Chapter 374 The Hearst Family’s Thoughts

When Li Xinyu called her second sister, Abel's sister-in-law and second sister-in-law, they met at 138 East 65th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Abe Smith is on the 30th floor of the Smith Tower.

Smith Tower has a total of 57 floors, but only the 42 floors below are large enough for office space.

On floors above the 43rd floor, the office area is smaller than the previous one.

So much so that Abel used the top 5 floors as his private residence.

The headquarters of Abel's companies with a relatively large number of employees are all below the 43rd floor.

This is because the office buildings below the 43rd floor of the Smith Tower have enough area for companies with a large number of employees to work.

Like the restructured and redeveloped headquarters of AMC Television Group.

It occupies the entire 29th and 30th floors.

There are about 400 to 500 employees working in it.

Of course, if you include the employees of the entire AMC Television Group, the number is more than that.

AMC Television Group has several other studios and divisions in Queens and Brooklyn.

Not to mention that in many areas covered by the channel, there are also corresponding maintenance management personnel.

After the expansion, AMC, which is determined to become a new television network group, has already done a lot of work.

The number of personnel alone has increased by at least 10 times compared to before.

What's here in Smith Tower is just the headquarters of the television group.

In the TV Group headquarters, the largest conference hall.

AMC Television Group CEO Michael Ovitz.

and group president and chief content officer Richard Plepler.

and other senior executives of Yiying TV Group.

They were all in the conference hall, listening to the voice from the big boss.

Abel was sitting on the main seat, talking eloquently——

"... As we all know, the rapid rise of cable television networks is closely related to the Hollywood writers' strike in the middle of this year and lasted until September this year."

"The writers' strike has led to the suspension of many popular dramas. This has indeed dealt a heavy blow to traditional television organizations such as ABC and NBC that rely on advertising for profit."

Having said that, work strikes and taking to the streets are too common in various industries in the United States.

Guilds in various industries in Hollywood will shut down almost every few years to demand salary increases and benefits.

With so many types of workers coming every few years, the entire Hollywood has a strike organized by a certain type of workers' union every one or two years.

Over time, Hollywood or the American entertainment industry has adapted to this tone.

This kind of shutdown and strike is not limited to Hollywood and the entertainment industry.

Other industries in the United States also often do this, including in commercial sports leagues.

For example, the NBA has only been around for 40 years, but it has already been suspended five times.

MLB, which has a longer history, has also been suspended seven times from 2001 to now.

The most serious shutdown dates back to 1994.

It was the most serious labor dispute in MLB history, lasting for 232 days. The players' strike brought an abrupt end to the season, the World Series was canceled, and the 1995 season was also shortened.

This kind of thing is not only done by screenwriters in Hollywood.

There are frequent strikes in various industries in the United States. According to some statistics, there are more than 10 large-scale work strikes in the United States every year.

The number of small ones taking to the streets and so on cannot be counted at all.

Americans are used to it anyway. After all, if you are not used to it, you have to adapt to it.

There is no doubt that whether it is the NBA or Major League Baseball or the Writers Guild.

All of their strikes have the presence of the (AFL-CIO), that is, the American Federation of Labor-Confederation of Industrial Unions.

This is what they do, professionally.

"...The shutdown of screenwriters has had little impact on cable TV networks that rely on audience fees to make money. It is easy to see from the 2001 Emmy Award nominations. Cable TV networks are likely to take this opportunity to share the world with mainstream TV stations.

It will bring about huge changes in the future competition pattern of American TV dramas."

Abel looked at the executives of AMC Television Group.

"In the new year, new TV series must be launched as soon as possible. As long as they are approved, don't skimp on production fees. What we want are high-quality dramas. We want all users to understand and get used to one thing. AMC's products, whether cable or

Wireless will be high-quality products! Only in this way will they watch our TV stations."

AMC Television Group is currently in a period of wild growth.

In just a few months, it successively acquired more than 50 independent and regional TV stations.

Among them are elite TV stations like Bloomberg TV.

Within the group, at the request of Abel and under the supervision of Smith Media executives, an internal adjustment has been made.

After the adjustment, the TV group will be divided into two major departments.

One is through several major TV networks, including Wireless Public Television.

The target of this part is NBC and other giants. There is no charge for programs and channel content. It pursues coverage and ratings and mainly makes money from advertising.

The logos of these TV stations and affiliated channels will be blue in the future.

It's called Blue AMC.

Since ancient times, red and blue produce CP, and when there is blue, there will be red.

Blue label AMC is a wireless station, a public station, and a free station.

The red label AMC is a pay station and a cable station.

According to the internal positioning of the group, the main direction of red label AMC in the future is high-quality drama series, which are still the kind of dramas with a bit of HBO flavor, and are pursuing paid subscriptions.

According to Abel's requirement, that is to surpass HBO and become a big player in the paid cable station industry.

There will not be too many red-label AMC channels, and they will only launch three to four channels, each targeting different viewing groups.

For example, one channel will be more HBO than HBO, but the other channel will be a little more convergent.

In addition to red and blue, there will also be a pink label AMC.

As for this pink label, you can tell by looking at the color that it is positioned to be a bit pink. It is a TV station that specializes in broadcasting high-quality 18+ programs.

According to these standards, Pink Label will not even bear the name of AMC, but will use another name independently.

So as not to affect AMC's integrity and brand.

Then the TV series and programs of red label AMC are also time-sensitive.

A year or six months later, you can also see the abridged version on the popular blue-label AMC.

Try to make one drama multi-purpose, and the paid cable and free wireless services should be integrated with each other to attract ratings.

The entire television group hopes to target audiences of all ages, young and old, and serve all Americans and some foreign publics.

As a subsidiary of Smith Media, it is almost as important a television group as MGM Group.

Abel has always attached great importance to AMC Television Group.

No, it hasn't been long since I came back to New York.

Come over here for a meeting to let the senior executives of AMC Television Group know the intentions of his chairman.

"Understood, boss." Michael Ovitz nodded in response with a serious expression.

Richard Plepler also nodded.

"Have the crew prepared for a documentary about China?"

Abel looked at the Plepler executive on his right and asked.

Plepler and Michael have a clear division of labor. One person is responsible for developing the group's business, mainly acquiring TV stations to expand its scale.

Plepler is responsible for operations and administration, and most importantly content production, for which he is an expert.

As for what Abel is talking about now, it was at the cocktail party at the Shilla Hotel not long ago.

Abel has communicated with envoys from many countries in Korea.

Among them, I had a good chat with the envoy Wang from China.

The king's envoy has been inviting Abel to visit China as a guest.

Abel smiled the whole time and didn't say much about the invitation.

But he promised the envoy Wang that he would appropriately increase his investment in China.

Among them are investments in the entertainment industry and the television industry.
To be continued...