America 1982-Chapter 290 - 14: Saving Her
Martin sat in the conference room, feeling uneasy, more out of his element than when he mixed with the black folks on the streets of Compton. Those black people didn’t know he was a phony big shot,
but in this BT Television meeting room, everyone knew he was just Tommy’s driver, yet they still allowed him to sit at the conference table and attend the meeting. Even Old Page had to stand aside, while he could sit proudly next to Tommy, which took him by surprise.
"I’ve conducted several more surveys within California, focusing on cities like Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Most black families turn on their TVs at six in the morning and leave them on all day until the late-night shows end. Women tend to turn on the TV between six and seven in the morning while making breakfast, tuning into news talk shows, which are likely their only significant source of important news, mainly from several local California stations with news talk shows, such as Good Morning Pasadena, The Donna Show, and Breakfast News—none of which are particularly serious news talk shows..." Sean Lei, the Vice President of Public Relations for the TV station, moved slowly around the table as he spoke, his eyes on the document in his hands as he shared the survey results:
"These programs are characterized by their frank, bold, and irresponsible nature. They spread gossip as if it was news. For example, last week Breakfast News reported that a famous fortune teller predicted a magnitude 10 earthquake would hit California last Saturday... Reportedly, on the day the news aired, at least seven convenience stores in California were emptied by idiots who believed the report, and the police arrested dozens of homeless suspects for looting."
"Next up is prime time, which is mainly dominated by popular series produced by the three major television networks. However, FOX has emerged as a strong contender, their prime time viewership already biting at the heels of the third-place ABC network, and the majority of FOX’s audience overlaps with ours, mostly lower-middle-class viewers. Even their approach to creating programming is similar, attracting viewers with low-cost but sensational original programs."
"The hottest of FOX’s original programs airs during prime time and is called America’s Most Wanted. This weekly program reports on America’s ten most notorious crimes of the week, interviews criminals and police officers, brings on policemen and sociologists as guests for commentary, and includes a weekly ranking. Many from the lower strata eagerly await in front of their computers to watch the show, and gangs try to get their members featured on it. Privately, they call the program ’Oscars of the Gang World.’ It’s currently aired nine episodes and is FOX’s hottest show. Thanks to this program, FOX was able to negotiate with 57 local stations to join, spreading FOX’s programs and commercials to 70% of the nation. During the program, FOX airs four thirty-second ads, charging $185,000 per thirty seconds, which means ad revenue from a single episode is $780,000, while the cost per episode is only $350,000."
"Moreover, I’ve learned that they’re working on a derivative variety show called America’s Strongest Cop, also known as Find You, a reality documentation of police captures, likely to replace Most Wanted."
Rick was surprised to hear about the low costs from Sean, "Why is their cost per episode so low?"
"Because the Murdoch Group bought the entire 20th Century Fox Film Company, including their television production department, for $575 million, ensuring they controlled every aspect from the start, reducing production costs while avoiding being under someone else’s thumb," Sean explained:
"Though we don’t plan to enter the daytime soap opera arena for now, we’ve still conducted some research. Unsurprisingly, the daytime soap opera timeslot continues to be the main dish for the three major networks, with the highest-rated soaps being Days of Our Lives, All My Children, Marrying with Children, and Roseanne."
"Late-night programming is split among the late-night shows of the three major networks. However, FOX produced Late Night: Starring Rivers, aiming to compete with CBS’s Late Night: Starring Carson. But so far, the results haven’t been very good. They’ve burnt through $23 million since it started, yet the viewership is not even half of that of its competitor. FOX internally is considering axing it and designing a new late-night show, tentatively called Marrying with Children, a reality sitcom."
"That’s all for my market data. Next, Er will talk about the collaboration work of the television station," Sean closed his document and returned to his seat, looking around before he began.
"Thank you, Sean," Earl Rash gently adjusted his tie and stood up, "Lately, through networking and alumni relations, I’ve started preliminary contacts with some independent stations in Illinois and California. These stations are the dregs the three major networks and FOX overlooked. So, my job right now is like panning for gold in a cesspit, finding those stations that might just have potential to ride with us to the top."
"Generally speaking, stations that are about to shut down and have viewership worse than the poorest student’s report card welcome us. They can’t wait for us to save them with our programs since we don’t charge them a franchise fee and it saves them a bundle on programming expenses. Those with slightly better viewership want to wait and see. Most of them hope we allow them to air half of the ads they’ve secured themselves during our programs for a profit, wanting to leverage their viewership for maximum benefit."
