Hearing Mark say this, Iger felt that his information was obviously behind, and he said a little unnaturally: "My friend is Max, the vice president of operations at UPN, and he just revealed that Viacom decided to stop broadcasting UPN, and I didn't expect them to do this. ”

Larry mused, "Mark, what is your source?"

Mark said: "100% reliable, as for the source, it involves some sensitive information, and it is inconvenient for me to disclose it." ”

Larry said, "You're not interested in getting into television?"

Mark said: "Without its own TV station, it is always difficult to become bigger, the channel is king, it is a matter of time before we enter the TV field, and it is difficult for our capital chain to support such a large-scale merger and acquisition action." ”

Larry said: "What if I can bring the funds? Last time, I was led by your family to get such a large loan, I should have expressed it, and the Oracle Group is willing to guarantee the loan for you, I believe this can clear the way for your loan." ”

"That's what I said when I started the company, grow big quickly. ”

It seems that Egger has agreed with them that they are not satisfied with the current steps of the group.

The TV stations in the United States are divided into public stations, cable stations, and pay stations, and the "technical level" of the difference between public TV stations and cable TV stations, such as CBS, NBC, ABC these three earliest TV networks, in the early days they were actually doing broadcasting business, that is, radio broadcasting, after the development of technology after the popularity of television, slowly began to develop television business, TV broadcasting and FM broadcasting principle is actually the same, the central city to place a high-power signal transmitter, and then every interval to place a repeater (used to strengthen the signal, because the signal transmission distance is too far will be weakened), other general small cities to put a signal receiver and broadcasting system.

The average household only needs an antenna to watch this kind of public broadcasting program.

Cable TV stations are different, they don't have such wide coverage, after all, the construction of public broadcasting networks requires investment, such as transmitters, repeaters, base stations, towers, In fact, investment in equipment is only one reason, the main thing is that you have no construction qualifications at all, you need a lot of approvals to build a transmission station in a place, and you also need the permission of the landowner, in this era, these procedures are almost impossible to complete, so most of the cable TV is connected to the family with coaxial cable, then what is the coaxial cable, it is the white connection that is connected to the back of the TV or the set-top box, if the area is more remote, then sorry, cable TV can not be opened, naturally the coverage of the cable TV network can not be compared with the public wireless broadcasting network。

Nowadays, the technical difference between public television networks and cable television networks has been very blurred, after all, in cities or suburbs with better development, who still uses antennas to watch TV, most of them are wired access (coaxial cables), and the programs of these public stations (such as CBS, ABC) are packaged for audience subscriptions together with the programs of cable stations (such as USA, TNT, FX, AMC).

Traditionally, TV stations like CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, UP, and B rely on (commercial insertion + drama DVD sales) to make money, while cable TV stations are divided into two categories, one is like USA, TNT, FX, AMC, sci-fi, Disney, MTV, CNN, they rely on (family subscription fee + commercial insertion + episode DVD sales), that is, they will also insert commercials; Cinemax is the case, and they rely on (family subscription fee + episode DVD sales), which means that they are ad-free.

Public wireless stations are free, and if you want to watch cable TV, you have to subscribe, so who to subscribe to? To be more precise, the aforementioned USA, AMC, TNT, MTV, and Disney TV stations are actually "program providers", and if you want to watch cable TV, you have to pay money to "cable operators", such as HBO, shotime, starz, Cinemax, and even some pure adult channels, and the fee depends on which channels you have to order.

Now it is gradually networked, the Internet is gradually encroaching on the living space of the TV system, but TV is still the main way of media, even in 2017, where Mark is located, TV is also the main way of entertainment, just a deep cooperation with network providers, the Internet, at that time 288 million people (91% of the total population) still watch video content through TV, more than the 143 million (45% of the total population) watched through the Internet Online video users, entertainment media groups like MM, do not have their own national television network, they are controlled and lagging behind in terms of publicity and promotion, and they are not good at publicity and promotion, and they are far inferior to others in conveying their intentions, and for their huge film library, this is also a waste, they are the top content providers, but they do not have their own screening channels.

In terms of human resources, Iger has been in control of ABC for more than ten years, and he is comfortable with such a huge TV network, and he is even more comfortable controlling small TV networks such as UPN and B.

Mark is one of the Big Four, and his power is not much greater than that of Iger and Meghan, but he has an extremely powerful investment vision, so to speak, Mark does not nod, and others will never dare to move lightly.

Mark said: "Robert, you have to understand, whether it's UPN or B, they lose hundreds of millions every year, and even Viacom and Time Warner can't stand it, do you think we can run it successfully?"

Egger said: "UPN or B, in the two companies in an awkward position, profitability is not as good as the other few, naturally it is impossible to get the parent company's financial support, capital and everything is decided, they decided to join each other, out of the framework, very smart." ”

"It's useless, I know their plan, they're targeting people between the ages of 16 and 36, the teenagers and young adults, and that's a mistake from the start," Mark said. ”

Megan ran over to bring the coffee pot, poured a cup of coffee for Mark, and said, "Everyone is waiting for you, what are you selling?"

Mark said: "This type of viewer is the viewer disadvantaged group, who is busy with school, work, eating, drinking and having fun, except for freaks and nerds, who would want to stay at home and watch TV?"

"Mark is very observant, UPN and B are willing to work together in rival rivalry, let alone us, Mark brings us good news, which is an opportunity for us, UPN and B," Iger said. ”

"It's all about how to run the network," Mark said. ”

Iger said confidently: "I have a plan that will be forwarded to your mailbox, and as long as I have a series of 'Grey's Anatomy' with more than 15 million viewers, I can be sure that I can run this company well." ”

"The biggest problem is that channel is king, we can't just be a content provider, we have to do something in the channel," Mark said. ”

Only Disney, Time Warner, and Viacom are the only ones that truly achieve channel + content + street products, which are also the best development model now.

In the future, the Internet, satellite TV, and streaming media will have a huge impact on the traditional TV industry, and Mark would have been worried if he hadn't had Netflix.

"If we succeed in having our own TV station, we will also open our own streaming service and provide on-demand services online," Iger said. ”

Mark asked a relatively realistic question, "What is the market cap of UPN?"

Iger said: "Continuous losses make their market value not more than four billion, a 10% premium acquisition is a good offer, whether it is Viacom or Time Warner's board of directors, a burden and more than four billion cash flow, this choice is not difficult, if authorized, I will form an acquisition team, formally send them a goodwill acquisition invitation, and at the same time." ”

Mark said, "At the same time, I heard you right, what if they all say yes?"

Larry said proudly: "Then buy them all, just a few billion for ourselves, we will form our own TV network, and build MM into a media group." ”

Mark asked Sophia and said, "What do you mean?"

Sophia said: "Only with a TV station can you make your own voice and have the right to speak, and when the enterprise reaches a certain level, there is no right to self-defense without the right to speak, just a big piece of fat, many companies are losing money, and they also have to operate their own TV stations." ”

Mark said, "Donald, your opinion?"

Donald said: "If you don't have your own TV network, how can you be a media company, knowing that the TV station company is losing money, there are still so many people squeezing into it, why is this?"

Mark said: "Robert, can a big-selling TV series really give you so much confidence, can it drive the TV station to stability?"

Iger said: "The profit model of the TV station is advertising + DVD sales, ratings is everything, we as six major content manufacturers, we have the world's largest library of film and television series, and we have our own TV network, so that we can maximize the benefits, a ratings god to drive the ratings is certain, ABC is with "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" to regain the top three. ”

Mark said: "I don't understand the operation of the TV station, I am only responsible for content production, I can produce dramas with super high ratings, I can learn ABC to smash with money, and I have to smash a drama with more than 30 million ratings." ”

Others thought that Mark was full of self-confidence and lived up to the name of a super famous director, but the old fritters in Egger's industry almost squirted out the coffee.

The dramas with ratings of more than 30 million really dare to brag, and the current popular ratings drama "Prison Break" does not exceed 25 million, and ABC's ace dramas "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" are only about 20 million, which has supported ABC's sky, more than 3,000 dramas, I don't know what to describe, enough to get TV stations like UPN and B out of the predicament.

I wish you all a happy Lantern Festival.