King of Hollywood

Chapter 304: Chapter 31 Decided Chapter 304: Chapter 31 Decided “In fact, if we want to continue, this plan doesn’t have too many problems, although expanding into a wireless TV station still requires a lot of resources, such as more local base stations, investing more funds, and so on. My father, Uncle Anderson, and many others would be willing to help, and there’s also the successful example of the FOX TV station under News Corporation,” Claude immediately explained, “But the problem is that there are several issues with this plan that can’t be ignored: the long cycle, the large investment, and the higher risk. We just mentioned News Corporation, and you should know that Murdoch isn’t having an easy time right now.”

“Yes, Charli gave me their information, and I had her organize it specially,” Adrian nodded.

“Although we have advantages, we cannot guarantee that we won’t face a situation like News Corporation’s, and once we truly face their kind of predicament, we definitely won’t last longer than they will,” Claude said while drinking his coffee, “I believe that with you here, there won’t be a problem with the TV station’s ratings; you’ve already proven that. But some things can’t be resolved by ratings alone, Ed, and you’ll have moments when your creativity runs dry, right?”

After saying this, he quietly waited for a moment, letting Adrian digest this information before speaking again, “I realized this a few months ago, but didn’t have a good solution. However, I know that neither you nor I will give up or shrink back; it’s the goal we’ve set long ago and are working hard for. In the end, I consulted with my father, and then he asked me why bother expanding a cable TV station into a wireless one when there’s an option ready at hand? Indeed, think about it, if we can successfully acquire it, both our influence and our voice will undergo a qualitative leap, and as long as you can get ABC out of the red, their network, along with what we have with CNN and TBS, will give us the strength to stand toe-to-toe with networks like CBS!”

“That’s a nice speech,” Adrian clapped symbolically, looking at Claude with a smile that was not quite a smile, “If I remember correctly, I’ve said all of this to you before… made a mistake?”

Claude took a long breath, his facial expression didn’t change too much, “Yes, I made a mistake; I underestimated the operation of television media. But who hasn’t made mistakes? And it’s better to make them now than later, isn’t it?”

“Indeed that’s true. I always remember when you first told me that we didn’t have many advantages,” Adrian looked at his close friend, his gaze tinged with a bit of teasing and annoyance, “Young, lack of accomplishments, and so on.”

“I won’t forget what I said, but these can now be resolved,” Claude suddenly laughed, “Have you seen the recent reports? Then you should be aware of ‘Millionaire’s’ ratings.”

Adrian’s eyebrows raised slightly. Although he focused less on television than on movies, he knew if one had to choose the most watched entertainment program on TV in September, it would be ‘Millionaire’, which debuted three weeks prior.

Enough gimmicks—the ultimate winner could earn a million-dollar prize; a tense atmosphere—contestants had to break through by answering a variety of questions, ranging from easy to hard, and could use methods like asking the audience for help to lower the difficulty; populist measures—simply registering to participate. All these factors made ‘Millionaire’ extremely popular; in the first week it aired, it garnered a rating of 8.6, meaning around 18 million people were watching.

For a cable television station, this was an incredible achievement. Although some newspapers criticized the show as sensationalist, it didn’t stop advertisers from flocking to it and the increasing viewer base.