During this time, Lei Shidong was in a very bad mood.

Tang En's achievements in the past few years are very dazzling, so Lei Shidong has been vigilant, attentional, and concerned enough about this kid.

Unexpectedly, this kid still played tricks under his nose!

First, through the cooperation between the "Fantastic Four" cartoon and the "American Idol" variety show, and then the cooperation with the Paramount Platter investment project, Lei Shidong let down his vigilance against him.

It was by taking advantage of this opportunity that the STA TV network suddenly broke out like a high-rise building on the ground!

Half a year ago, the number of paying subscribers on the STA TV network had dropped to 2 million due to the increase in subscription fees, which is less than half of the SHO TV network.

But since May, the STA TV network has suddenly made a move.

The two films "Spider-Man" and "Saw Horror" are just warm-ups, and the subsequent "Six Feet Under" is the real feast!

The latest issue of "Variety" magazine selected the top ten most exciting American dramas of all time.

The first place is the undisputed "Friends", the second place is HBO's famous masterpiece "The Black D Family", then "Seinfeld", "The X-Files" and "The White House", "Six Feet Under" can actually be ranked sixth!

You know, this is only the first season of "Six Feet Under"!

Lei Shidong has great influence in the media field, and his vigorous and ruthless style has always been very much in line with the appetite of Wall Street. was so scolded by Tang En's kid, of course he was unwilling.

Although it was past the end of work, Lei Shidong was still sitting in the office, looking at the document he had just gotten, his face was very ugly.

This is the ratings of "Six Feet Under" two days ago, when the final episode aired, as well as information about the size of the STA network's subscribers.

The final episode of "Six Feet Under" was watched by more than 2.8 million home users across the United States!

Of those, only 140,000 users are using the free trial access.

This is definitely a ratings miracle for a professional cable TV station!

HBO, the leader in this field, can only compete with the two god films "Black D Family" and "Desire City".

As for Viacom's Shotime, don't even think about it!

You can only look up!

Looking at the subscribers of the STA TV network, it has reached more than 4.9 million, which is 2 million more paying users than 3 months ago!

It's less than SHO Network's 5.3 million subscribers, but is it a concept?

How much does STA's subscription cost?$23.99 for 3 months.

What about SHO?

$9.9 for 3 months!

Professional cable television stations do not insert advertisements, and their main income is to rely on the subscription income of users and the sales of CDs and videotapes of TV dramas.

The SHO TV network does not produce self-made dramas, so naturally there is no sales revenue from videotapes and DVDs, and subscription revenue is ......

Compared to the STA TV network, I can't bear to look at it directly!

Although STA has only 4.9 million subscribers, the subscription fee is 2.4 times that of SHO, which is equivalent to 12 million users of SHO!

This is absolutely astronomical for the current professional cable TV station!

If the SHO TV network can have 12 million paying subscribers, it is estimated that Lei Shidong will wake up laughing in his dreams.

You know, HBO, the industry leader, has more than 7.5 million subscribers, and the basic subscription fee is only $14.99 for 3 months, which is still not comparable with STA.

More importantly, "Six Feet Under" is just a "small budget" TV series with an investment of $30 million, and by next month, a real aircraft carrier will come - "Band of Brothers" with an investment of $120 million!

"HBO is such a bunch of shit!"

Lei Shidong actually hasn't ignored STA TV network, but he originally thought that Don's strength in the cable TV field was not enough, and with HBO's action, it could be easily solved.

Unexpectedly, the next situation shocked him!

HBO did take action and grabbed the rights to "Band of Brothers" with STA.

But Don's courage is too great, and his aura is too strong!

directly spent a huge amount of $80 million to buy the North American TV rights of "Band of Brothers", such an act is crazy!

Looking at the entire TV field, the only one who can do such a "ridiculous thing" is Don En, a layman.

This is an act of price gouging!

But then again, the $80 million purchase did have a huge effect. This was the focus of DreamWorks' publicity, allowing the miniseries to have a strong enough social impact before it aired.

It is conceivable that with the arrival of September, with the more powerful "Band of Brothers", the number of users of the STA TV network will have a more significant increase.

According to the current situation, not to mention Viacom's SHO, even Time Warner's HBO may be trampled underfoot!

Lei Shidong has seen too many winds and waves, and to be honest, he doesn't care about this small market in the field of professional cable TV. Otherwise, he would have invested heavily in SHO and HBO to fight to the death, and he would not be willing to be the second in the industry for decades.

This is too small compared to his 100 billion empire, the Viacom Group.

What he hated was Donn's previous cleverness.

Let him have a feeling of being deceived.

is old, especially Lei Shidong's character of not accepting old age, the most disgusting thing is that young people play with him, scheming, and tricks.

Without thinking much about it, Lei Shidong directly dialed Tang En's mobile phone number.

At this time, Donn was in the Mid-Levels estate, changing clothes to the chatter laughter of Penelope Cruz, Rose Byrne, and Abby Cornish, and he was going to a family party.

Receiving Lei Shidong's call, Tang En's heart instinctively tightened, "Mr. Lei Shidong, hello, I'm Tang En." ”

"Hehe, didn't bother you, did you?"

"No! what's the matter?"

Lei Shidong said calmly: "It's not a big deal, I watched "Six Feet Under" broadcast on Starz TV, the theme is novel, the theme is profound, it is very exciting, I want to broadcast it on Shotime, can you cut your love?"

Tang En's heart immediately "chuckled" for a moment.

Where is this request?

Totally an order!

Can you refuse?

When he was weak, he refused Tom Rothman's request, and when he grew up, he was threatened by Michael Eisner, and he refused.

Now Donn, it can be said that he has stood strong in Hollywood, his waist is straight, and he will not be afraid of any intimidation, even Kirk Douglas, he doesn't care at all.

However...... The other party is Somer Lei Shidong!

Tang En instinctively wanted to refuse, but the words came to his lips, but he didn't blurt them out.

"Six Feet Under" is the most popular drama series at the moment, and many local stations have come to buy the second round of broadcast rights, and the prices are very sincere.

Because of the Emmy Awards' selection requirements, only films that have been watched by more than 51% of the audience in the United States (have the opportunity to watch it, can choose to watch it or not) can participate in the selection.

There are 110 million home users in the United States, which means that if "Six Feet Under" wants to participate in the Emmy Awards, at least 55 million home users in the United States must have access to "Six Feet Under".

This requires Tang En to push "Six Feet Under" to more broadcast platforms, and the local second- and third-tier commercial stations are the best choice.

The STA television network is still too small, and even the American dramas produced by HBO now have to be promoted to other viewing platforms to meet the eligibility criteria for the Emmy Awards.

There are three advantages to this operation -

First, this kind of large-scale drama, if local TV stations want to broadcast it, they must carry out a certain degree of deletion and silence of lines, and if the audience wants to watch the full version of the series, they must subscribe to a professional cable TV station or buy a DVD disc.

Second, as the most important TV award in the United States, being nominated for an Emmy Award will be a great boost to TV dramas and will boost the sales of DVD discs.

Third, ESPN's subscription fee is higher than Starz's, but the number of users in North America can reach a staggering 80 million, and more than 80% of household users are subscribing to watch. Obviously, the small audience of professional cable TV stations is not the reason for the high subscription costs, but the general understanding of TV stations in this field among American audiences is still stuck in the concept of "adult content".

With the promotion of some local TV stations, more audiences, especially elderly viewers, can realize that professional cable TV stations can break the traditional cage and provide high-quality, healthy and high-quality content.

This is what HBO has been trying to do in recent years.

If the STA TV network wants to develop greater, it must stick to this road.

But......

Shotime is not a second-rate commercial TV station in the place!

Shotime and Starz are both professional cable stations that can air the full version of "Six Feet Under." The audience watched the abridged version, and once their curiosity was aroused and they wanted to watch the full version, which TV station would they subscribe to?

Shotime, which is cheaper, of course!

Whether Lei Shidong is intentional or unintentional, such a request is too much for Tang En and STA TV Network!

This is forcing Don to send warmth to his competitors!

Don was silent for a full twenty seconds, and the atmosphere of the conversation between the two was slightly stiff.

In the end, it was Lei Shidong who took the lead in breaking the silence and asked with a smile: "What, is it inconvenient?"

Tang En's anger was so angry that he couldn't wait to scold!

A media tycoon who has been crisscrossing shopping malls for decades and started with cable TV can't understand such a simple truth?

Pretend, you pretend to be a fart!

Fake old fox!

However, the current time period is too sensitive, and there is no doubt that Don will make a lot of money through the "911" incident. At the same time, with the arrival of a huge fortune, he is also likely to be subject to moral criticism from the media.

So now it's so important for Don to have a good relationship with the media.

Moreover, don't look at Don't look at Don't stand very firmly in Hollywood, but in front of a legendary tycoon like Lei Shidong, you must be careful, careful, and careful!

The current Don is not his opponent at all.

Lei Shidong is a Jewish bigwig, he has a complicated relationship on Wall Street, he has a huge influence in Hollywood, he has a close friend of politicians in the White House, and he is the undisputed first person in the United States today!

Donn is very strong in Hollywood, and even Disney's big boss Michael Eisner has no problem with him.

But don't forget that Barry Diller had a ...... Lesson!