearst Publishing Company has not yet discovered the profitable place of History Channel, Jed intends to buy the shares from Hearst Company, and Murdoch would be willing to cooperate with him on the TV station.

In fact, just when Jed was planning to contact Murdoch, Murdoch was also being annoyed by Hearst at this time, because they were increasingly intervening in the operation of the History Channel.In addition to forcing the History Channel to produce a lot of programs about fashion history, they even intend to let the History Channel broadcast Fashion Week.If it is a fashion history program, it is still related to history, but it is a bit too much to broadcast Fashion Week.But Hearst asked Murdoch, if a company that has nothing to do with their business, why would they invest half of the shares?This made Murdoch regret working with Hearst.

The reason why Murdoch chose Hearst as his partner is purely because he wants to form a large enough interest group for himself. After all, News Corporation is a company from Australia. If it wants to seize the ratings share in the United States, it will inevitably attract the attention of local forces in the United States. dissatisfied.Therefore, the old and sophisticated Murdoch naturally launched different channels and cooperated with different partners, so that News Corporation's US branch has enough and strong enough backers.Hearst is a relatively large publishing company in the United States. It owns 16 newspapers, 14 magazines, 2 radio stations and 30 TV stations. In addition, it also owns 30% of the shares of SEPN, the largest sports cable TV network in the United States. Qualifications are not comparable to Murdoch.The most wonderful thing is that although Hearst has [-] TV stations, except for one TV station which is independently operated by itself, the rest of the TV stations are franchised stations of ABC, NBC or CBS, so the cooperation between Hearst and the three major TV networks The relationship is also very close, which is what Murdoch values.The problem was that Murdoch couldn't bear Hearst's meddling with his operating philosophy, but he didn't want to lose that ally.

Just when Murdoch was at a loss, Jed called and said that he wanted to discuss a cooperation with himself.Although Murdoch had a lot of troubles, he was still very interested in Jed's cooperation, so the two made an appointment, and Jed came to Fox Broadcasting Corporation's headquarters in Los Angeles.Compared with ABC, NBC and CBS, Fox Broadcasting Company is only a younger brother born in 1986, but now it has become the fourth national wireless television network in the United States.Therefore, the building of Fox Broadcasting Corporation in Los Angeles is still very eye-catching.Jed took Mark and went straight to Murdoch's office, and Murdoch was also getting ready in his office.The first thing the two met was actually to talk about Jade's new movie "Apollo 13", and then they went around to Dongfeng Television Productions' TV series "X-Files" and "NYC" for Fox Network.After the two tried for half an hour, Jed suddenly said, "I'm very interested in the History Channel."

"Oh?" Murdoch raised his eyebrows, thinking to himself, today's highlight has finally arrived. "My Jed, you don't know that the History Channel has made us suffer. It's been half a year, and we haven't found a profit point yet."

Jed thought you Murdoch would open a new channel if he didn't find a profit point?Fool children.Jed responded indifferently, "If Fox Broadcasting Company feels that there is no money scene, Dongfeng is willing to take over at any time."

Murdoch choked, thinking that if you want to eat it, don't eat it so ugly, right?But he said with a smile on his mouth: "I am also a TV person with ideals. Even if the History Channel loses money, I am willing to persevere, just for the belief of a TV person."

Seeing Murdoch like this, Jed only scolded the old fox in his heart.If Murdoch has journalistic integrity, the Kardashian sisters can be called model girls.But Jed just said lightly: "Let's not be friends, you know I'm interested in the History Channel, and I know you're not happy with the business, so let's think of a solution."

"This is the way to solve the problem." Murdoch showed a satisfied smile on his face, "Actually, I am still very optimistic about the future of the History Channel, but my partner Hearst can't see such a situation." The future. They are more interested in an entertainment channel, which is obviously not the case for the history channel. If you can provide me with a new channel plan, I can persuade Hearst to give half of the history channel stock for free How about transferring it to you?"

"Mr. Murdoch, you are indeed an old fox!" Jed sneered, "I will provide you with a channel plan, and then you will not only share the shares of the History Channel with us, but also continue to share another channel with Hearst Mr Murdoch, tell me, why don't I run this new channel myself?"

An embarrassed smile appeared on Murdoch's face, "Oh, you never give me face when you talk. Mr. Sherman, do you think you can operate it even if I hand over the entire History Channel to you? Your photography Where's the shed? Where's your production crew? Where's your editors? Where's your planning? Mr. Sherman, I provide your human resources and initial technical support, don't I even qualify for a certain amount on the History Channel? Shares? As for your plan to run a TV company independently, I think you said that three years ago. Mr. Sherman, I have met many people in the United States, and you are the most talented and talented person I have ever met. A person with great ability, but a person’s power is limited after all. You started with the copyright of the first three novels, and now you have your own film company and TV company. It seems extremely prosperous, but I asked Mr. Sherman , How much reserve and development funds do you have? Whether it is the Milky Way or Dongfeng, they are all paper stuff. I just need to poke my finger lightly...Mr. Sherman, although I will not do this, but What about others? Hollywood is more than Fox and Paramount, and Burbank is more than News Corp. and Viacom. Do you think Sony has not noticed your malice towards Sony? Those Japanese are smarter than you. They are biding their time to bite you. Don't forget, behind the Japanese, there are people like Disney and Vivendi waiting for a piece of the pie. So, Mr. Sherman, think about your plan, I will still be here waiting for you tomorrow."

On the way back, Jed's face was always ugly, and Mark beside him didn't know what to say.In Mark's view, Jed made a common mistake of many American entrepreneurs. They don't know how to deal with sudden adversity when they are going smoothly.And Jed was indeed reflecting on himself at this time. If David Geffen gave himself a warning, then Murdoch was hit right now.Jed found that he was indeed flying, he overestimated his ability.His current assets add up to just over [-] million, but which of these media companies in North America is not billions or even tens of billions?In front of these giant battleships, Jed, who always thought he was tall, was just a small sampan.Jed once thought that he was at least a large ironclad battleship, but he did not expect that his actual combat power was nothing more than a torpedo boat.

"Mr. Pedwitz, I'm sorry that I was not prepared when I called on Mr. Murdoch just now, and you were also implicated." Jed said slightly apologetically, "I did overestimate myself. Puts us in a very dangerous situation."

"Mr. Sherman, as the person in charge of your future broadcasting company, I have to remind you that Mr. Murdoch's suggestion is very good." Mark said, "The current Dongfeng has no ability to undertake a TV station at all. Although we have some technicians, what they used to do was only a local TV station in Los Angeles, and what we are facing is a cable station that wants to broadcast to the entire US and even the entire North American market. If we can’t find a senior TV station to cooperate with, in the end We are the ones who suffer. And if Fox is interested and sincere, it is not out of the question to cooperate with them."

"I understand." Jed said lightly, "Actually, I didn't intend to set up a TV station in the United States. After all, the viewing market in the United States is already very saturated, and my goal is Asia. But by chance, I have an idea for the History Channel." Interest. The future history channel needs to be more subdivided. In addition to the main frequency of the history channel, I will open a second channel to focus on world history; in addition, there will be a character history channel and a military history channel. Finally, I plan to At that time, we established an Asian culture and history channel with NHK, which can be broadcast in Asia on the one hand, and can also be introduced to North America on the other hand.”

Mark Pedewitz, as a TV personality, naturally knows the background of NHK in historical documentaries. It was once said that there are two TV stations that make the best historical documentaries in the world, the BBC in the West and NHK in the East.If you want to be an Asian culture and history channel, NHK is naturally the best choice. "Even if we agreed to cooperate with News Corporation, didn't Mr. Murdoch ask us to provide a channel plan for him to persuade Hearst Publishing Company?"

"It's not difficult." Jed naturally knew that in the future, Hearst would insert Life Cable into AETN. There are two sub-channels of Life Women's Channel.Life Movie Channel mainly broadcasts TV movies made by Life Cable, and occasionally some classic love movies or girl movies; Insert some of the European women's shows they've bought out.Jed naturally provided this plan to News Corporation, but combined with the needs of Hearst Publishing Company, Jed changed the original life movie channel into a lifestyle channel, mainly broadcasting news from Europe, Asia and North America for American audiences. fashion programs; and Life Women's Channel became Life Girls Channel, which mainly broadcast programs for high school girls and underage girls.When Jed explained the general idea to Pedewitz, he immediately discovered the integrity and complementarity of the three channels.Life Cable Channel is naturally a general public channel for women, Girls Channel is a young version of Life Channel, and Fashion Channel is a professional information channel for the industry.Throwing out these three channels not only has a good number of subscribers, but it is even more desirable for Hearst.Mark couldn't help but admire Jed. He immediately made a channel plan when he was hit, which is really not something ordinary people can do.

The next day, Jed came to Fox Broadcasting Company again with the channel plan made by himself, Mark and others, and Murdoch was very satisfied with the plan, and said with a smile: "I don't think Hearst has any reason to refuse this plan." A set of channel plans.—In addition, here is our cooperation plan, I think you will be interested."

After speaking, Murdoch and others temporarily left with the channel plan, while Jed opened the cooperation plan.Murdoch asked for at least 15% of the shares of Dongfeng Broadcasting Media Company, and he was willing to use the History Channel to take out Fox Broadcasting Company's old TV base in Los Angeles.Of course, Jed knew where the old TV group was. After Fox moved, Fox TV Production Company was built at the new site as the Queen Production Company of Fox Broadcasting Company.After the old site was abandoned for a period of time, it was used by Murdoch to build the Fox studio, responsible for the production of Fox's second-tier TV programs.It can be seen from this that most of the infrastructure and tools over there are available, but there is a lack of corresponding manpower.Fortunately, Murdoch said that he can provide some people from the reserve talent pool, but the rest needs to be recruited by Jed himself.This matter is not troublesome for Mark, and he doesn't like too many people in the Fox department.Although Fox will be an important shareholder in the future company, if too many people from Fox enter the middle management, it is very likely that Dongfeng's local people will be overtaken, so both Jed and Mark are very happy to hear Murdo The news of the lack of manpower over there.No one, does Los Angeles, a media metropolis, lack similar professionals?With his film about to be released, Jed handed over future recruiting to Mark.