Heads Up Hollywood

Discovery Times Channel, as the name suggests, is a joint venture between Discovery Communications and The New York Times. It is mainly based on the sources of the "New York Times" and broadcasts some realistic content.

"When I was at NBC, I learned a truth. There is no love in the commercial market, and the strong survive. The New York Times is an old partner of Discovery Communications, but the Times Channel is not performing well, so it must be repositioned. .”

He did not hesitate to risk the New York Times, but also banned the Discovery Times Channel. This is the first bold decision David Saslav has made since he took office as the CEO of Discovery Communications.

The success of this decision also provides a strong prestige guarantee for him to carry out further reforms and management restructuring in Discovery Communications.

David Saslav said: "After the Discovery Times Channel was banned, I reorganized a department and created a new Discovery Detective Channel (ID Channel) to replace the former Discovery Times Channel. This channel is based on crime, criminal investigation, The documentary program is the main content, and all the management of the "New York Times" faction has been eliminated. After half a year, the ratings of this new channel have increased by a full 52% compared with the previous Times channel."

Tang En nodded quite moved.

He really doesn't know about this matter. This is carrying out reforms under the pressure of the "New York Times", which is bold enough.

In particular, the results achieved are really eye-catching. In less than a year, the ratings have increased by 52%!

A 52% increase in ratings does not equate to a 52% increase in revenue, it will be higher.

In the commercial market, winners take all, and advertisers like to cooperate with TV stations with high ratings.

The higher the ratings, the more incentive the competition will be, and the higher the advertising costs will be.

If the audience rating is low, there will be fewer advertisers to pay attention to, the competition will be lower, and the advertising fee will be lowered and lowered.

"So, next year, Discovery Detective Channel's advertising revenue will double, right?" Tang En asked a very layman's question.

Jeff Zucker laughed, "It's more than doubled?"

David Saslav explained with a smile: "Although it is a newly developed channel, it is our star channel. Viewers are very interested in crime and criminal investigation content. The advertising revenue in the fourth quarter has already increased compared to the first quarter." In the first half of next year, our goal is to double the turnover again!"

The Discovery Channel is an inexpensive cable channel that currently reaches more than 70% of households in the United States. For such a channel, the subscription fee is a small part of the income, and the advertising fee is the bulk.

Tang En really didn't know much about the TV business.

Anyway, professional matters are left to professional people, and it is enough for him to make decisions based on the results.

David Saslav said again: "The second point is the reform and reorganization of Discovery Learning Channel and Discovery Travel Life Channel. Of these two channels, the former only targets the US market, while the latter only targets overseas markets. This unilateral The business strategy is not in line with the current development strategy of Discovery Communications. For Discovery Communications, whether in Russia or Romania, when you turn on the TV, what people see should not be an American channel, but global content. That This is our exploration!"

"well said!"

Tang En put down his chopsticks and couldn't help applauding.

Jeff Zucker added with a smile: "He also changed the purpose slogan of Discovery Communications, DISCOVERY'S_NEW_DISCOVERY, which has an international perspective."

Tang En said with deep understanding: "The era of media in the United States is changing too fast. The performance of traditional media such as radio, newspapers, and magazines has plummeted, and the spring breeze of TV will not last long. Focus on internationalization and develop overseas relatively backward media markets. This is the new path for this traditional media to go on.”

The US pay-TV market is fairly mature and growing slowly. But in the international market, the annual growth rate of revenue and profit can easily reach 50%.

Jeff Zucker and David Saslav looked at each other, shook their heads silently, and didn't say much.

They disagree!

Tang En has expounded the crisis theory of the TV industry more than once in New Universal's internal meetings, which made the two TV people feel very uncomfortable. They think that Tang En is excessively promoting the Internet and new media, and somewhat demonizing the TV industry .

Looking at Comcast catching up from behind and becoming a new generation of media giants in the United States, we can see how huge the market for the TV industry is.

In their view, the fundamental reason why the Discovery Channel is deployed globally is that the US TV market is too competitive. Discovery, a niche channel like this, can only develop outward and take advantage of the current global economic situation to seek profits. room to grow.

Tang En took a panoramic view of the expressions of the two of them and remained calm.

But he sighed slightly in his heart.

Both of them are excellent TV people, and they have very strong management skills in the TV industry. Discovery's accomplishments over the past year have even had Wall Street analysts chanting that David Saslav has "awakened a new sleeping giant".

He even compared him to Michael Eisner, who joined Disney at the beginning of the year.

He has a burly figure, hard facial lines, a Hollywood tough action star style, tough wrists, and swift and resolute actions... At first glance, he is a talent who can make a big career out of him.

Unfortunately, the format is limited.

In the core layer of the new Universal in the future, it is difficult for the names of Jeff Zucker and David Saslav to appear.

The Discovery Communications Company in the previous life did survive under the impact of the emerging Internet media, but it only survived, and it was not qualified to challenge the emerging media at all.

This kind of traditional TV media person can only be arranged in the traditional TV industry.

Higher pattern leaders still have to look at Robert Iger, Kate Turner, Andrew Mooney, and even Tosca Musk, Reed Hastings, Mark Zuckerberg, who are often "crazy" people.

As the boss, Tang En has been secretly investigating some excellent managers in recent years.

His job is not to deal with the huge, trivial and complicated business of New Global.

His job is to manage people.

It is to select the most suitable senior management for New Universal.

David Saslav didn't know about this, and he still enthusiastically reported his outstanding achievements in the past year: "At the moment when feminism is becoming more and more prosperous, I use the resources of the Discovery Learning Channel and the Discovery Travel Life Channel, Through integration and reorganization, a Discovery Women's Channel (TLC Channel) was created, mainly to help female users pursue and show a lifestyle that is more in line with modern women. Once this channel was launched, it became very popular and was introduced to 75 countries and region. Within half a year, the coverage of the program has expanded from 50 million households to 100 million households. In the current ranking of basic cable channels in the United States, TLC channel ranks sixth!"

Tang En continued to express his recognition to him, and said with admiration: "The channel that explores women's lives in the new era and keeps pace with the times is a good idea!"

At this time, Jeff Zucker had already finished a plate of spaghetti with a snort, and said seriously: "As a TV media company, it is actually very simple to be successful. It is necessary to produce high-quality content to fully satisfy the audience's curiosity. Heart. This should be the foundation of all media companies, and it should be the core of media companies’ focus.”

David Saslav took a sip of water and said: "The Discovery Communications Company is still very old-fashioned. If we want to push better and better content to users, we must further reform and reorganize. This year, I have completed a pair of 5 The banning, reform or reorganization of outdated channels. Next year, it will continue. The first thing to do is the Discovery Health Channel and the Discovery Children’s Channel. If these two channels are not changed, they will really die.”

Tang En said: "The market for HD-DVD is very hot. High definition is a popular concept. It is a good idea to launch high definition channels in due course." (HD means high definition)

"The HD theater channel (HD_Theater) is under test and will definitely be launched next year. It mainly focuses on content popular with male audiences such as automobiles, sports, adventures, and travel." David Saslav said with a smile on his face With a confident smile, "Next year, Discovery Communications will usher in a major partner!"

Jeff Zucker obviously knew the inside story, smiled slightly, and didn't expose it.

Tang En laughed and said: "You even drove away the "New York Times", who would dare to cooperate with you?"

David Saslav laughs: "Oprah Winfrey, queen of talk shows!"

"is her?"

Tang En was quite pleasantly surprised.

If we talk about the United States today, which woman has the greatest and deepest influence and is most loved by the people of the United States?

None other than Oprah!

In the year-end celebrity list published by "Forbes" this year, Twain ranked first without any suspense.

And among the women's rankings——

Nicole Kidman is fourth!

Charlize Theron is third!

Angelina Jolie is number two!

Oprah Winfrey is #1!

In the overall list, Oprah is only behind Twain, Spielberg and Johnny Depp, ranking fourth.

"Vanity Fair" commented on her: "In popular culture, her influence may be greater than that of any university professor, politician or religious leader except the Pope."

Getting Oprah Winfrey on the Discovery Communications Channel was a sensation.

Unexpectedly, there was something even more sensational.

David Saslav said: "The day I took over as CEO of the company, I started contacting her to discuss the possibility of cooperating to launch a cable TV channel. Her influence is too great, talk shows, movies, novels, books, Consumer goods and other fields are involved, and TV stations may not be out of the question.”

Tang En blinked, "You mean...you want to launch a TV channel through a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Oprah Winfrey? Oprah TV?"

The idea of ​​ending my work with The New York Times and switching to Oprah was very strange.

David Saslav smiled, "She has agreed!"

"Agreed?" Tang En was shocked, "Does she have so much energy?"

"The Oprah Show" is a TV program produced by Oprah's television company, and she is the chairman, chief producer and host. After the program is produced, she sells the program to major TV stations to broadcast.

It is the most popular and highest-rated talk show of all time in the United States.

David Saslav's purpose is very simple, to cooperate with Oprah to launch a TV station, and then...monopolize all her TV shows!

"I've convinced her. If nothing else, there will be news in the near future. "Oprah's Talk Show" has been on the air for 18 years, and she plans to broadcast it on September 9, 2006, the 20th anniversary of the broadcast. Come on, end this show. Of course, it is not saying goodbye to TV, but we will focus on our own Oprah TV, a TV channel that only broadcasts the Oprah TV show."

"September 2006..."

Tang En narrowed his eyes slightly.

It's a very clever time.

According to the current plan, New Global will be listed in August 2006.

This woman is really smart!