Because of Eric's special advice, in just one week, good news came from Los Angeles, and the Firefly TV series department successfully won "The Story of the Emergency Room".

In his memory, the heart-wrenching appeal revealed in a series of plain and trivial medical work scenes in "The Story of the Emergency Room" impressed Eric very deeply, and he still clearly remembered how he felt when he first saw this American drama, originally Eric had no interest in this kind of medical drama, but after one episode, Eric was firmly attracted to this story, and then watched most of the episodes out of control, and then Eric also found the equally popular "Grey's Anatomy", But the strong smell of palace fighting released in the first episode of "Grey" and the poor parody of "ER" in some details made Eric only sigh what the hell this is.

Of course, it may also be because of Eric's age at the time that there will be such a difference, the protagonists of "ERROOM Story" are all adults in their thirties and forties, which is relatively easier to resonate with Eric who has passed his age at that time, while the protagonists of "Gray" are a group of interns who have just come out of medical school, and the target audience is also a group of young people.

Because of the differences in living habits and time zones, although the four major public television networks in North America have very comprehensive coverage, during the day, different TV programs are usually arranged according to different regions, and the sub-TV stations distributed in major cities in North America are even more so.

The main ratings competition time for the four major television stations is the three-hour prime time between 7 and 10 p.m. in each time zone. The 22-minute comedy, the 43-minute drama and other types of reality TV are mixed with each other.

Normally, a public television station only needs one or two high-rated programs to attract audiences, then because of the inertia of ratings. It can guarantee the basic viewership of the TV station, which is also the reason why NBC TV station led several other major TV stations for a full decade in the 90s with a "Friends", and after "Friends", because of the lack of high-rated programs, NBC quickly fell behind other TV networks, and finally NBC's major shareholders had to follow the general trend of media group integration and merge NBC with Universal Pictures.

Although it is not so easy to operate a network that covers the whole of North America and has more than two hundred sub-TV networks. But next year, I will get back the broadcast rights of "Friends", own "The Story of the Emergency Room", and develop a few good reality shows. At the same time, with the cooperation of Firefly Pictures' rich film and television content resources, as long as the operators of the TV network are not stupid, although they will not be far away from the other major TV stations, there is absolutely no problem in occupying the leading position. There will be no situation where ABC TV becomes a drag on the Disney group in the original time and space.

After the box office record of "Jurassic Park" at the end of September spurred a sharp rise in media stocks. And because Viacom completed the acquisition of the Blockbuster chain, two bidders for Paramount Communications coincidentally accelerated the pace of acquisitions, and for a period of time in early October, it was available in newspapers and television news programs almost every day.

However, the next incident happened that completely broke the balance between the two sides.

One of Paramount Communications' bidders, QVC, is a major shareholder, in addition to Barry Diller, with the support of two telecommunications equipment operators, Comcast and Telecommunications, but October 11. AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph Company) suddenly announced a merger and acquisition of telecommunications. John Malone, the majority shareholder and chairman of Telecommunications, was Barry Diller's biggest supporter, and Comcast has not been too enthusiastic about acquiring Paramount Communications. This sudden merger and acquisition means that the biggest support behind Barry Diller is gone.

Without the financial backing of telecommunications, Barry Diller quickly lost out of the competition with Lei Shidong.

On October 23, after a week-long final bidding, Viacom's chairman Lei Shidong and Paramount Communications Director Martin Davis officially announced Viacom's acquisition of Paramount Communications Group for $11 billion at Paramount's headquarters in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

In Eric's eyes, although Paramount Communications has several TV stations, music companies and a publishing house in addition to Paramount Pictures, its value is not much higher than Disney's. Lei Shidong won this company with an indomitable attitude, and in addition to proving that he was still not old at the age of seventy, he could not get too many benefits.

Of course, this is not something that Eric cares about, after all, although many details are not clear to Eric, the outcome of this bid Eric has long been known, so he has always focused on another person, Barry Diller.

In the bedroom of the East Hampton Villa, Eric held a little guy in one hand, looked at Joanna who was quietly packing his luggage, and said, "It's getting colder and colder in New York, why don't you go back to Los Angeles with me?"

Joanna carefully folded one of Eric's trousers and stuffed them into her suitcase, and whispered, "Vicky hasn't come back yet, and I don't want to go to Los Angeles either." ”

Eric didn't want to force Joanna's little insistence, and said, "I'll come over with you on Thanksgiving." ”

"Okay," Joanna said with a gentle smile on her face, "You came here last year, over there...... Will they be dissatisfied?"

"No, they're not married, and most of them have to go home for Thanksgiving with their families," Eric shook his head, remembering little Nizi again, and said, "Well, I mean, do you mind if Drew comes along, she doesn't have a good relationship with her parents?"

"It's okay, just bring her along. ”

Although I don't like Xiao Nizi's obedient personality very much, Joanna will not show it in front of Eric, or rather, since they met, Eric has rarely felt any negative emotions from Joanna, perhaps this is why Eric subconsciously prefers to stay by this woman's side.

After packing Eric's luggage and handing it to the maid next to her, Joanna took Hawaii from Eric's arms: "You can go now." Don't delay too late. ”

"It's okay," Eric rubbed the chubby little face of his son in his arms, "It's the company's plane, and my boss still has the right to make them wait for a while." ”

……

When I arrived in Los Angeles, it was 12 p.m. Western Time on October 24. Eric got off the plane, didn't contact anyone else, and drove to the Sunset Boulevard Hotel, where Barry Diller was already waiting for him.

Although he was able to see Barry Diller on TV every day during this time, Eric could still feel the unconcealable disappointment that Barry Diller exuded when he saw him at this time.

The two stood across the door of their hotel room and greeted Barry Diller. Eric looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, who was already bald and gray-haired, who was just fifty years old, and said, "Barry, you must not have eaten lunch." Why don't we go to the restaurant?"

"Alright, I'm going to put on my coat," Barry Diller said as he turned and walked into the room, quickly walking out in a black coat.

The two walked to the elevator door together. Eric pressed the button. Glancing at Barry Diller, who still seemed to be in a trance, he comforted: "I don't think you need to be disappointed at all, believe me, if you take Paramount for $110, it will be a disaster." ”

"A loss is a loss, Eric, I'm not the kind of person who doesn't dare to face failure, it's just ...... All right. After a busy year, I suddenly found that all my work was in vain. You should be able to relate to that," Barry Diller suddenly realized that Eric, a young man with a strange track record of success, had not yet experienced such failure, and smiled self-deprecatingly, "Disappointment is inevitable, and it will get better after a while." ”

The two of them walked to the hotel's restaurant together, it was meal time, and the people who could stay in the luxury hotel on Sunset Strip were not idle people, and when they saw Eric and Barry Diller appearing together, they couldn't help but whisper, and some people took the initiative to come over to say hello.

Dealing with a few familiar but unnamed people, Eric and Barry Diller took a window seat and sat down.

"Barry, what do you want to eat?" Eric took the menu from the waiter's hand, "I'm in for a treat, you know, I rarely invite people to dinner." ”

Barry Diller smiled, ordered a random pasta, and returned the menu to the waiter.

Eric was not reluctant, he also ordered a pasta and asked for a bottle of red wine to accompany the meal.

After waiting for the waiter to be immediate, Eric said: "Barry, I didn't comfort you just now, Paramount in my opinion, at most, it is only worth the price when Firefly bought Disney Studios, I can bet you, in less than five years, Lei Shidong will definitely regret it." ”

Eric remembered Lei Shidong's personality and said with a smile: "Of course, Lei Shidong will definitely not put regret on his face." ”

"It's different, Eric," Barry Diller shook his head and said, "Just like your fireflies, I think fireflies are definitely more valuable in your heart than anyone thinks, and so am I, although Paramount CEO wasn't my first job, but I feel like that's where my career really started, and it was only an experience with William Morris and ABC TV." If I had $11 billion now, I would definitely not hesitate to snatch Paramount from Lei Shidong, but alas, I didn't. ”

The two chatted casually, and lunch was quickly served, and after a few hours in the sky, Eric drank only a bottle of water, and was already hungry by this time, so he picked up the utensils and ate unceremoniously.

Barry Diller seemed to find a hint of his youthful vibe in Eric's movements, relaxed a little, and picked up the cutlery. Neither of them is the kind of person who eats slowly, and when it comes to the lunch in front of him, Barry Diller takes a sip of red wine and says, "Eric, although it is very enjoyable to eat like this, I still advise you to eat as slowly as possible in the future, you know, I was similar to you when I was young, and I have been suffering from stomach problems for many years." ”

Eric smiled and nodded, picked up the red wine next to him and gestured to Barry Diller, the two drank some more red wine, and Eric finally took the initiative to speak: "Barry, what are you going to do next?"

Barry Diller looked out his window at the bustling crowd of cars on the street, remembering the media comments about his distance from Hollywood at the beginning of the year, and suddenly felt a little confused.

Although he briefly left the Hollywood scene because of running QVC, Barry Diller's heart has never given up on the idea of returning to Hollywood. However, the original ambitious acquisition plan failed due to a series of changes, and Barry Diller finally realized that it still did not seem so easy for him to return to Hollywood.

However, as a once dominant Hollywood tycoon, Barry Diller also has his own pride, and he can easily see Eric's intentions from the layout of Firefly Pictures during this time, but since he has decided not to be an employee at the beginning, a person with a firm mind like Barry Diller will certainly not go back on his word so easily.

"Eric, I found out in the news about Firefly Pictures' withdrawal from the Fox network that Jeffrey seems to be playing a leading role, and if I'm right, maybe next year or later, you'll have him take Michael Lynn's place, right?"

There was nothing to hide, and Eric nodded in acknowledgement.

Barry Diller shrugged slightly, his expression again with some helplessness and self-deprecation: "Then you know, whether it was during the ABC period or the Paramount period, Jeffrey has always been my deputy, do you think I can go back in this case?"

"Barry, I'm going to buy a television network, you know what I mean, I want you to be in charge of it. ”

"But you're not going to let the network remain absolutely independent, and the network will still be under the control of the Firefly headquarters, right?"

Eric nodded, if after the acquisition of the TV network, the two sides still maintain their own business independence, then what is the difference between it and no acquisition. The main purpose of Eric's acquisition of the TV network is to maximize the use of the channels of the TV network and maximize the benefits of Firefly film and television resources.

"Barry, while the network can't be absolutely alone, I can assure you that Jeffrey doesn't interfere too much in the management of the network, even I don't interfere too much, you know, and my personal reputation in this area has always been very good. ”

Barry Diller still shook his head and said, "Eric, it doesn't work, you should know Jeffrey's character, if I join the Firefly, this kind of reversal in the position will make me and Jeffrey feel confused." (To be continued.) )