Chapter 291 Deal
The owner of ATN is Siddhartha Stava, who also lives near Malabar Hill in Mumbai.
As the city of entertainment, most of India's private television stations were first established in Mumbai.
There are not only abundant entertainment resources here, but also the most professional media talents in India.
When Stava founded the Asian Television Network (ATN), he relied on journalists poached from newspapers to support the news broadcast of the Hindi channel.
However, Stava paid more attention to entertainment content. He collected more than 2,000 old feature films and more than 10,000 movie interludes from Bollywood.
He plans to build ATN Gold into a high-quality paid subscription channel, relying on these copyright resources.
ATN has actually been doing quite well since its launch in August 1992. In just under three years, the number of viewers exceeded eight million.
It’s a pity that the number of subscribers to entertainment channels is growing slowly, as the public is still accustomed to watching free programs.
Before launching the TV show, Stava spent a huge sum of money to purchase the copyrights of Bollywood resources, but has not yet made a profit.
To make matters worse, the Russian satellite company they were collaborating with also faced numerous problems. Repeated negotiations between the two sides were fruitless.
Stava simply stopped the TV station from broadcasting, as he wanted to focus on resolving the copyright issue first.
ATN's biggest competitor is Zee TV, which also launched its Bollywood channel Zee Cinema last month.
They all have the same idea, which is to use Bollywood feature films as the core content to attract more paying users.
India's current television media market is not yet sufficient to attract advertisers to invest heavily in it.
This is especially true for private TV stations, which are too small and will have problems operating if they do not launch pay channels.
Zee TV is a latecomer that has surpassed the competition. Not only does its comprehensive channel broadcast 24 hours a day, but this year it has also added a Bollywood movie channel and an English channel.
ATN has already fallen behind in the competition, but Zee TV's owner Subhash Chandra is extremely aggressive.
He launched a movie channel just last month and then issued a strong warning to ATN in June.
Chandra claimed that the copyrights of 21 feature films broadcast by ATN Movie Channel belonged to Zee TV.
This is an infringement, and if ATN does not stop broadcasting immediately, they will formally sue the other party.
Stava just listened to this kind of talk and didn't take it to heart at all.
He refuted Chandra's claims one by one in the newspaper and mocked Zee TV as a clone of All India Television.
As a newly established private television station, most of Zee TV's programs are copies of those of the official All India Television due to issues with experience, content and cost.
The current understanding of copyright in India is roughly this: when something belongs to me, no one can infringe upon it! When something belongs to someone else, I don’t care what they do, I can use it as I please.
The two TV stations engaged in a war of words in the newspapers, each accusing the other of infringing on their rights.
At the same time, in order to enrich their own copyright library, they began to compete for the film libraries of various Bollywood film companies.
ATN is even unwilling to pay the money it owes to the Russian Satellite Company because it is short of funds and plans to keep the money for future copyright acquisitions.
Anyway, the satellite overhead has been malfunctioning every other day, and users in the northern region have not been able to receive any signal for three weeks.
Why broadcast it at this rate? Most of ATN's users are there, so they might as well stop broadcasting and focus on copyright.
It all comes down to lack of money, Stava sighed. So far, the investment has not yielded good returns.
Not only did I not get my capital back, I even lost money.
He originally thought that with India's huge population market, the business should grow rapidly.
Stava still hasn't figured out what the problem is. ATN's English channels mostly reprint news from Reuters and ABC, and the rest are entertainment programs from Thames Productions.
Most families with televisions are middle class, and they should like English channels, but very few of these "elites" are willing to pay.
ATN also has a Bollywood channel specifically for Hindi-speaking people, but the facts, as mentioned above, are still not optimistic.
Stava didn't let these things bother him for too long. He was a returnee and liked to enjoy himself.
Even when the business wasn't going well, he still held parties at home.
The couple's friends are spread across Asia, Europe and America, some from Bhopal, some from New York, and some from Delhi and London.
Friends don’t mind coming into the house without a ready-made dinner, nor do they mind helping to chop onions or mince ginger.
Some rolled up their sleeves to help in the kitchen, some took the opportunity to hide by the window and smoke weed, some lay spread-eagle on the living room floor without any image, letting the boy ride on his belly, or played with the children playing with toy cars.
Stava serves beer, wine, and even spirits. The food is cooked with care and presented however you like.
Sometimes they play music and the kids dance to it, and the guests hang out in small groups, so you can leave and join in the conversation anytime.
There are discussions about the problem of excessive pollution caused by villa decoration, or exchanges of photography skills and the latest film exhibition of a certain master.
Of course, what Stava was asked most often was his TV station, as many of the guests in the room were ATN viewers.
He smiled and said it was just a technical adjustment and asked everyone not to worry.
In fact, he sighed secretly and was considering whether to take out two bank loans.
However, ATN borrowed a lot of money when it was first established and has not yet repaid it. It is estimated that it will be difficult for any bank in Mumbai to lend to it.
Stava was just about to go to the balcony to relax when the servant came over to announce that there was a phone call.
He wanted to refuse, but after hearing who was on the other end of the phone, he immediately hurried to the phone.
After a few words, Stava left the room full of guests and went out.
Twenty minutes later, he met Ron at the Ocean Plaza Hotel near the Seaside Boulevard.
"Mr. Suhl, I've heard a lot about you." Stava stepped forward quickly.
"Hello, please sit down." Ron smiled and shook hands with him.
The five-star hotel here was very close to Malabar Hill. Ron was too lazy to go far, so he decided to meet here.
The scenery outside is nice. Across the road is the golden beach and the sapphire sea, and a cool breeze is blowing.
"Excuse me for disturbing you." Ron picked up his glass.
"I happen to be free today. Look, it's a perfect time to go out for a drink with friends." Stava clinked glasses with him with a smile on his face.
He is older than Ron, but in terms of career achievements, he is completely superior to Karami.
Sur Electric sells hundreds of thousands of televisions every month, but its business figures are completely different from those of its TV stations.
Stava kept his eyes on the opposite side, and couldn't help but wonder what good news this big guy had for him.
Yes, with Ron's current status, he can indeed be called a "big boss" in Mumbai's business community.
"Mr. Stava, let me be frank. I want to buy your ATN TV station."
"What?"
"I heard the TV station is in some trouble."
"Uh, just a small problem." Stava recovered from the shock.
"I'm not taking advantage of the situation, I really want it. You can name your price."
"I don't understand," Stava sighed. "Why would you suddenly want to run a TV station?"
"I'm not doing this on a whim, and I'm not a layman. I also have a company called Sun Entertainment, which specializes in Bollywood business." Ron smiled.
"Well, that's surprising."
Sun Entertainment is not a big company in the media industry, so it is normal that Stava has never heard of it.
He was just surprised at Ron's pace of expansion. Sol Electric had risen fast enough, and now it was the turn of the media industry.
“I knew ATN was facing financial problems and I also knew that Zee TV was lurking around.
This situation is difficult, and the TV station won't have significant revenue in the short term. You might consider selling it. I guarantee on my reputation that you won't suffer any loss."
"Honestly, this was a bit sudden," Stava sighed.
The operating pressure of the TV station certainly made him feel unhappy. Just now he was still thinking about where to get the money.
But when it comes to selling it, he hasn't really considered it. He put a lot of effort into building ATN, and while it's been bumpy over the past three years, he's also become attached to it.
But the person sitting in front of me was Mr. Sur, who had an exceptionally good reputation in Mumbai.
Since he said he would not let himself suffer any loss, Stava was sure that ATN would be sold at a good price.
After returning from studying abroad, he was cheated countless times by local Indian businessmen. He vowed that he would never trust any promises in future business dealings.
But Mr. Sur was an exception. He was a good man and had never broken his promise, a fact recognized throughout India.
Stava was a little conflicted. He was worried that if he missed this offer, he would never have such a good opportunity again.
It is true that ATN is his hard work, but it has also become a burden.
"I heard that you invested more than 200 million rupees in setting up this TV station?" Ron asked.
"Yes." Stava remained calm.
“Most of it is bank loans, right?”
“That’s how business works.”
"Right." Ron smiled and took a sip of his wine.
"I have full confidence in ATN. We are gaining more and more users, and good times are yet to come."
"That doesn't even make back the money, the loan still needs to be repaid."
How can we chat today if Stava doesn't speak?
"How about this, 300 million rupees, let's make friends." Ron poured him a glass of wine.
"300 million?" Stava held his breath.
This price is damn, it makes my heart beat.
"I want everything about ATN: the employees, the copyright library, the TV network, the distribution channels.
You take the money and leave, and the bank debt will be yours. However, I can advance you the debt owed to the satellite company."
"Wow, Mr. Sur is really a straightforward person." Stava couldn't help but praise.
The offer of 300 million rupees was really good. He had borrowed more than 100 million rupees from the bank and had paid back half of it in three years.
Those more than 2,000 films and more than 10,000 songs actually didn't cost that much at the time, less than 60 million rupees.
After converting these costs and assets, Stava still made a net profit of more than 100 million rupees.
This is the profit he made in three years of entrepreneurship. How many companies in Mumbai can make so much now?
That Zee TV is not doing well either, they are probably just breaking even now.
"Well? There's no better offer in Bombay." Ron looked at him.
"Deal! But I have one condition."
"explain."
"If Suer Electric goes public in the future, please don't refuse my investment. Of course, the amount is up to you."
"Okay." Ron smiled.
This Stava is quite interesting, at least he has good taste.
PS: I’ve been too busy with work recently, guys, I’ve been typing until midnight every day, I’ve really tried my best
(End of this chapter)
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