After a morning meeting, lunch with Katzenberg, and a few trivia discussions, it wasn't until the afternoon that Eric found time to learn about the mobile communications license auction that he had stumbled upon on CNN yesterday.

Any country has radio control regulations, whether it is television media or mobile communications, it also relies on radio wave transmission. Just as different television stations have different radio wave frequencies, different telecom operators are also restricted to operate within a certain radio wave frequency range, and the authorization that a U.S. TV station or telecom operator obtains from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to operate business in the corresponding radio wave frequency range is the so-called 'license'.

In Eric's office at Firefly Headquarters, looking at Eric who had carefully read the basic information, Kelly, who was sitting on the other side of the desk, introduced softly: "In the 80s, operators applied to the FCC for wireless spectrum resources for mobile communications, and then accepted its allocation. However, in recent years, the mobile communications industry has risen rapidly with the support of digital technology, and most operators have not obtained sufficient spectrum resources from the FCC in the past. C three different segments of the operating licenses, you saw on CNN yesterday is the auction of the A and B licenses, mainly for traditional telecom operators, these two segments of the license auction brought a total of $3.75 billion to the Ministry of Finance. ”

Eric looked up and asked, "What about the C segment?"

Kelly said: "According to the plan given by the Clinton government, the main auction objects of the C-section license are those emerging telecom operators. It is used to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the early stages of start-ups. But. The auction of licences for this segment was scheduled for three months later. ”

Eric pondered for a moment before understanding the joints, and smiled a little sarcastically, it was really as black as a crow in the world.

In his previous life, Eric noticed that Unicom publicly complained that it was late to China Mobile to get the license and miss the 4G layout period, and the situation in his memory is really similar to now, and the difference is just one out of the right governance game, and the other is purely an economic game.

At present, it is a critical period for the U.S. mobile communications industry to upgrade from analog signals to digital signals, and traditional telecom operators already have a strong advantage, and after obtaining the license, they have obtained a three-month leading layout time. The gap has been widened again, and those emerging telecom operators who have obtained the C segment license will not want to catch up, and Eric can imagine that even if the C segment license is obtained, the relevant small and medium-sized enterprises will only be swallowed up by the old telecom giants.

Noticing the expression on Eric's face, Kelly could also guess what he was thinking, then smiled, and said, "You must have guessed that the FCC must have been influenced by the old telecom operators such as AT&T and Sprint. But. What's next?"

Eric wondered, "What?"

Kelly rummaged through the thick folders on her desk and found a document and handed it to Eric. "You see, this is the FCC's detailed tender for this spectrum license auction, and I have drawn a red line on page 12. ”

Eric flipped through the page number of what Kelly was talking about and saw that the red line was marked with a paragraph that the Section C licence would be auctioned off separately to give minorities, women, township operators and micro-businesses more opportunities and a more level playing field.

Eric read it several times, but found nothing wrong, and looked up curiously and asked, "What's wrong with this passage?"

Kelly smiled and said, "You must not have imagined it, just after the auction ended yesterday, someone started to make an article with this sentence, and about six small businesses that submitted applications for C-section license bids filed a lawsuit in federal court at the same time, claiming that this description of race and gender in the FCC tender violates the provisions of the U.S. Constitution on national equality, and is suspected of discrimination, and requires the FCC to make changes and apologize for its offensive language." ”

Eric was really stunned this time.

You can still play like this.

After being reborn for so many years, Eric also knows a little about the rules of legal procedure in the United States.

Since someone has filed a lawsuit against this, this matter is definitely not something that the FCC can simply amend the request for proposals, and everyone must gather lawyers to study the U.S. Constitution together to see if this passage is really unconstitutional. The constitution is so thick, it will take a month or two to read it again, which is the so-called evidence gathering stage. After the evidence is collected, the two parties still need to argue in court, even if the local court gives a verdict, if one party is not satisfied with the verdict and continues to appeal, then the lawsuit will continue to fight.

In the end, it was such a toss, and when the lawsuit ended, it is estimated that most of the half year has passed.

The auction of the C license was already three months later than the A and B sections, and now there is such a lawsuit, and it is estimated that the so-called emerging telecom operators will not be able to get the license until at least next year.

"Alright, let's not mention this," Eric put the tender beside him, stretched out his hand to gesture to the office he was in, although not luxurious, but equally delicate, and smiled, "I think our position on these issues is a little wrong, I am a capitalist now, the kind of person who has lost his conscience." ”

Kelly was amused by Eric's words, and Eric's words were actually true, and this incident was only because it happened in the telecommunications field that had nothing to do with them, and it was a little unfair to see this situation. But if something similar happens in Hollywood, the Big Seven will definitely not hesitate to unite and strangle in the cradle latecomers who may threaten their status.

"So, Eric, are you planning to get into mobile communications?"

Yesterday saw the news of the mobile operation license auction, Eric is indeed very excited, now is the beginning of the outbreak of the mobile communications industry, investment in the telecommunications industry can definitely bring rich returns, but from the example of the C license auction, it can also be seen that the water is too deep, before figuring out the situation. Eric wasn't going to venture in.

Shaking his head regretfully. Eric Mo clutched the folder in front of him. "Don't think about these for the time being, by the way, Kelly, have you been in contact with Qualcomm?"

"Oh, I was about to tell you," Kelly took out a memo and flipped through a few pages, handing Eric a sticky note, "Qualcomm CEO Owen Jacob is very interested in our contact. It's just that he's been in South Korea lately and won't be back until next week. He called me and said he'd fly straight to Los Angeles and wanted to talk to you in person, and this is the phone number of Owen Jacob's house in South Korea, and he said you can call at any time. ”

Eric took the sticky notes and looked at them, and said with a smile: "Qualcomm is so eager, isn't this a good habit, aren't they afraid of sheep falling into the mouth of the tiger?"

"Qualcomm is in a very bad place right now. So far, they have only won the opportunity to build a CDMA network in South Korea. However, South Korea's telecommunications market is too small to have much impact on the overall global standard of communication technology. Moreover, a week before the spectrum license auction, AT&T had just announced that it would build a GSM network across the country, and as the largest telecom operator in the federation, AT&T's communication technology standards would surely attract a group of followers. GSM's technical maturity is much higher than CDMA's, and once most operators switch to GSM, Qualcomm may even face bankruptcy," Kelly paused and said, "Firefly Investment's Qualcomm stock is about to exceed 1 million shares, if it continues, Eric, once Qualcomm goes bankrupt, these stocks will become worthless." ”

Qualcomm's first IPO in 1992 issued a total of 6 million outstanding shares, accounting for 30% of the total share capital, because of the rise of GSM, Qualcomm has lagged behind in recent years, and there is no further financing.

At present, Qualcomm's stock price is only hovering around $17, and the total market capitalization is only 340 million.

Speaking from the heart, if he can eat all of Qualcomm, Eric will not hesitate at all, after all, just the video revenue of the Victoria's Secret show can bring him more than 300 million US dollars, and the entire Firefly Group, because there is no large-scale expansion plan for the time being, with the leading profitability in Hollywood, the Firefly Group is now facing a very happy worry is that there is too much money.

"1 million shares is only 17 million," Eric said to Kelly, "I plan to buy at least 3 million shares, so it will only cost 50 million dollars, and this investment is equivalent to a medium-budget film, even if it loses all of them." ”

"yes, it really doesn't matter to you," Kelly also realized that she was a little concerned, and $50 million was really nothing to Eric's current net worth.

The two were discussing when Eric's mobile phone rang on his desk.

After connecting, Elizabeth's voice came from the other side.

Eric said a few words and hung up.

Kelly also heard some information from the conversation between the two and asked, "Miss Murdoch?"

"Well, about the Golden Globes and the Oscars, 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Braveheart' collided, and Liz asked me to talk about two PR films for the awards. ”

Eric said and stood up, Kelly thoughtfully took his coat over, Eric reached out to put on the clothes, looking at the female assistant who lowered his eyes and gently stepped forward to help him button up, Eric inexplicably had the illusion that a wife was sending her husband on a date with another woman, reached out and hugged Kelly's waist, and smiled: "It's strange, why do I suddenly feel a little guilty?"

Kelly smiled, the movements of her hands did not stop, and said with a little little woman's emotion: "I just want to make you guilty." ”

"Well, you can use this trick yourself, don't spread it. ”

"Won't it be a hassle for you to pass it on?"

Eric nodded vigorously, "It's very troublesome." ”

After the popular New Year's schedule, the most important thing for Hollywood is undoubtedly to cope with the current awards season.

Compared with last year's Oscar year, this year's awards season Hollywood also did not have the so-called film works that everyone expected, but there was a confrontation between "Saving Private Ryan" and "Braveheart".

Although the Oscar nominations have not yet been released, in the more important film and television Golden Globe nominations, the two films coincidentally won five nominations for Best Drama Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Soundtrack at the same time. Mel Gibson's performance can only be considered average, Eric remembers that he did not get any nominations for Best Actor in the original plane, and now that there is such a nomination at the Golden Globes, it should be regarded as Weinstein's public relations achievement.

More than a year ago, Eric and Elizabeth discussed the strategy of the two films, but the plan always fails to keep up with the changes, and many things need to be changed according to the current situation.

Under the rational operation of Miramax, "Braveheart" is undoubtedly more successful at the box office than the version in the original plane that won an award but lost the box office.

"Braveheart" began to be released on a small scale in early December last year, and continued to accumulate word-of-mouth and box office, during Christmas, Miramax increased the scale of the release to 2,000 in one fell swoop, with the advertising effect brought by the release of Golden Globe nominations and the accumulation of word-of-mouth in long-term operation, the film got more than $26 million at the box office that week, and now it has just entered the first week after the New Year, "Braveheart" The total box office has been close to 60 million, and under the promotion of the continued hot topic of the awards season, the box office of many films scheduled at the end of the year has fallen sharply, but the weekly box office of "Braveheart" has maintained a slight decline of about 20%, if this situation continues until the Oscars, the total box office of "Braveheart" is conservatively estimated to be about $120 million, with an Oscar, "Braveheart" is likely to recover all its costs at the box office through overseas distribution.

Eric left the Firefly headquarters and followed the address given by Elizabeth to an open-air restaurant frequented by Hollywood celebrities in Beverly Hills. Seeing the waiter leading Eric in, many of the guests got up to greet Eric.

Greeting his way through the crowd, Eric met Elizabeth and Harvey Weinstein on the restaurant terrace.

Sitting down at the table and ordering a cup of coffee, Eric looked at the shrub-covered slope outside the railing beside him, the Beverly mansion scattered like chess pieces, and the unobstructed view of downtown Los Angeles in the distance, and nodded, "The scenery here is really good, no wonder there are so many guests." ”

Harvey Weinstein said with a smile on his face: "Eric, you can come back often in the future if you like, the owner of this restaurant is my friend, I asked him to give you a free order." ”

Eric gestured to the eyes that were still glancing at them frequently, and joked, "Free orders are definitely not enough, if I come often, your friend may have to give me advertising money or something." ”

Elizabeth and Harvey both laughed, if Eric really frequented the place, the number of customers trying to get close to him in the restaurant with all sorts of intentions would surely multiply, and it would be better than a billboard.

The three of them chatted casually for a while before the conversation gradually turned to awards season. (To be continued.) )