1RomanceEB Chapter 87 The Mad Dog Tea-Offers a Challenge
Chapter 87 The Mad Dog Tea-Offers a Challenge
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the price surged dramatically.
The Hang Seng Index jumped to 1274 points, prompting investors to cheer and the Hong Kong government to lose its ability to suppress the soaring index.
In fact, as early as January 23, when the United States announced the end of the war in South Vietnam, the economic take-off of Southeast Asia, now free from war, was already inevitable.
Superstitious Hong Kongers believed that the stock market would experience a long bull run in the Year of the Ox, but they didn't realize that the Year of the Ox was a big water buffalo.
Good advice is useless to those who deserve to die; compassion is useless to those who choose to die.
Since we can't suppress it, then we shouldn't try to suppress it. Instead of suppressing it, we should join in. We can't let all the money be taken away by foreign capital, can we?
As a result, large sums of money flowed in, adding another bowl and chopsticks to this feast, the difference being that the real bookmakers were now personally involved.
.........
Luk Yu Tea House, Central.
"Mr. Chen, our distinguished guest has arrived!" The elderly waiter, who was in his forties, reminded him, and Chen Guanjiang immediately stood up to greet him.
The old waiters at Luk Yu Tea House have a keen eye and can remember the preferences of all the upper-class people in Hong Kong. They will proactively brew tea and serve dim sum according to the season and taste without the customers having to order.
Seeing this, the old waiter did not chat as usual. After making tea, adding fuel to the fire, and serving snacks, he retreated in small steps and left without making a sound or closing the door.
"Uncle He, Uncle Wei, Uncle Liu..."
Chen Guanjiang poured tea for them and greeted them. After a few polite words, he got straight to the point: "I want to replace Sing Tao Daily in our collaboration with TVB, and I've come here specifically to seek the opinions of these three senior colleagues!"
Shao Yifu asked calmly, "Why should we support you?"
When TVB was established, it handed over its news programs to Sing Tao Evening Post, but this was only out of respect for Zhou Xinian and was also a way to share some of the profits.
Later, with the downfall of Zhou Xinian, Shao Yifu wanted the Ma family to take over the news program business, but the Oriental Daily News was simply not up to par.
Ming Pao, Sing Pao, Wah Kiu Yip, and Kung Pao Evening Post are all capable of meeting the news program needs of a television station.
However, none of these newspapers had ever joined the Lee family's fold, and Sing Tao Daily's news programs were indeed quite good, so TVB had no intention of changing its partners for the time being.
"Actions speak louder than words."
Chan Kwun-kong responded, "Based on last year's ratings for Sing Tao Evening News, if we can't achieve a 50% increase this year, I will cover all production costs."
"Is this really true?" Li Xiaohe asked in surprise.
"No flowery words!"
“…………”
In this day and age, television stations have not yet gone electronic, let alone digitally measured; the method used to calculate viewership ratings is the very primitive "diary method".
This means that every household in Hong Kong that owns a television will be given a free "viewing diary". The diary lists all the channels and program names in order, and the family will manually record which programs they watch.
The advantage of this statistical method is that it is low-cost and simple. Families who can afford a television are usually literate and willing to jot down notes about their favorite programs when they have free time.
However, the drawbacks are equally obvious. Many people forget to fill in the information or remember the wrong time, or even tamper with it, so the ratings obtained are not accurate.
Forgetting to fill in the information or misremembering the time can be deduced, but only human tampering will render the entire statistical data invalid, which directly affects the core interests of the TV station—GG fees.
Therefore, statistical data must be firmly controlled by the board of directors of Wireless and must never be delegated to others.
That's exactly where the problem lies!
If Chen Guanjiang is not brought into the board of directors, then they can arbitrarily tamper with the statistics, and whether the ratings increase or decrease is entirely up to them.
If Chen Guanjiang wants to obtain accurate statistics, he must hold at least 5% of the shares in Wireless and have a powerful board seat to ensure the authenticity of the statistics.
That is to say!
TVB wants to increase its news program ratings by 50%, which requires it to bring in Chen Guanjiang as a shareholder and a director with real power. The pros and cons make people hesitate, unsure whether to agree or refuse.
Since its inception, Wireless has owned two spectrums, which are two television channels, both of which can only broadcast black and white signals and can only provide four hours of programming time.
It took four years for TVB Jade to transition from black and white signal to color broadcasting, and the programming time was increased to 14 hours a day.
After the morning news, they randomly play something in the morning, mostly testing patterns or no signal.
After the midday news, old movies and TV series or reruns of TV series are shown in the afternoon, and a half-hour children's program is shown in the evening.
After the evening news, there will be a brief weather forecast, followed by the first prime time, the core prime time, and the second prime time.
After the nightly news, they play movies, sports, operas, whatever they like, and finally play "God Save the Queen," then stop the signal transmission and the screen turns into static.
It can be said that news runs through all time slots and is absolutely of paramount importance to television stations.
Chan Kwun-kong is willing to take on news programs, and regardless of whether the programs are successful or not, TVB will be the winner.
Besides!
When Wireless was founded, its authorized total share capital was 2500 million shares. It invested HK$1000 million in the year of its establishment and has needed to invest about HK$500 million every year for the past four years.
Last year, after Zhou Xinian was removed from his position as a director, he stopped investing money according to his shareholding ratio.
Hutchison Whampoa has been expanding recklessly in recent years, accumulating massive debts, and has yet to pay off last year's bad debts.
One-quarter equity investment share;
A funding gap of HK$125 million;
TVB needs to provide 24 hours of programming time, and Diamond Channel will also transition to color broadcasting and meet the 24-hour programming time requirement, which will require further investment of funds for another four to five years.
The subsequent reorganization of the dispersed businesses into a production department under TVB remains uncertain, with the investment required and the timeline seemingly far off.
If Chen Guanjiang could take over Zhou Xinian's 5% stake, take on at least three hours of programming time, and fulfill his promise of a 50% increase in viewership, it wouldn't hurt to give him a powerful director position.
but!
If Chen Guanjiang uses this as a springboard to acquire the 20% stake in Hutchison Whampoa and gain the support of HSBC's 30% stake, he can crush the 40% voting rights held by the "TVB Big Three" with an absolute advantage of 55% stake.
Although Hutchison Whampoa may not sell and HSBC certainly won't support it, the importance of digital media determines the safety of shareholders, and Chen Guanjiang has ample cash flow, so we must be wary.
Fortunately, Chan Kwun-kong did not act on his own initiative. He requested to hold shares in TVB in advance and showed sufficient goodwill.
however!
Chen Guanjiang's foundation is in the media system, so how could he not have any designs on digital media, which holds supreme power in the media industry? We still have to be wary of him.
Shao Yifu still refused, saying, "Yinxun News has no experience in political news, so how can they prove they have the ability to control TVB's news department?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Guanjiang replied with a smile, "I don't know how to prove I have the ability to take over, but I believe I have the ability to bring down Sing Tao Daily's news programs, right?"