It's certainly not enough to rely on a popular program to revitalize a TV station, but a popular program that is full of topics and attracts a lot of media attention can significantly increase the popularity of the TV channel in question and gather more popularity. As long as the situation opens up and continues to produce high-quality TV programs, TV stations can enter a virtuous circle of continuous development and growth.

That's what Eric expects from America's Top Model Contest.

Firefly doesn't have big M&A expansion plans in the next few years, which doesn't mean Firefly will stop growing.

Before Eric proposed the idea of "America's Top Model Contest", Katzenberg had already begun to increase his support for Firefly's record business, Eric was familiar with the development prospects of the Western record industry, and although he was not enthusiastic about Katzenberg's development plan, he did not stop it. Relying on strict copyright protection laws, the record market in the West, although it has become more and more sluggish in the Internet age, has not declined to the point where the entire industry has disappeared.

In addition to the record business, more standardized commercial operations of the merchandise of its popular films are also part of Firefly's important development plans in the coming years, and the upcoming toy merchandise cooperation negotiations with Hasbro Group are part of this plan.

After hearing the idea for "America's Top Model", the energetic Katzenberg immediately came up with the idea of developing Lifetime TV.

As I said earlier, even if "America's Top Model Contest" is successful again, a popular show alone will definitely not be able to support a TV station.

After many meetings of brainstorming, the management quickly developed a detailed plan for original programming, network resource reuse, programming and channel marketing. Firefly will invest $100 million annually in the production, procurement and marketing of Lifetime TV for the next three years, and is expected to create a professional women's TV station for young women who focus on fashion and high quality of life.

The parent company of Lifetime Television, AE Television Network, is jointly owned by the Firefly Group and the Hearst Group, so this reform program is for Lifetime. Consultation and access to resources from the Hearst Group, which has hundreds of daily, weekly and magazine newspapers, magazines and magazines around the world, are still indispensable for the promotion of women's channels.

After the Oscars, the awards season is finally over. Eric also tackled most of the film projects that required his personal attention. But before I had time to rest for a few days, a whole bunch of things came back to me.

The headquarters of the Hearst Group is in New York, and the headquarters of AE TV is also in New York, and once the plan is made, most of Lifetime's programming will also be produced in New York.

At the same time, the birthdays of the two little ones are approaching, and this year's Easter is also on April 16. On these special days, I always have to take time to accompany women and children.

Hasbro is headquartered in Rhode Island, very close to New York, and negotiations between the two parties on a toy development partnership are also confirmed to take place in New York.

Firefly Investment's capital injection negotiations with telecom operator Sprint have begun, involving more than a billion dollars of investment, and some important occasions will also require Eric to attend in person. Firefly Investments and Sprint are both headquartered in New York.

On the plane to New York, Eric simply calculated his schedule. found that after being busy with these things, the summer vacation of the movie is coming.

Just got off the plane. Eric threw himself into the non-stop work.

In the conference room of the ABC TV headquarters on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the executives of the Firefly Television Network, the management of the AE Television Network, and representatives from the Hearst Group were holding a related meeting, and at the invitation of Eric, William Hirst, the third generation head of the Hearst Group, was also sitting in the conference room.

“…… According to 1994 statistics, the number of subscribers of Lifetime TV was 31.5 million. Cable operators such as Comcast, Time Warner, and Telecommunications paid an average of 15 cents per subscriber per month, while Lifetime TV had $56.7 million in subscriber revenue last year, with $33.5 million in advertising revenue, $90.2 million in annual revenue, and $13.8 million in profit. We plan to use it for three years. Through the first phase of the reform plan, the number of subscribers to Lifetime TV will be expanded to 60 million to 90 million, and the operator's share will be increased to 25 cents, and it is expected that through the broadcast of a series of high-quality TV programs, the advertising revenue will exceed the operator's revenue, reaching an annual revenue of $500 million and a net profit of $100 million. ”

After Katzenberg finished his brief report and was about to move on to the next topic, William Hirst, who was sitting at the top left of the long conference table, raised his head, knocked on the document in front of him, ignored Katzenberg, but looked at Eric who was sitting opposite him on the other side, and said: "Eric, last year's Victoria's Secret show was regarded as a direct profit and indirect stock appreciation, bringing you more than $1.5 billion in earnings, isn't this plan too stingy in comparison?"

Eric leaned on the back of the comfortable leather chair, held a pencil in his hand, habitually turned a pen flower in his hand, and said with a smile: "William, last year was a complete accident, the road always has to be taken step by step, with the foundation of Lifetime TV, it is already very good to achieve this goal in three years, and the total profit of all TV businesses under Firefly last year was only more than 600 million US dollars." ”

William Hearst stared at the young man across from him and said, "I don't pay much attention to the TV business, but I always feel that the plan is a little incomplete, or something that is not clear. ”

The other party didn't make it clear, and Eric continued to detour around the bend: "This is just a draft, and it definitely needs to be revised, otherwise we wouldn't have held this meeting today." ”

William Hirst looked at the somewhat lazy smile and said, "Eric, I mean, there doesn't seem to be a description of what to do in this plan about the production of original programs on Lifetime TV, right?"

Eric replied, "Oh, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. With the exception of the news, all of the network's programs are handled by the Firefly Group's television production department, and this time, of course, it follows the usual practice. ”

The two bigwigs wrestled, and everyone in the audience took the initiative to quiet down and listen patiently.

As an industry elite, most people actually know what the two bigwigs are discussing. And when the two of them said this, even the civilian staff who was in charge of the meeting minutes next to them was still a little confused just now.

Eric and William Hirst discuss copyright ownership of original lifetime TV programs.

Normally, the producer of a TV program sells the premiere rights to the TV station, and the sales revenue only accounts for a small part of the program's revenue, and it does not even recover the cost.

Most of the income of TV programs actually comes from the income of the TV program after the premiere of the TV station, the distribution of the video tapes of the series and the income of the TV program syndicate, the so-called TV program syndicate, the simple explanation is the program distribution system.

A TV show goes through a syndicated program distribution system. In the United States and even in more than 100 countries around the world, the profits from the sale of broadcast rights and remake rights of countless TV stations will definitely far exceed the income of the first round of TV broadcasts, and the profits brought by the videotapes and syndicates of popular dramas can even reach more than ten times the production cost, which is also the reason why many TV series protagonists can get millions of dollars per episode.

Most TV stations have integrated program production departments and distribution systems, so there is no need to distinguish between these issues.

But AE Television Network, the parent company of Lifetime TV, is different. AE Television Network is jointly owned by Firefly and Hearst, with both parties holding 50% of the shares. If Lifetime TV original programming is produced by AE Television Network's production division, then Hearst Group will be able to share the profits from the videotape and program syndicate. But if the shows were produced by Firefly's television division, the program rights were not related to AE Network, and Hearst Group would not be able to share the tapes and syndicate revenues, although it would not have to bear the risk of the production investment. That's why William Hearst just said that the plan was 'stingy'. If a TV station's cable share and advertising alone could make $100 million a year, videotapes and syndicates would certainly be much more than that.

And it's no secret that projects led by Eric, whether it's movies or TV series, can be associated with the word 'profiteering'. Hearst Group certainly can't give up this low-hanging fruit.

Although the Hearst Group is in a giant position in the paper media industry, but it does not have enough confidence in the operation of the television network, William Hirst realized that Eric's invitation to participate in this meeting will not be as simple as it seems, at this time he can only follow his train of thought, and said: "Eric, I think it is more appropriate for AE TV Network to be responsible for the production of these original programs, and the Hearst Group can provide production funds according to the proportion, in addition, if we need the support of paper media resources, we can also try to cooperate." ”

Eric seemed to hear something interested, straightened up, and said, "Speaking of proportions, William, I think Firefly and Hearst's shareholding in ESPN is more harmonious, what do you think?"

Although he was already prepared, William Hirst almost threw the document in his hand at him when he heard Eric's words, and shook his head without hesitation: "Eric, this thing can't work, absolutely not." ”

Firefly and Hearst have a 55 percent stake in AE Network, but 28 percent on ESPN, with Hearst 20 percent and Firefly 80 percent. In the beginning, Hearst and the original Metropolis Media Group were equally interested in ESPN, and in the 80s, ESPN had not yet risen. Murphy bought most of ESPN's shares from the Hearst Group and several other minority shareholders for less than $50 million at the time, and now ESPN is the largest sports channel in North America, with an annual profit of more than $200 million in 1995, and the shares that Hearst alone sold at the time generated more than $50 million a year.

With that lesson in mind, William Hirst certainly couldn't have done something stupid like that again.

Hearing William Hirst's excited refusal, Eric shrugged his shoulders and said, "William, if you don't agree, forget it." ”

William Hurst was silent for a moment before continuing: "Eric, I've listened to your idea for the "American Top Model Contest", this project needs a lot of print media resources to build momentum, Firefly sold all the print media assets last year, without Hirst, it is difficult for you to make this project bigger alone." ”

"William, I think it's a win-win thing, we get the resources, and you can get more news material," Eric shook his head, a confident smile on the corner of his mouth, "Moreover, you got one more thing wrong, there is no Hearst, and Condé Nast, and News Corp., and Firefly has a good relationship with these two." I even have Yahoo in my hand, although its influence cannot be compared with traditional print media for the time being, but the user base has a lot of overlap with the fashionable female audience of Lifetime TV, and I think you can definitely see the potential of Yahoo's media operation during the Victoria's Secret show last year. ”

William Hearst opened his mouth, but for a moment he couldn't find the right words to refute it.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he had to reluctantly admit this fact in his heart, although the Hearst Group is very strong in the media industry, but for the more resource-rich Firefly, the Hearst Group is not essential, and on the contrary, without the Firefly, it is not difficult for the Hearst Group to further expand the AE TV network alone.

As it stands, Eric has made a condition that Firefly want a majority stake in AE TV, and if the Hearst Group doesn't agree, then they won't be able to share most of the profits that Lifetime TV might bring from its growth. But if compromised, Hearst will almost certainly repeat the mistakes of ESPN.

After another struggle, William Hirst said: "Eric, Firefly wants to own eighty percent of the shares, this is definitely impossible, we can give up absolute control at most, you can completely transform this TV network according to your own ideas, how about it?"

Eric shook his head: "William, the focus of the Hearst Group's business is on the print media, I don't think you need to stick to these TV network assets at all, so let's take a step back, Firefly only 75%, this is my bottom line." ”

"No, no, no, Eric, 55% at most, and if it's higher, I'd rather give up the AE Network's authority to take on the production of the program and keep it as it is. ”

"Hey, William, you know what, last year's 'ER Story' cost less than $30 million to make, but the first season alone made more than $150 million in syndicate sales, and we're going to release a videotape in the near future, and that revenue will be more objective. Look at the advertising revenue, $45 million, and the profit is only one-tenth of the syndicate's, one-tenth of it. ”

William Hearst looked helpless: "Okay, Eric, 60%, if it's higher, I'm afraid I'm going to be criticized by the shareholders." ”

"You can't fool me, William, the Hearst family has always been firmly in control of the Hearst Group, no one will object to your decision, 70%, this is the bottom line that Firefly can afford, if you can't accept it, Firefly does not rule out buying a cable TV station alone. ”

“……”

“……”

Everyone in the conference room listened to the two bosses coming and going, thinking quickly, speaking quickly, and it seemed that they blurted out without hesitation, but they were shrewd and calculating everywhere, and their hearts were amazed, Westerners have rarely seen a vegetable market like bargaining.

In the end, after more than ten minutes of argument, the two sides finally decided on a plan that they were barely able to accept, with Firefly holding 65% of the shares, Hearst Group leaving 35% of the shares, Lifetime TV program production by AE TV, and Hearst Group fully cooperating with paper media resources. (To be continued.) )