Chapter 881: That’s OK.

Chapter 881: That’s OK.

Early in the morning on Sunday, Eric and Cristian, who was in Tokyo, made a phone call to learn about the situation in Southeast Asia. In the morning, they rushed to Century City to meet with Harvey Weinstein. After handing over the FFM TV station to Weinstein, FFM's headquarters was set up near the Fox Century City studio.

Last weekend, on June 15th, "The Shudao Family" experienced a 13-week broadcast, and the first season officially ended.

With the skillful operation of Harvey Weinstein, the word of the "Sisters of the Shu Road" spread like a virus. At the beginning of the first broadcast of 1.76 million viewers, the ratings of the series also soared. When the first season was finally broadcast, the highest number of viewers had already reached 3.25 million, almost twice the number of the first broadcast.

Affected by the "Suidao Family", FFM's popularity has further expanded, and subscribers have also risen sharply. As of the end of the first season of "Shudao Family", the number of users of FFM TV has reached nearly 6 million.

FFM's user base was only about 4.5 million before the launch of the Shudao Family. Due to the low starting point and the support of the three major media giants, everyone expected that FFM TV would just sprout in fertile soil. The seedling grows like a fast. However, in just one quarter, the number of new subscribers is close to 1.5 million. This user growth rate is still unbelievable. It should be noted that HBO TV stations in the same period have less than 500,000 new users in a quarter.

From the idea of ​​setting up FFM TV, Eric is thinking about competing with HBO. Therefore, while giving full support to FFM TV, Eric did not relax its attention to TV station operations. Since its launch in September last year, Eric has been involved in two or three FFM TV operations every month.

After an initial short period of incompatibility, Xavi Weinstein quickly demonstrated the same outstanding ability in TV business operations. In the most recent quarter, the number of users of FFM TV has skyrocketed. To be honest, the credit of "The Shudao Family" can only be up to 30%, and the remaining 70% is the result of Wayne's excellent business operation ability.

Just like the public relations operation process of the Hedgehog movie, since the word-of-mouth was established after the broadcast of the "Shudao Family", Weinstein has carried out a deeper operation of the "Shudao Family" through all available channels such as newspapers, television and the Internet. During the three-month broadcast period, almost every episode of "The Shudao Family" will become the focus of media discussion. After the end of the first season, the "Dream" view of "The Shudao Family" is already in the minds of many people. It has become ingrained, and accordingly, the brand of FFM TV has become more popular, and as a result, a large number of new users have been brought.

Speaking of this, Weinstein's operation of FFM TV during this time is very similar to the previous Netflix.

After the original time and space in 2013, when it comes to Netflix, many people think of them almost all of them as "House of Cards". "House of Cards" is naturally a work that can be called a drama, but like the "Shudao Family" at this time, the two dramas are strictly acting as a catalyst, really making Netflix rise. It is also the company's excellent business operation capabilities. Of course, just as some chemical reactions lack catalysts, it can't be done. Without "House of Cards", Netflix can't increase the number of subscribers in the series for two years from the 26 million before the broadcast to 40 million. Similarly, although the development of FFM is not decisive for the development of FFM, it cannot be ignored.

However, behind the skyrocketing number of users, the same is the rapid increase in operating costs of FFM TV stations.

Although supported by the three major media giants, FFM TV is a lone company that needs to be responsible for its own profits and losses. Whether it is Firefly or Fox, it is impossible to provide movie copyright to FFM for free.

In order to compete with HBO, FFM not only bought a batch of film and television copyrights used to fill the playing time in the early stage, but also in addition to the self-made drama "Shudao Family", the TV station will introduce a new film every week, integrated, FFM This year's spending on film and television content will exceed 300 million US dollars. The advertising and marketing budget of TV stations is also close to 200 million US dollars. Together with other operating expenses of the TV station itself, FFM TV's annual operating cost will reach 700 million US dollars.

On the other hand, in order to attract new users to subscribe, FFM also implemented a large number of discounts in terms of fees, which also greatly reduced the average subscription fee for users. Although the number of users increased rapidly, FFM TV expects the whole year. The total revenue will not exceed $500 million, which is roughly one-third of HBO's annual revenue. This also means that in 1997, FFM will bring at least 200 million US dollars in losses to shareholders.

In fact, if the ambition is smaller, in the context of the overall outbreak of the cable TV industry, relying on the rich content resources of the three major media giants, FFM will only reduce the budgetary expenses in terms of content and marketing, even if it only relies on the subscribers currently owned. , you can quickly achieve profitability, and continue to live a small life. But in this case, FFM TV will forever lose the possibility of becoming a cable TV giant. Even in the future streaming media era, FFM is destined to become the first traditional cable TV platform to be eliminated.

Eric naturally won't let this happen, either not doing it, or doing its best, even if the end result is not satisfactory, Eric will not allow FFM to settle on the status quo at the beginning.

What's more, the average annual loss of 200 million US dollars, according to the shareholding ratio of each family, is only tens of millions of dollars. In recent years, everyone’s situation has been very good. It is not unacceptable to pay tens of millions of dollars each year on a toll booth with huge growth potential. However, Eric also knows that after the Internet bubble burst, the days of cable TV operators who are also the beneficiaries of the new technology wave will become very sad for a long time. At that time, tens of millions of dollars per year. Loss-making expenses are more difficult for them to accept, and Eric is also expecting that it will be able to get back the 20% of the shares that were originally distributed to major cable operators.

With the current growth rate of FFM TV, by the end of 1997, the total number of users will exceed 8 million, and the number of subscribers who broke through 10 million next year will also be stable. However, after the number of subscribers exceeds 10 million, just as the fast-growing seedlings enter maturity, the growth rate will slow down, and it will be more direct and close to HBO.

In the conference room of the FFM TV headquarters, Eric listened to the report of Harvey Weinstein and said: "Harvey, your contract period is not five years. So, if you can FFM in your contract period The number of subscribers has grown to 20 million, and I can now promise to increase your option share by 50%."

Harvey Weinstein left the demonstration desk and returned to his seat. He laughed: "Eric, your condition is really tempting, but this is not an easy task. Whether it is fireflies, newsgroups or meters. Gao Mei, there is no national cable TV operation network like Time Warner. Several major operators are only small shareholders in FFM. The support for TV stations can't be too much. Time Warner's cable TV network will definitely crowd out FFM, telecommunications. The company is also eager to build its own paid cable station Starz, as well as the basic cable company, their relationship with Viacom is very close, these factors will limit the further expansion of FFM TV. In my opinion, the FFM user scale has grown to About 15 million, it will enter a bottleneck, and if you want to break through, you three must buy a national cable TV operation system that is sufficient to support the further development of FFM TV. Otherwise, I can only guarantee that during my term of office, I will use FFM. The number of subscribers has grown to 15 million."

Harvey Weinstein’s contract began in July last year and ended in July 2001 for a total of five years. This period happens to be the most turbulent period of the new technology wave. Although the Harvey contract expires, the Internet bubble must have When it breaks, Eric can't be too hasty to shoot. Of course, Eric is even less likely to buy a cable company before the dot-com bubble bursts, which is simply a big deal. In this case, Eric can not meet Harvey's requirements.

In the eyes that Weinstein looked forward to, Eric finally shook his head and said: "I have no such plans for the past few years, but you can discuss it with Rupert."

Weinstein shrugged helplessly. He actually talked to Murdoch about this topic. News Corp. itself already has a satellite TV and cable TV operation network, but it is relatively small. Moreover, News Corp. has devoted more energy to the development of TV stations in recent years, and is not too keen on the basic cable TV operation business.

No longer mentioning this topic, everyone in the conference room chatted about the other, until the 12 o'clock noon, the meeting finally ended.

Harvey Weinstein cleaned up the documents in front of him and looked at Peter Ritchie, who was sitting next to Eric today. He still looked at the fat man and the fat man laughing: "Eric, wait for lunch together. What?"

Eric followed with a smile: "Of course, even if you don't mention it, I will let you invite me to dinner."

Eric rushed over today. In addition to participating in FFM's recent operational meeting, another important goal was to officially introduce his assistant Peter Ritchie to Harvey Weinstein. In fact, at the beginning of this year, Eric has already talked to Wayne Stan about this matter, and he is already prepared. When I first formed the FFM, Eric did not have too many problems with personnel. At this time, it was just a matter of inserting a management.

In a restaurant near Century City, most of the management of FFM TV has been dispersed, with only four people sitting in the box, Eric and Peter Ritchie, Vice President and Production Manager of Weinstein and FFM Rade Gray, as Harvey's brother Bob Weinstein, still puts all his energy on Miramax and does not work for FFM.

Eric did not agree too much with FFM TV's acquisition of Wayne Stein's former assistant Brad Gray's production company. However, Weinstein eventually pulled him closer to the company's program production department and bought Brad Gray's production company for $5 million. The deal involved a small amount, and it was not even as good as FFM's purchase of a hot-selling movie broadcast rights. Eric was not too obstructed.

After ordering lunch, several people chatted about the arrangement of the "Suidao Family" to impact the September Emmy Award. Harvey Weinstein took the initiative to mention Peter Ritchie: "Peter, I hope you can First to the marketing department as Mark's deputy, Mark Levinson, I introduced in the morning, his current position is the marketing department manager. First familiar with a period of time, if you have more interested positions, I can make appropriate adjustments. ”

The current scale of FFM is not too big, and the number of employees is less than 200. As a premium cable TV station, the core functional departments are film purchasing, program production and brand marketing. After the FFM self-made content is more abundant, the copyright operation department may be added. Other departments such as finance and personnel Equally important, but it does not have much impact on the development of FFM. In recent years, due to the rapid expansion of FFM, the company's brand marketing department has become more important, able to join this department, and the future development space is also broader.

Although Eric had already discussed it with him before, at this time, listening to Weinstein officially proposed, Peter Ritchie is still a little excited, the deputy manager of the marketing department, and then the next level, is the vice president of FFM. Although Eric is surrounded by scenery, at this time, Peter Ritchie is regarded as a starting point for a broader career.

After a brief excitement, Peter Ritchie nodded quickly: "Thank you, Harvey, I will work hard for this job."

Weinstein smiled and looked at Eric. He said, "So, when are you going to join the job, will I arrange it in advance?"

Peter Ritchie also looked at Eric.

Eric put down the tableware in his hand and smiled and said: "Next month, I am going to go to the UK soon. I can't change people temporarily. Of course, Peter, coming back from the UK, you can apply for a month's vacation. I remember starting from following me, you seem to have not rested?"

Peter Ritchie, with a bit of eagerness, shook his head and said: "This is not necessary, I can work immediately."

Eric nodded with a smile and said: "Of course, this is your choice."

Weinstein also smiled and said: "In fact, young people, it should be like this. Look at each of us, but now it is still not working on Sunday. In fact, I admire Eric. I can do this. If I have so much money for you, I am sure to hide on a private island and enjoy life now."

Eric shrugged and laughed. "Okay, it seems that my current style of painting is very uncoordinated in your eyes."

A few people talked and laughed, and after lunch, Weinstein asked: "Eric, the first three episodes of "Prison Storm" have been completed, will you come together to see a film in the afternoon?"

"I still have things in the afternoon, it has been dragged for two weeks," Eric shook his head and said: "This way, you can send a sample to the sharp corner manor, I take a look."

"No problem," Waynestein nodded and gave Eric a shot. "But, Eric, I think this episode is not too good, at least, it is far from Compared with the Shudao Family."

"It's natural. The works of any production company are ups and downs. I never expected that all the films produced by FFM would be like "The Shudao Family."

The overall strength of a TV station has always relied on the quality of its overall drama, and it is the best state with one or two popular TV series uninterrupted. If all the dramas produced are top-notch, not only unrealistic, but even if they are realized, they will turn into the overall 'plaininess' after raising the audience's aesthetic requirements.

Eric’s expectation for Prison is that he can exceed the average level.

Seminary and Brad Gray respectively, Eric drove to the Trausdale Manor, sent assistants and bodyguards, and walked into the mansion of Drew.

In the living room of the villa, Drew is looking at a pile of aircraft information and drawings on the glass coffee table in the center of the living room. The carpet and sofa next to it are also scattered with a pile of paper. The twins sit on both sides of the coffee table and whisper to help the girl.

When I saw Eric coming in, Shantou immediately raised a drawing in his hand, with a clear excitement and more trouble. He said: "Eric, it’s so messy, I didn’t expect to buy a plane so much trouble."

Eric walked over and sat down on the carpet next to the hoe. She took the drawings in her hand and looked at it. To the side of Natasha said: "Wait for the guests to come over and clean up around."

"Okay, Master," the two women responded, quietly getting up and sorting out.

Focusing on the drawings in the hand, the little head of the taro has been scraped over: "Eric, I suddenly didn't want to buy 777."

"Oh?"

"The Boeing 777 is a twin engine. I heard that the 747's four engines are safer, so the presidential plane is the 747."

Eric smiled and said: "If you are worried about this, then you can't fly."

"Hey, people are afraid of death."

"Then buy a 747."

Eric smiled and said along the way. In fact, he also recently read a lot of aircraft information, the reason why the 747 uses a four-engine design, mainly because of the lack of power of the aero engine.

Since the Boeing 757, Boeing has generally adopted a dual-engine design due to advances in aerospace materials and engine design. As for the four engines being safer than the twin engines, this argument does make sense. But in fact, during the flight, even if all the engines of the aircraft suddenly fail, they will not fall directly from the sky, but will continue to gliding. If they operate properly, they can still land safely. What's more, the simultaneous failure of the twin engines is a hundred times lower than the chance of the aircraft being thundered. The probability of the aircraft being thundered during the flight is still quite large. As for the single-engine failure, it does not have much impact on the flight. In some cases, the pilot will actively turn off the engine on one side.

"But, 777 is bigger, I still want to build a party plane."

"Then 777."

"Wow, your tone is too perfunctory. Be careful, I will buy both."

Eric continued to nod: "That's fine."