MGM is the most powerful of the eight major Hollywood film studios, has the most movie stars, and is also the film studio with the largest film library.
Mayer is the chairman of the Oscar Committee and has a very high status in the film industry. If ABC can merge with MGM, it will be of great benefit to ABC.
However, Hardy would not sell off the shares of ABC Broadcasting Company. MGM's participation would be icing on the cake, but it didn't matter if MGM didn't join. Hardy was still confident that he could make ABC the best broadcasting company in the United States.
"Hardy, are you robbing? Do you think ABC is worth hundreds of millions of dollars?!" Mayer said angrily.
Hardy smiled and said, "Mr. Meyer, I can guarantee that you can buy 20% of ABC shares with 20 million this year, but you will definitely not be able to buy it at this price next year."
"I can invest in other broadcasting companies or even start my own TV station," Mayer said unhappily.
"Haha, we already have ABC. I dare say that the new TV station will not be able to develop at all. NBC and CBS will also be left behind by us." Hardy said.
"So confident?"
"I've done so many businesses, and you've never seen me fail," said Hardy.
Hardy is also a professional at deceiving people. He can recruit powerful partners so that he can quickly become powerful and make a lot of money.
"Okay, Hardy, let's talk about this later." Meyer felt that the price Hardy offered was too high.
"Mr. Meyer, my airline will open in a few days. I would like to invite you to join. I will have someone send the invitation to you when the time comes," said Hardy.
"I will definitely participate then," said Meyer.
......
After two months of preparation, HD Airlines has completed its preparations and is preparing to officially open today. In fact, it started trial operations a month ago, and after a month of adjustment, it is now running smoothly.
los angeles airport.
HD Airlines held a simple yet grand opening ceremony.
It is simple because there is only a simple opening ceremony held at the airport, and guests are invited to witness it. There are not many arrangements.
It's grand mainly because the guests here today are too conspicuous.
California State Councilman Nixon, Los Angeles Mayor, Wells Fargo President, and MGM Studios boss Mayer.
These people are actually fine.
But there was also a group of Hollywood stars who came at the same time, the biggest names included Gary Grant, Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, Hedy Lamarr and dozens of other stars.
Any celebrity here can attract crowds, but now there were dozens of them all at once. The airport was packed with people who had rushed in after hearing the news. Some passengers had just got off the plane and were standing in the hall with their luggage, refusing to leave. Some were preparing to board the plane and even canceled their flights just to see the celebrities.
There were as many as three to four thousand people gathered in the hall. Fortunately, there were HD security personnel responsible for the safety of the venue, so no disturbance occurred.
Hardy, Nicholson, the mayor of Los Angeles, the president of Wells Fargo, and Mayer went on stage to cut the ribbon, which was greeted with applause.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, HD Airlines President Franklin came to the stage and loudly introduced the situation of HD Airlines.
HD Airlines is headquartered in Los Angeles, with a total of three air hubs: Los Angeles, New York and Kansas in the central part of the country. It serves more than 20 cities including San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas, Denver, etc.
Including passenger and freight transport.
"The company plans to add 50 more aircraft in the next five years and provide flights to more than 50 cities across the country."
"The concept of HD Airlines is to create an 'air bus' to make people's travel as convenient as taking a bus. To save money for customers, starting today, the airline will offer discounts across the board. Based on the ticket prices set by the aviation management department, the discounts will be 70% to 90% off, so that everyone can afford to fly."
"As long as you take HD Air, you can enjoy super discounts and points activities. Every time you take a flight, the airfare will be converted into points. The next time you take HD Air, you can use the points to buy air tickets."
......
The news of HD Airlines' official opening was published in the newspaper.
At first, people were attracted by such a luxurious star lineup, but it is understandable if you think about it. HD Airlines is Hardy's industry, and Hardy is a Hollywood tycoon. Even if he didn't invite these stars, they would probably rush over.
Then people were shocked by the discounts offered by HD Airlines.
The lowest price is 70% off.
Good fellow.
This is a situation where they lose money to gain publicity. Can an airline still make money with a 70% discount?
And then there is the points system.
This is very attractive to frequent flyers, as they can save money on top of the discounts.
Many people realize that a price war in the airline industry is about to begin, and HD Airways will be the first to fire the first shot. If other airlines do not keep up, HD Airways will likely take away a lot of their passenger traffic.
But ordinary people will definitely welcome this kind of thing, after all, the beneficiaries are the people who fly.
Of course, some people have complained about HD Airlines.
During the trial operation period, they also carried a lot of passengers, and these passengers' evaluation of HD Airlines was just one word.
Pick.
HD Airlines is too picky.
No food or drinks were provided on the plane, not even water. The most annoying thing was that there was no flight attendant on the plane. The waiters were all men, and the only facility on the plane was the toilet.
"The plan to build an air bus is really catching up with long-distance buses."
Some people also complained that the seats were too narrow and that fat people felt like they were stuck inside. Someone calculated that HD Air's planes have eight or nine more seats than other airlines' planes. How could passengers sit comfortably with such a narrow space?
Although there are many things that people complain about, HD Airlines has been packed every day since its official opening. Only when its flights are full will people take other airlines' planes during the same time period.
A passenger who took HD Airlines said with a smile, "I don't care if there is service or not. I don't take a flight for vacation or to see the flight attendants. My only goal is to reach my destination, and HD Airlines can definitely do that."
"People have said a lot about its shortcomings, but its biggest advantage is that it is cheap. The ticket I bought is half the price of other airlines. I can save $50 on $100."
"50 dollars is my income after a week of hard work. I can earn 50 dollars by enduring three or four hours. I think there is no better way to make money than this. In fact, you can see how difficult it is to buy HD Airlines tickets."
There are far more poor people than rich people in this world.
In order to save a little money, people are willing to take cheaper flights. So what if there is no food? I can bring my own. So what if there is no stewardess? 50 dollars can buy a prettier stewardess.
Rich people say HD Air is rubbish, then the rich people should just go and take other airlines. It is already very difficult to buy HD Air tickets now, so they just leave the seats for us poor people.
As for the slight discomfort, it will pass if you just bear with it.
......
That day, ABC TV station president Fox and Irina came to see Hardy to report to him on the progress of the broadcasting company.
"The TV station structure has been completed, all departments have staff in place, and several studios have been renovated. News programs, makeup programs, and interview programs can be produced. There is also a large studio under construction. The large studio can accommodate hundreds of viewers at the same time and produce large-scale programs."
"The lines connecting to other TV stations have been checked again and are completely fine. Broadcasting is guaranteed."
"Sesame Street has recorded 10 episodes, each lasting one hour. We have recruited 12 puppet actors, plus the big star Elizabeth Taylor to join us. The quality of the recorded program is very high, and I believe the children will like it."
"I have asked Edward, and now Ultraman has produced 5 episodes, which basically guarantees one episode every two days, and each episode is 45 minutes long."
"We have found six hosts for the TV shopping program, three men and three women, all of whom graduated from the hosting program at the University of Southern California. Boss, you said before that you wanted to find those who are particularly passionate. I have already interviewed them, and they are all very good." Irina said.
“The progress of purchasing movie sources is not very optimistic. We have only bought some movies from small companies and some documentaries. After all, our selection criteria are very strict and we will not accept junk movies.
"The big movie studios don't want to sell good movies, especially award-winning movies. They say these movies can still be shown in theaters to make money. If they are sold to TV stations for free, then this movie will no longer make money in the future."
"So far, we have only bought 35 movies and 62 documentaries, with an average price of $2,800. These are all movies that have no chance of being released further."
Hardy did some calculations and realized that he had spent nearly $300,000 on these movies and documentaries. It has to be said that running a TV station is really a money-burning job.
He understood the thinking of those film companies. In fact, the possibility of making money by re-released old movies was very low, unless they were super classic movies like "Gone with the Wind", "Casablanca" and "Broken Bridges".
Even for "A Fistful of Dollars" and the currently released "Leon", Hardy did not guarantee that they would continue to be released in theaters.
The bigger idea of the film companies is that they don’t want TV stations to get more resources, because TV stations and film companies are originally in a competitive relationship. The better the TV station develops, the more share of the film will be eaten up by it.
"So it can be broadcast now?" Hardy asked.
"Yes, boss. It can be broadcast now. You decide on the broadcast date and ABC will be officially online." Fox said.
Hardy took out an old almanac and began to look through it.
This thing was something Hardy specifically asked Han Ye-jin to buy for him. It was written in traditional Chinese characters, but fortunately most of it was recognizable.
He looked at the almanac.
Three days later was a good day, and it was Saturday, a day off, so it was a good time for the whole family to watch TV at home.
“It will be aired in three days!”
Fox and Irina were both very curious. The boss took out a book with many strange pictures on it, looked at it, and then decided on the opening date.
Is it a magic book? !
The next day.
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and other major newspapers all published an advertisement on the front page of the advertising page: "ABC Radio Company is officially back on the air."
Attached below is a program list.
People were surprised to find that ABC TV's programs were broadcast around the clock, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
You know, the other two national TV stations only have 5 hours of programming every day.
Morning News Broadcast, 8:00-8:30 a.m.
8:30~10:00, "Estee Lauder Teaches You Makeup".
10am~12pm, documentary "The Raid on Pearl Harbor".
12:00-12:30, "Midday News Report".
12:30-18:00, "TV Shopping".
18:00, "Colorful Cartoons ~ Sesame Street".
19:00, "MTV Time".
At 19:30, "Andy Economic Forum".
8 p.m., The Tonight Show with Elaine.
At 21:30, the movie "A Fistful of Dollars" ended at 12:00.
This list of TV programs has shocked countless Americans. Judging from the names, these programs must be very good, and they also include last year's hit movie "The Red Dead Redemption."
ABC even broadcasts this kind of video, which shows how much investment it has made.
Many people were surprised after watching it and said, "My God, after the change of owner of ABC Radio, how much money has been invested in producing the program? The TV is free, will this owner lose a lot of money?"
"I heard that the person who bought ABC is the boss of HD Security. He should be able to hold out. I hope he can. After all, we can watch the show."
The top executives of NBC and CBS also paid attention to ABC's advertisements. After all, they are the only three television stations in the United States that can cover the entire country.
After reading the program list, the president of NBC Broadcasting said with a smile, "Mr. Hardy must have invested a lot of money to produce so many programs. An outsider has no idea how expensive it is to produce a TV program. Now they don't have a penny of advertising income and rely entirely on their own money. I estimate that he won't last more than a month."
"President, should we add more programs?" asked a vice president.
The president shook his head. "Our advertising revenue has just reached a balance with our program expenses. A few days ago, at the board meeting, the chairman said that we should try to make the TV station profitable in the second half of the year. It costs money to put on programs, but the board will not agree to that."
"But now ABC is going to broadcast it around the clock, which will definitely attract a large number of viewers and cause our ratings to drop. I'm afraid it will be difficult to guarantee the advertising fees for the second half of the year." said the vice president.
"Don't worry. The Blue Network is just an empty shell. I don't believe they can come up with anything in a short period of time. Let's wait and see."
CBS Radio also attaches great importance to ABC's rebroadcast, especially ABC's round-the-clock broadcast. Isn't this a distraction? The top management held a special meeting to discuss how to deal with it. The final conclusion is to wait and see.
After all, what supports the ratings of a TV station is not only the length of time, but also the ratings effect. Now ABC has invested so much. If it messes up and the ratings don’t go up, they won’t be able to collect advertising fees. I’m afraid that boss won’t be able to hold on for long.
Just watch the show first.