Chapter 679

"Charles, what are you chatting about so happily?" After Charles finished his conversation with Sumner Redstone, Steve Bernstein, the chairman of ESPN under Disney Group's ABC Television Network, came over.

Charles chuckled, saying, "CBS is interested in FOX's channels, they asked for my opinion."

Steve Bernstein raised an eyebrow, "The most valuable ones under FOX are the news channel FNC, FOX Sports, and FX. Buying those up? FNC is nearly impossible; Congress won't allow a company to own two national news channels. FOX Sports is heavily invested in by News Corporation, and FX has loads of content licensed from FOX!"

"I'm not interested. NBC just had a personnel shake-up, and Capet is going public; I have no energy for this," Charles waved his hand. News Corporation still had its extensive satellite TV market across various continents.

News Corporation had a massive satellite TV expansion with companies like Foxtel in Australia, Sky Broadcasting in Europe, and DirecTV in the USA!

Charles would have been interested in satellite TV and cable TV before. But with the rapid development of the Internet, spending big money on satellite TV and cable TV seemed foolish.

Besides, owning the national broadcasting network NBC was enough, and Netflix would soon face internal competition anyway.

Sumner Redstone, whether he had dementia or not, still had ideas about FOX? Has he even looked at his Viacom and CBS?

Steve Bernstein laughed, NBC had just removed three executive presidents directly: two from NBC News, the other one from CNBC, and three senior executives from NBC Content and Entertainment Production.

One had to admire Charles Capet's daring moves. His plan was bold; although he placed Capet Television Production Studio under NBC Television Network, using Capet TV's production ability ensured a smooth transition of power.

Now, the Jews, who used to control the three major American TV networks, lost the national broadcasting network NBC.

"Charles, Capet has been investing quite a bit in NBC's sports business recently. Planning to venture further into sports?" Steve Bernstein asked.

Charles looked at Steve Bernstein with some pride and said, "My CSE has several teams under it; can't let them go to waste!"

NBC's strong points now included the financial channel CNBC and cable channels USA and Bravo;

Disney's strengths were in children's entertainment and sports entertainment;

CBS excelled in music entertainment and the African American market;

FOX thrived in news channels and was strong in sports and cable TV.

Of course, under Time Warner, CNN and HBO were also top channels!

The competition among TV networks in news, sports, entertainment, and cable TV was intense.

After chatting for a bit more, Steve Bernstein and Charles parted ways.

"Tom, did your Colony Capital and the Qatar Consortium acquire Miramax?" Charles asked Colony Capital's president, Tom Barrack.

Tom Barrack nodded, "When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, they needed to raise funds, so they sold Miramax's assets. Our Colony Capital and the Qatar Consortium were just among the investors. There were also LA builder Ron Tutor, film investors David Bergstein, and James Robinson from Morgan Creek Capital. Together we formed Filard Company to acquire Miramax. Charles, it wasn't cheap; the total price was nearly 700 million dollars. Ron Tutor and Colony Capital alone invested close to $300 million!"

Charles squinted, "Miramax has over 700 movie copyrights, plus hundreds of scripts in the warehouse; it's worth it. You also invited News Corporation's head of business expansion, Mike Long, to manage Miramax. What's the plan?"

Tom Barrack shook his head with a smile, "The company will keep expanding and developing the commercial value of the film library for the next year. As for Miramax's over 300 scripts and more than 90 copyrights, they will be carefully reviewed. Miramax will slow down its film production and distribution next year."

Previously, Disney had already reduced Miramax's film production plans. Now, after Filard Company's acquisition, the development plans were further reduced.

"Recently, more and more capital is flooding into Hollywood," Charles sighed.

"Haha, isn't more capital entering Hollywood better?" Tom Barrack grinned at Charles, "Right, Charles?"

"Certainly, it's good news," Charles recalled that Capet Group was preparing to go public. Capital inflow was definitely a good sign!

Soon, Charles Capet and Tom Barrack exchanged a knowing smile.

...

In the evening, back at the Capet Estate in Beverly Hills, Charles called Phil Griffin, the head of NBC.

"These days, add more fuel to the investigation of the News Corporation eavesdropping case. Get some 9/11 victims to come forward for statements. This year marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11 anyways!"

"Got it..."

After finishing his call with Phil Griffin, Charles called Gavin Newsom to ask how many congressmen Rupert Murdoch had approached recently.

"Before Rupert Murdoch returned, other directors of News Corporation handled things. They had quite a few supporters behind them. It's been 10 years already, and only after the News of the World expose in the UK did the investigation begin here. They probably won't find anything significant. Even if they do, News Corporation has had enough time to cover their tracks. So, this might end up being much ado about nothing!"

"No worries, as long as we evoke public memories of 9/11 and make investors lose confidence in News Corporation, that's fine," Charles didn't care much. As long as he could benefit from it, that's what mattered.

Rupert Murdoch would have to rely on the media to quickly resolve News Corporation's scandal.

CNBC, as one of America's three major financial news channels, would Rupert Murdoch dare not approach him to discuss this?

Charles only wanted some content area copyrights from Twentieth Century Fox. The conditions weren't excessive at all!

*****

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