"How are the negotiations with TBS?" After leaving DreamWorks, Jerry and Robert boarded a flight to New York. It's almost June, and I haven't reported back to school yet, is this the rhythm of just waiting for the end of the semester? Lady Dorothy is forced to be anxious, and she will bite too.

Jerry is not referring to Tokyo Broadcasting, but to Turner Broadcasting, founded by Ted Turner, which owns CNN, CNN.

Born in the 50s, cable television was originally only used as a means to improve the reception of television in remote mountainous areas. The cable television industry in the United States started relatively late, but it has grown rapidly. Since 1995, the number of households of the 11 major cable television networks has increased from 3.32 million to 39.75 million. Cable TV is increasingly recognized by the audience because of its many channels, specialization, and variety and richness of programs. At present, the ratings of cable TV in the United States have gradually approached the ratings of the three major wireless TVs, and there is even a trend of overtaking them in prime time. On February 8, 1996, Clinton announced the implementation of the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996, which broke down the barriers between the U.S. telecommunications, media and other industries and allowed mutual infiltration.

As soon as the bill was introduced, the face of the large media in the United States changed dramatically, and mergers, sales, and joint ventures of media enterprises emerged one after another. In 1995, Westinghouse bought CBS for $5.4 billion and Infinity Broadcasting for $4.9 billion, forming a huge broadcasting network with 77 radio stations and gaining a dominant position in the market of the top ten radio stations in the United States. Ninex bought Bell Atlantic for $22.1 billion, making it the largest regional telephone company in the United States. Two other Bell companies, SBC and Pacific-Telesis, merged in a $1,670 deal. Media tycoon Murdoch's News Company invested $3 billion to acquire full ownership of the new Shijie Communications Group, making it a major national television network with 22 stations. American West, a regional arm of Bell Corporation, bought Continental Cable, the third-largest cable television station in the United States, for $10.8 billion. The Chicago Tribune paid $1.13 billion to buy Renaissance Communications, becoming a media giant with 16 television stations and one-third of the nation's households. Shijie Communications, the fourth-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, purchased MFS Communications for $12.4 billion, forming the first enterprise to operate long-distance and short-distance telephone services since the fission of Bell in 1984. Dallas's A.H. Bello invested $1.5 billion in the Providence Daily Company, forming a media empire with 16 television stations, one cable television station (Food Television Network), the Dallas Morning News, and the Providence News Bulletin. The number of radio stations owned by Clear Channel Communications increased to more than 100. The audience it has is second only to Westinghouse. Chancellor Broadcasting paid $365 million to buy 12 of Colfax's radio stations and now owns 53 stations in 15 markets. The $1.7 billion purchase of Multimedia Entertainment, the nation's No. 1 newspaper group, increased its newspaper holdings from 82 to 92, its television stations from 10 to 15, its radio stations from 11 to 13, and its cable television with subscribers in five states.

It's not that Jerry doesn't fancy the cable networks of other broadcasters, and it's not that JR can't afford these cable networks, but the United States has antitrust regulations, and no company can form an oligopoly on cable networks. The primary purpose of the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is to introduce competition rather than monopoly. So, Jerry had no choice but to focus on Ted Turner. The reasons for choosing Turner Broadcasting are simple: first, after the 1991 Gulf War, CNN rose to fame, and CNN's audience is very wide, and it is not much inferior to HBO; Second, Ted Turner owns MGM, and the $500 million he owes for buying MGM is a headache; Third, Ted Turner is not small. I want to cooperate with other media giants to achieve the goal of standing on the shoulders of giants, and then expand the influence of CNN. For now, Ted Turner has dealt with the media giants in addition to ABC. And Time Warner. ABC's shortcomings in the field of cable TV, although it has the support of St. Louis Cable Company (JR Holdings), the fourth largest cable company in the United States, is still not enough if it is only this scale. CNN's position in the cable news space. It can be used as another support for ABC.

What's more, Turner Radio also has a MGM with more than 4,000 movie rights in its hands!

Only when the channel and the content go hand in hand can the channel play its true function.

"At present, there has been a mutual testing process, and the specific details are being finalized. Time Warner, for its part, still hasn't given up. Gerald Levine is still in one-sided contact. ”

"Gerald Levine?"

"CEO of Time Warner."

"Huh?" Jerry clasped his hands between his lips, "On the basis of the $7.5 billion, 11% Turner Broadcasting shares, retain his position as CEO of TBS, if he is not interested in the $7.5 billion and 11% Turner Broadcasting shares, ABC can cross-swap with CNN, but ABC will not exchange shares for more than 7%. Also, tell him that we're interested in MGM, and if he's not interested in Providence and Texas Pacific's bids, and he's tired of Colcrian's face, DreamWorks would be a good choice. ”

With $7.5 billion and an 11% stake in Turner Broadcasting, Robert thought for a moment, "Aren't the terms of the merger too generous?" ”

Jerry shook his head, "It's not so much a merger, it's a merger between ABC and CNN." CNN wouldn't be worse off without ABC. At least none of the current cable networks has the resources in the news field to compete with CNN, and CNN's position in cable news is like ESPN's position in cable sports. Time Warner should be interested in more than just CNN's cable network. ”

"Is MGM the rights to the film? However, Time Warner's move this time is not only CNN, they also target a lot of cable TV networks. ”

"You should pay close attention to this matter, the future direction of Sony America is closely related to MGM. Tell Howard that he's been in this circle for so long, and he should have a lot of connections to use. If he wants to get an annual salary of $200W at Sony America, and comfortably plan for Sony America, he has to come up with something decent. Jerry leaned back, about to put on his blindfold and get some rest, but he heard Robert say, "Mr. Jobs wants to have an interview with you." ”

"Steve Jobs?"

"Yes."

"What? The acquisition of NEXTSTEP Systems is not yet complete? ”

"Mr. Jobs was a stubborn guy. He still haunts JR's investment in the creation of Cofilm, the use of Alve-Ray Smith, and the instigation of him to seduce Pixar veterans. ”

"What a dead man." Jerry smiled and pulled the blindfold, "If he doesn't change his temper, no one can stand it." Didn't Apple's board kick him out because of his temper? Whether it's Pixar before or NEXT now, it's the same. What else can I get from interviewing me? ”

"Maybe Mr. Jobs just wants an explanation that makes sense."

"What's going on with Apple right now?"

"Although the board of directors activated the poison mechanism and flattened the low $26 stock price, we still got 27.4% of Apple's shares. The opinion of Apple's board of directors is not very clear, with Michael Spindler pushing back Apple founder Steve Jobs and Jill Amelio disagreeing. At present, there is still a lot of talk about Apple's operating system. Let's just follow with the mud. ”

"What about Sun and BE?"

"They're not in a hurry, even if they go out of business, it's just Apple's business, and even if Apple buys their operating system, they're just one more operating platform. Apple's share of the PC market is frighteningly low. Speaking of which, your decision to take over Microsoft in the first place was really wise. Oh~ By the way, there is one thing, maybe you should question Mr. Gates. ”

"What did Bill do that I still need to ask?"

"NBC and Microsoft jointly issued a statement that NBC and Microsoft Corporation will jointly launch the Microsoft NBC Television Channel (MSNBC)."

"Streaming Jishu came out so soon?"

Streaming-media refers to the continuous time-based media that uses streaming jishu on the Internet, that is, the media that publishes audio and video multimedia content in real time in the form of data stream on the Internet, and audio, video, animation or other forms of multimedia files are included in the list of streaming media. In 1996, RealNetworks brought RealMedia's jishu breakthrough, and the era of Internet multimedia began.

"You know about this?"

Jerry didn't respond, his mind drifting to NETGATE's plans. (To be continued......)