Chapter 749: Two options
Lifetime TV's heritage is still a bit lacking. Eric checks the playlists of Lifetime TVs in the past year. In 1994, Lifetime TV released only 11 low-cost TV movies and several repetitive soap operas during the prime time of the evening. The programs at other times are nothing new.
However, since the "National Supermodel Contest" and "Tianqiao Pride" have brought a good start and accumulated a lot of popularity, then it will be logical to continue to increase the program investment.
"Terry, I admit that you are right, but this situation will soon become history. Since Lifetime TV can build "Tianqiao Pride" and "National Supermodel Contest", then we can of course continue to make more Many very successful TV shows. Although the two reality shows will be played before the New Year, Lifetime TV has decided to launch the second season of the "American Supermodel Competition". The spring file will be available on time, so you don't have to Worried about the popularity of Lifetime TV."
After Eric finished, he remembered that Cindy’s morning and morning rushed to think carefully, and I didn’t feel a little funny.
Because of the playback cycle, "Tianqiao Pride" has not been expected for a year or two. Therefore, Eric can only hope that Cindy can start the second season of "National Supermodel Competition" at the end of the year to maintain Lifetime TV. The rise of popularity.
However, although there are a lot of workaholics around him, the two beautiful people of Cindy and Linda are obviously not. It takes a lot of other work to make two seasons a year, which is definitely very tiring.
Eric has been figuring out how to convince Cindy in the last few days, and even plans to add some salary to her if necessary. Then, before it can be said, Cindy will send it to her own door.
Terry Semel didn’t know what Eric was thinking, and naturally took the smile that suddenly appeared on his face as a must-have, hesitated for a moment, saying: “Eric, 20 cents, this is Warner’s ability. The highest price has been opened."
Eric put away a smile and looked at Terry Semel, saying: "If you are 20 cents, no problem, Terry, but I have a condition?"
Terry Semel reached out and said, "Please say."
"Lifetime TV can sign a three-year fixed-share contract with Warner Cable for a price of 20 cents. However, Warner Cable needs to carry Lifetime TV signals across all cable TV packages."
"Eric, this is impossible," Terry Semel shook his head immediately.
In the plan, with the play authorization, Warner Cable will provide some cable TV packages equipped with Lifetime TV to the users who need it. The audience of Lifetime TV is limited. At that time, the subscribers of Warner Cable's Lifetime TV station are expected to increase the total subscription number to about 6 million based on the original user base, and will not exceed the 15 million total users of Warner Cable. Half of it.
But Eric’s condition at this time was an ambitious desire to swallow all the user resources of Warner Cable, and no matter what kind of consideration, Terry Semel would not agree.
Eric did not react much to Terry Semel’s rejection. “In this case, Terry, then, another option, the broadcast share is increased to 30 cents, and then we can renegotiate the division every year. price."
Terry Semel shook his head again and said: "30 cents is too high, Eric, I just said that Lifetime TV is only worth 20 cents."
Eric nodded and nodded, took a sip of the coffee in front of him and said, "If this is the case, then come here today, Terry, in fact, I am not good at business negotiations. These things are generally Jeffrey. They are responsible. You can think about it when you go back, and then send someone to contact the firefly high-level."
After that, Eric looked at the watch with a slap in the face and said: "It’s lunch time right now. Wait until you can taste the apple pie of my family. I don't really like this kind of sweet food, but Joan does it. very good."
Terry Semel’s face became a bit ugly, and it’s obvious that Eric is going to use a drag.
If you enter the formal stage of commercial negotiation, there is no ten days and a half, this matter can not be solved, Eric is obviously already aware of the current situation of Time Warner, Lifetime TV station can not afford, after all, Concas Special, telecom and many other small cable operators and satellite TV operators are actively introducing Lifetime TV stations. Lifetime has no shortage of channels, but Warner Cable now has tens of thousands of users losing every day. It is impossible to drag on any more.
Terry Semel was hesitating for a few minutes, and Eric knew that he was weighing the pros and cons, not bothering, waiting patiently.
After a while, Terry Semel finally said again: "Well, Eric, 25 cents, can't be higher."
Eric shook his head and shrugged. "Terry, I have only two choices here. In fact, 30 cents is not too high. ESPN's broadcast fee is $1.3. Moreover, I actually recommend that you choose the first option. Believe me, in the next few years, the development of Lifetime TV will definitely surprise everyone. At that time, it is inevitable that it will become a regular TV station in all operators' packages. Time Warner can also enjoy the cheap price of three years."
Terry Semel saw that there was no room for bargaining. He had to say: "Eric, in this case, I will reply you tomorrow."
"Of course, no problem," Eric did not urge. He knew that Terry Semel’s situation in Time Warner was not very good in the last two years, so the whole person became a little cautious, even this small-scale cooperation. Have to discuss with the group's top management or the board of directors.
......
The next day, Eric received a call from Terry Semel, and Time Warner finally chose the second option, which increased the broadcast share to 30 cents.
Of course, the development of the specific cooperation program is the responsibility of the management, and Eric began to pay attention to the issue of Lifetime TV program production in the following days.
At this point, no one mentioned the original $100 million budget plan. Anyone knows that they want to raise the ratings of other TV programs on Lifetime to the popularity of the "American Supermodel Contest" and "Tianqiao Pride". At the same level, a $100 million investment is not enough in any case.
The biggest concern of the Firefly Group and the Hearst Group is how to maintain the strong popularity of the two reality shows as much as possible.
Of course, the answer is also very simple, making or buying more quality TV shows.
"I have already passed the ditch with the headquarters. Lifetime will be able to get the three popular movies for women in the spring of next year, "Sleep in Seattle," "The Ghosts Are Not Evil," and "Fengyue Beauty". In the ABC headquarters office, Anne Sweeney reported to Eric about the results of her recent work.
The three films had reached hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Even after a few years, the price of a single broadcast rights has remained above one million dollars. Although they belong to the Firefly Group, the finances between departments must be clearly accounted for. Of course, Lifetime TV will also get a very favorable price.
Eric sat on the other side of the conference table and looked at the work memo that Anne Sweeney submitted to him. He asked, "How do you plan to schedule their play?"
"As a predecessor to promote our new drama next year, Lifetime has won a total of six broadcast rights. The regular prime time is 22 hours a week, but Lifetime TV is not enough to cover the entire time, so I plan to next spring. Start with a focus on creating two hours a week from Sunday to Thursday and one hour a day on Friday and Saturday for a total of 12 hours of prime time."
Usually, only the traditional three major TV stations can complete the prime time of 22 hours per week, even if the current Fox TV station does not reach this level, Fox's weekly prime time program is now only 18 hours.
Eric was very satisfied with Anne Sweeney's programming plan, nodded and asked: "Have you seen the original and the first two episodes of "Wuwang City"?"
"Well," Anne Sweeney nodded.
"What do you think?"
Anne Sweeney thought for a moment and said: "Bold, avant-garde, fashion, and some small women's delicate and embarrassing, I personally like this story very much, I believe female viewers also like it very much."
Eric smiled and said: "It's right, and, avant-garde and fashion, these two words can be used as the standard for future Lifetime TV productions. Although in the user survey process, we found the "American Supermodel". Both the Contest and the "Tianqiao Pride" have nearly 30% of male audiences, but you should never think about broadening the audience of TV stations. All ages of TV stations, that is the thing of several major public television networks. What we want is precision. Positioning, Lifetime TV must pin the audience to a group of fashionable women who are spending a lot of energy between the ages of 18 and 35, and make TV shows around women of this age."
"Eric, in this case, the development potential of Lifetime TV will be limited, and the young women between 18 and 35 will be a minority," Anne Sweeney drew a small circle on paper. Continued: "You see, if this is a female group between the ages of 18 and 35, we need to always consider their needs in the process of making the show, and then the theme of the program is once again limited to smaller circles. In the theme of this small circle, there are still some women who don’t like it. Then some viewers will lose, and then the circle will become smaller and smaller..."
Eric smiled and took the pen and paper in the hands of Anne Sweeney, and drew a bigger circle outside the circle she had just drawn. "You are not thinking in the right direction. I guess this circle should refer to North America." Female audience, but outside of North America, there are a larger audience in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. As long as we can work carefully in this segment of the female audience, we will produce a large number of boutique TV shows. With a strong brand effect, Lifetime's TV signal can radiate to a wider market outside of North America. I hope that you can not limit your eyes to North America, but to the world. Your future business goal is to make this happen. All the women in the world have a deep-rooted impression on Lifetime. That is, Lifetime TV's program is a fashion vane, which is the source of the topic between women. It is best to achieve a girl who can hardly integrate into the surroundings if she has not seen Lifetime. The point of the female circle."
Anne Sweeney was a little surprised, and was very surprised by Eric’s ambitious plan. She subconsciously asked, “Really, can it be like this?”
"When Ted Turner founded CNN in 1980, almost everyone laughed at his incompetence because the media industry was deeply convinced that professional news channels were impossible to make money, but as a result, the current CNN news network has Throughout the world, the annual profits generated are comparable to those of the three major television networks. This is the possibility."
"Well," Anne Sweeney shrugged and said, "Maybe, I am a pessimist, and you are just the opposite."
"You said that reminds me of a word, do my best, and do the worst."
Anne Sweeney raised her hand and looked at Eric's eyes for a few more appreciations. She laughed lightly: "Oh, Eric, you are not 100% confident."
“Even if it was a few months ago, who would have thought that there would be more than 4 million people watching the Lifetime TV program at the same time, so the prospect I portrayed exists. Since there is such a potential gold mine, we want Do, of course, just dig it out as much as possible."
Anne Sweeney turned down and overturned the original program production plan form, saying: "If you keep a little more, from this year, Lifetime TV can produce good profits. But if you follow your ideas, take the route of excellence, the show The investment in production will definitely increase dramatically. In the next two or three years, Lifetime TV will not have any profit."
"Fireflies are not listed companies, so you don't have to give up more long-term development plans for financial reports."
"Yeah," Anne Sweeney smiled again. "Since the big boss doesn't care, I let go and do it. Well, I will re-plan the original plan."
Eric smiled and nodded: "I can not make a profit for the time being, but if I can't reach enough annual growth rate, I will still hit the big stick."
"Oh, boss, if you have some bad taste in this sentence, let's talk to other women."
After talking about things, Anne Sweeney packed up the documents in front of him, got up in her arms and was about to leave, remembering something, and asked: "Right, will you attend at the party in the evening?"
The "National Supermodel Contest" and "Tianqiao Pride" have achieved such brilliant results, the company must say that the celebration party is scheduled tonight.
Eric nodded and said, "I will go. In addition, you call and invite Candice Bushnell, the author of "Wangwang City". I think there are some places in the first two episodes that need to be revised. There are follow-up plots, I plan to talk to her. Oh, also called Elizabeth Hurley, let her and Candice Bushnell meet in advance to talk about the heroine."
Anne Sweeney also knew that Eric didn't have much time to discuss the script with Candace Bushnell. He could only take the opportunity to meet the party and nod. See Eric without any other instructions. Just turned and left.