Feature Shows Extravaganza - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Free Broadcast Rights

Translator: Henyee Translations

Editor: Henyee Translations

The meetings with the TV channels worked extremely well.

As a citizen of Jiangchuan, Meng Lang naturally thought of the local children’s channel first, which was also the first TV channel he went to.

The Jiangchuan TV channel had five subchannels, whose satellite relay signal covered the whole country. The children’s channel might not have been as famous as the comprehensive channel or the news channel, but in a first-tier city with a population of tens of millions, it did have quite a few loyal viewers.

During their initial contact, the channel didn’t seem that eager to purchase the show.

“A feature show? I’m not sure it’s for the children’s channel. Plus, yo-yos can be dangerous toys and the parents might get concerned…” Mr. Tao, the man receiving Meng Lang, shook his head.

As expected, this show would never get broadcasted on a satellite channel through purchasing.

Meng Lang was no fool. He could see the look of suspicion in Mr. Tao’s eyes that this show was going to be crappy and that he didn’t trust Blazing Teens.

“I’m sorry, but at the moment, we don’t have spare…”

Before Mr. Tao could finish, Meng Lang, who was sitting opposite him, knew that he was getting a no for an answer.

But that was expected!

Meng Lang wasn’t nervous, but showed his master card in an unhurried tone. “Mr. Tao, please bear with me! Let’s forget the quality of Blazing Teens for a moment. How much do you think it’s worth, an exclusive first round broadcast right of this show?”

“Well…”

Mr. Tao thought that as a TV professional, he had seen it all, but he had never met a producer who negotiated like Meng Lang did.

Shouldn’t the production company have said their price first, then the TV channels could disagree? After that, the two sides would negotiate back and forth like one would in a food market. Only after that would they reach a perfect deal. Right?

Asking the TV channel to name their price sounded like a joke. If they had it their way, TV channels would love to have the broadcast rights for free.

But it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the production company would never agree to that.

Although he had turned Blazing Teens down, the conclusion was made based on the regular purchase price of a show. If the price was low enough, of course Mr. Tao wouldn’t say no to Blazing Teens.

Hence, he tentatively raised a single finger.

“100,000 per episode?”

“No, 10,000!”

Meng Lang was rendered speechless.

Although he knew that the show was a crappy one, it was still a five-million production. Meng Lang was ready to give out the broadcast rights for free, but he still would have liked to know how much it would sell for if he were to sell the rights in the typical manner.

It never occurred to him that each episode was worth only 10,000…

If the completed 40-episode Blazing Teens were to be sold at that price, he would suffer such a tremendous loss!

Even if he could earn from the second-round broadcast right and an exclusive online broadcast right, the revenue still wouldn’t be able to cover the cost!

He was right. The idea of making money from selling the broadcast rights was unrealistic.

Mr. Tao had probably taken Meng Lang for an outsider who didn’t know much about the industry, so he tried to explain it to him. “Is it okay if I call you Xiao Meng?”

“Sure! Mr. Tao, feel free to say anything you want!”

“Let me be straight with you. Frankly, your Blazing Teens is so crudely made. We might be a children’s channel, but we still have quite high standards on the shows we purchase. You won’t get any premium on the show and 10,000 is a very reasonable price,” said Mr. Tao earnestly, but Meng Lang only shook his head repeatedly.

Did this man really take him for a layman?

“A reasonable price?” Meng Lang didn’t make all those cliche shows in his previous life for nothing!

Meng Lang had done some research on the development of films and TV shows in this world, which was pretty much the same as the world he came from. Probably because of the crackdown on piracy, the film and television industry here was doing slightly better.

Both worlds were roughly on the same timeline, which was around year 2014 of his original world.

It was already 2014 and the channel was still offering that low a price?

No matter which world’s standard, that was anything but reasonable!

Take some recent shows for example. As Meng Lang knew, “Legend of Zhen Huan”, the hit TV show that was broadcasted on satellite channels in 2012, was sold at an exorbitant price of 1.9 million per episode in the first round! Even its exclusive online broadcast rights were sold for 0.3 million per episode.

“The Empress of China”, the hit TV show in 2014, was sold at a price of 2.5 million per episode in the first round and its exclusive online broadcast rights were sold for 1 million per episode!

Of course, Blazing Teens was nothing like those hit shows. There were no famous actors or actresses, no PR, and even no fine production work.

But no one knew if a show would turn out to be a hit one when the broadcast right was being sold. People only thought it was promising because of the estimated viewing rate.

Since the TV channels would always take a risk on the viewing rate of a show, why should Blazing Teens be sold at 1/200 of their price?

Ha!

Taking a deep breath, Meng Lang fought back his discontent and spoke in a crisp manner. “What if I tell you that I’m willing to let you broadcast Blazing Teens for free?”

“What?!”

Mr. Tao was astonished, so much so that he thought he was hearing things.

Did he hear it right? For free?

What kind of production company would do that?

After everything they invested in making that show, they were going to give it out for free and get nothing in return?”

“Yes! You heard me right! It’s free!”

Seeing that he had successfully shocked the old fox, Meng Lang smiled. “I’m going to give your channel the first-round broadcast rights for free, but it’s not exclusive. Mr. Tao, that won’t be a problem, will it?”

“No, of course not!” Mr. Tao shook his head repeatedly, then asked in a trance-like state. “The exclusive rights won’t be a problem, but I just don’t get it. What’s in it for you?”

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

The food was either poisonous or it was a bait for some long-term scheme to get more money out of them at a late stage.

Mr. Tao was eager to find out what Meng Lang’s hidden agenda was.

He could accept an unconditional free show, but if there were any additional requirements, he would send Meng Lang right out of the door.

Having been working in the industry for all these years, Mr. Tao had met some shrewd production companies who claimed to give the channel the broadcast rights for free, but were in fact trying to take up the prime time advertising slot for an entire year.

As the saying went, prolonged illness made a doctor out of a patient. By now, Mr. Tao had grown immune to the word “free”. As astonished as he was, he still remained composed.

“Of course, my purpose is to sell toys!” thought Meng Lang.

Seeing that Mr. Tao still hadn’t figured it out, Meng Lang cleared his throat and said, “Well… Mr. Tao, have you watched Blazing Teens yet?”

“A little… You came before I could finish the show.” Mr. Tao nodded.

“Then, you must have realized that the purpose of this show is to sell yo-yos, right?”

“Yo-yos? Right! That’s it!”

Smacking his own forehead, Mr. Tao saw light. “I see it now! You’ve made this show to make profits from its peripheral products!”

“Yes, that’s my plan!”

Selling broadcast rights could never be as profitable as selling yo-yos.

How much could a Power Silver with flashy packaging be sold for? It was the same yo-yo Li Fei, the protagonist of Blazing Teens used.

10 yuan?

Forget about it. That would only cover the cost!

With such a yo-yo that had been patented and without piracy issues, 50 to 60 would be a very reasonable price.

Did that sound pricey?

Because it was pricey!

Those who thought the price was exorbitant were those who had to pay for the yo-yo themselves, who were surely not Meng Lang’s targeted customers.

Then, who were they?

Kids, of course, who didn’t have to pay for their toys!

To them, there was no difference between 50 yuan and 5 yuan, since their parents were the ones paying for them.