Heads Up Hollywood

During this time, Lei Shidong was in a bad mood.

Tang En's achievements in the past few years have been very dazzling, so Lei Shidong has been vigilant enough, paying attention, and paying attention to this kid.

Unexpectedly, this kid still played tricks under his nose!

First, through the cooperation of the "Fantastic Four" cartoon and the "American Idol" variety show, and then the cooperation with Paramount's platter investment project, Lei Shidong let go of his vigilance.

Just taking advantage of this gap, the STA TV network suddenly exploded like a high-rise building!

Six months ago, due to the increase in subscription fees, the number of paid subscribers of STA TV network has dropped to 2 million, which is less than half of that of SHO TV network.

But starting in May, the STA TV network made a sudden effort.

The two films "Spider-Man" and "Saw" are just warm-ups, and the subsequent "Six Feet Under" is the real feast!

The latest issue of "Variety" magazine selected the top ten most exciting American dramas of all time.

The first place is the undisputed "Friends", the second is HBO's famous masterpiece "The Black D Family", and then "Seinfeld", "X-Files" and "White House", "Six Feet Under" unexpectedly Can be ranked sixth!

Remember, this is only the first season of "Six Feet Under"!

Lei Shidong has great influence in the media field, and his vigorous and ruthless style has always been in line with the appetite of Wall Street. Of course, he was unwilling to be bullied by this kid like Tang En.

Although it was after get off work hours, Lei Shidong was still sitting in the office, looking at the document he just got, with a very ugly expression on his face.

This is the ratings when the last episode of "Six Feet Under" aired two days ago, as well as the user scale information of the STA TV network.

The last episode of "Six Feet Under" has been watched by more than 2.8 million households across the United States!

Among them, only 140,000 users are using the free trial permission.

This is definitely a ratings miracle for professional cable TV stations!

HBO, the leader in this field, can compete with it only with two masterpieces, "The Black D Family" and "Sex and the City".

As for Viacom's Showtime, don't even think about it!

Can only look up!

Looking at the subscribers of the STA TV network, it has reached more than 4.9 million. Compared with 3 months ago, there are 2 million more paying users!

Although it is less than the 5.3 million subscribers of the SHO TV network, is this a concept?

How much does an STA subscription cost? 3 months for $23.99.

What about SHO?

3 months for $9.90!

Professional cable TV stations do not insert advertisements, and their main income is the subscription income of users and the sales of CDs and videotapes of TV dramas.

The SHO TV network does not produce self-produced dramas, so naturally there is no sales revenue from video tapes and DVD discs, and subscription revenue...

Compared with the STA TV network, it is simply unbearable to look directly at!

Although STA has only 4.9 million subscribers, the subscription fee is 2.4 times that of SHO. Such a subscription group is equivalent to 12 million users of SHO!

This is definitely an astronomical figure for the current professional cable TV stations!

If the SHO TV network can have 12 million paying subscribers, it is estimated that Lei Shidong will wake up laughing from his dreams.

You know, HBO, the industry leader, only has more than 7.5 million subscribers, and the basic subscription fee is only $14.99 for 3 months, which is still incomparable with STA.

More importantly, "Six Feet Under" is just a "small-budget" TV series with an investment of 30 million US dollars, and next month, the real aircraft carrier will hit - "Band of Brothers" with an investment of 120 million US dollars!

"HBO is a bunch of crap!"

In fact, Lei Shidong has never ignored the STA TV network, but he thought that Tang En's strength in the cable TV field was not enough, and HBO could easily solve it.

But he didn't expect that what happened next shocked him!

HBO did make a move, grabbing the copyright of "Band of Brothers" with STA.

But Tang En's courage is too great, and his aura is too strong!

Directly spending a huge sum of US$80 million to purchase the North American TV copyright of "Band of Brothers", such behavior is simply crazy!

Looking at the entire TV field, only a layman like Tang En could do such a "ridiculous thing".

This is price gouging!

But then again, the $80 million purchase did have a huge effect. This is the focus of DreamWorks' publicity, allowing this miniseries to have a strong enough social influence before it is broadcast.

It is conceivable that with the arrival of September, the number of users of STA TV network will have a more significant increase through the more powerful "Band of Brothers".

According to the current situation, let alone SHO under Viacom, even HBO under Time Warner may be trampled underfoot!

Lei Shidong has seen too many big winds and waves. To be honest, he doesn't care about this small market in the field of professional cable TV. Otherwise, he would have already invested heavily and let SHO and HBO fight to the death, and he would not be willing to be the second child in the industry for decades.

Compared with his 100 billion empire Viacom Group, this is too small.

What he hated was Tang En's previous cleverness.

Make him feel cheated.

As he gets older, especially Lei Shidong's disobedient personality, what he dislikes most is young people playing tricks, scheming, and tricks with him.

Without thinking too much, Lei Shidong directly dialed Tang En's cell phone number.

At this moment, Tang En was in the Mid-Levels Manor, changing clothes amidst the chirping laughter of Penelope Cruz, Rose Byrne, and Abbie Cornish. He was going to a family gathering.

After receiving Lei Shidong's call, Tang En's heart tightened instinctively, "Mr. Lei Shidong? Hello, I'm Tang En."

"Hehe, I didn't bother you, did I?"

"No! What's the matter?"

Lei Shidong said calmly: "It's nothing serious. I watched "Six Feet Under" broadcast on Starz TV station. The theme is novel, profound, and very exciting. I want to show it on Showtime. Can you give it up? "

Tang En's heart immediately "thumped".

Where is this request?

Totally ordered!

Can you refuse?

When he was still weak, he faced Tom Rothman's request, but he refused; when he grew up, he encountered the threat of Michael Eisner, and he also refused.

The current Twain can be said to have stood firm in Hollywood, with a straight waist and no fear of any intimidation. Even Kirk Douglas, he doesn't care at all.

However... the opponent is Summer Redstone!

Tang En instinctively wanted to refuse, but the words came to his lips, but he didn't blurt them out.

"Six Feet Under" is the most popular drama series at the moment, and many local stations have come to buy the rights to broadcast the second round one after another, and the prices are very sincere.

Because in the selection requirements of the Emmy Awards, only films that have been watched by more than 51% of the audience in the United States (have the opportunity to watch, and you can choose to watch or not) can participate in the selection.

There are 110 million household users in the United States, that is to say, if "Six Feet Under" wants to participate in the Emmy Awards, at least 55 million household users in the United States must have access to "Six Feet Under".

This required Tang En to push "Six Feet Under" to more broadcasting platforms, and local second- and third-tier commercial stations were the best choice.

The scale of the STA TV network is still too small. Even the American dramas currently produced by HBO have to be pushed to other viewing platforms in order to meet the conditions for participating in the Emmy Awards.

This has three advantages -

First, if local TV stations want to broadcast this kind of large-scale drama series, they must cut and silence the lines to a certain extent. If the audience wants to watch the full version of the drama series, they must subscribe to professional cable TV stations or buy DVD discs.

Second, as the most important TV award in the United States, being nominated for the Emmy Award will greatly help TV dramas and boost the sales of DVD discs.

Third, ESPN's subscription fee is higher than Starz, but North American users can reach an astonishing 80 million, and more than 80% of home users are subscribing to watch. Obviously, the audience of professional cable TV stations is small, not because of the high subscription fees, but because the general understanding of TV stations in this field among American audiences is still limited to the concept of "adult content".

With the promotion of some local TV stations, more viewers, especially elderly viewers, can realize that professional cable TV stations can break the traditional cage and provide high-quality, healthy and high-quality content.

This is something that HBO has been trying to do in recent years.

If the STA TV network wants to achieve greater development, it must continue on this road.

But……

Showtime is not the place for second rate commercial TV!

Both Showtime and Starz are professional cable stations that can broadcast the full version of "Six Feet Under." After watching the deleted version, once the audience's curiosity is aroused and they want to watch the full version, which TV station will they subscribe to?

Of course it is Showtime with a lower price!

Regardless of whether Lei Shidong did it intentionally or unintentionally, such a request was too much for Tang En and the STA TV network!

This is forcing Tang En to send warmth to his competitors!

Tang En was silent for a full twenty seconds, and the atmosphere of the conversation between the two was a little stiff.

In the end, it was Lei Shidong who broke the silence first, and asked with a smile: "Why, is it inconvenient?"

Tang En was so angry that he wanted to curse!

A media tycoon who has been in shopping malls for decades and started his career on cable television, would he not understand such a simple truth?

Pretend, you pretend to be a fart!

Hypocritical old fox!

However, the current time period is too sensitive. There is no doubt that Dunn will make a lot of money through the "911" incident. At the same time, with the arrival of a huge amount of wealth, he is also likely to be criticized by the media for morality.

So now for Tang En, it is very important to have a good relationship with media organizations.

Moreover, don't look at Twain standing firmly in Hollywood, but in front of a legendary tycoon like Lei Shidong, he must be careful, careful, and more careful!

The current Tang En is not his opponent at all.

Redstone is a Jewish boss. He has complicated relationships on Wall Street. He has great influence in Hollywood. He has close friends with politicians in the White House. In the field of media, he is the undisputed number one person in the United States today!

Twain is very powerful in Hollywood, and even the big boss of Disney, Michael Eisner, has nothing to do with him.

But, don't forget, Barry Diller had...a lesson from the past!