"That guy seems to be stuck in traffic, and I've had people wait outside, and as soon as he arrives, I'll get him straight over. Speaking of this, Ali also said with a little headache.

"Alright then, let's talk about it when he gets there. Sid didn't dwell on it, and while that person was the preferred candidate, it wasn't the only one.

Sid then turned the subject in another direction, "Did you get those two things?"

Ali knew what Sid was asking, and he couldn't help but lower his voice and said: "Your eyes are still as vicious as ever, "The Vampire of the South" and "The Fantasy Drifting of Young Pi" are still only in the bookseller's publishing sequence, and they have not been officially published before you take a fancy to them. ”

"I'm just okay and like to read about newcomers. Sid shrugged.

The former's "Southern Vampire" is a new release by female writer Sharlen Harris in 01, a thriller fantasy set in the background of the coexistence of vampires and humans.

Although the book has not yet been officially published, Sid, as one of the most well-known best-selling authors in North America, has quite a few publishers and writers who hope to get his recommendation and write a preface.

In this respect, Sid is somewhat similar to Anna Wintour, the female devil of "Vogue", and as long as he wants, the publishers will naturally be overjoyed to send the manuscript to him.

And this "Southern Vampire" may still be a little unfamiliar to the general public, but its other name will definitely make many people suddenly realize - "True Love is Blood".

This HBO later well-known master series, with its large scale and heavy taste, became a well-known fantasy series of the same period as "The Vampire Diaries".

And Sid also knew that this upcoming bestseller was later squeezed into the Top 10 on the bestseller lists of "The New York Times", "Washington Post", "Publishers Weekly", "Locus Magazine", "Bonno Bookstore" and many other bestsellers, which is a standard million-level bestseller.

Although Sid had previously shown composure in dealing with Mr. Charles, AOL Time Warner was later called "the most famous and typical case of merger failure".

But as the so-called emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, a supergiant like AOL Time Warner, even if it is going to decline, will not fall overnight. Therefore, in order to maximize the development of themselves and weaken the opponent, Sid and Ali started directly from the source.

In the "history" of the previous life, AOL Time Warner was called the biggest failed merger at the beginning of the new century, but Time Warner did not sink like MGM in such a catastrophic failure.

In particular, Time Warner, an old media, although its stock price and earnings were far inferior to AOL at the beginning, it came from behind and successfully surpassed the former, the king of new Internet media.

One of the most important reasons is that relying on its film and television media part, first of all, movies, Time Warner can be described as a lackey before and after the new millennium.

picked up the epoch-making sci-fi masterpiece "The Matrix", the invincible epic masterpiece "The Lord of the Rings", and the treasure "Harry Potter" with a market value of $200 billion.

It can be said that without these series of movies and the related peripheral revenues, Time Warner would never have been more comfortable than AOL.

But in addition to these three axes in movies, Time Warner also has a unique good thing in North America, which is so good that Murdoch even wants to buy the entire Time Warner Group to get it - HBO!

Most people who like American dramas know one sentence - HBO production must be a high-quality product.

HBO is like Victoria's Secret in the pay-per-cable world, taking the lead in achieving a staggering 10 million viewers while others were still struggling with millions of subscribers and ratings.

In the decades since 2000, despite various challenges and shocks, HBO has been the undisputed king of premium cable television.

And the income they create is definitely an extremely important part of bringing Time Warner back to life.

Oh, by the way, there's one more thing to mention here.

The so-called paid cable TV is a field that is different from ordinary public station television. Although they are all TV stations, basic cable stations such as ABC, NBC, and Fire Lion are all TV stations that can be watched for free if you have cable TV at home.

Generally, they broadcast programs for all ages, and more importantly, these basic stations earn their first revenue by inserting advertisements. For example, "Who Can Be a Millionaire" and "Survivor", which made Fire Lion TV an instant hit, were climbing with ratings at the time.

The dozens of minutes of advertising time in the final episode of the show were auctioned off for sky-high advertising fees, becoming the first pot of gold on Fire Lion TV.

And these basic public stations, only in the late night stalls will there be some relatively adult talk shows and programs, etc., and the adult orientation mentioned here does not refer to those yellow and crude adult orientation, but things like meat jokes and adult emotions.

Paid cable TV, on the other hand, requires users to pay additional fees to the corresponding TV station after connecting to cable TV in order to watch it. Because of this, premium cable TV is ad-free throughout the process.

Because, the user's monthly fee is their first income. Take HBO as an example, the current way they charge is that new users can be charged for free for the first month, then $29.99 for 3 months, $59.99 for 6 months, and $99.99 for 1 year.

Because of this fee base, paid cable TV actually has a more solid financial base than ordinary cable stations, and they are able to produce more sophisticated dramas to attract more users.

We're talking about users who are the wealthy and solid mainstream of society like the real North American middle class, and well-produced dramas that meet their tastes can be described as the basis for the survival of paid cable TV stations. The number of users actually determines the situation of the charging cable station.

HBO can be said to be at the forefront of the times, when competitors such as Shotime, Starz, and Cinemax are still struggling with the number of users around 3 or 4 million, and the ratings can exceed one million, everyone is happy.

In 1999, the Genesis-like "Sopranos" allowed HBO to break through the myth of paying cable stations with more than 10 million viewers in one fell swoop.

"It's not a TV station, it's HBO" - this slogan immediately became the favorite of all mainstream middle-class viewers.

And HBO's reputation, which must be a high-quality product, has also been shaped step by step.