America 1982-Chapter 367 - 36: Change a Dream
Wolfe listened to Tommy’s words, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably. He opened his arms and shifted his gaze from Tommy to Sophia’s face, hoping Sophia could translate for him:
"What do you mean by bypassing BT Television and starting an entirely new network?"
"I’m sorry, I can’t help you, Wolfe. Nobody knows what the structure of Tommy’s brain is or what he’s thinking, not even me," Sophia said with a slightly apologetic shrug to Wolfe.
"Did I misunderstand the meaning of that sentence, right?" Wolfe digested Tommy’s statement once again, and then he showed a realization, laughing at himself somewhat mockingly, "Actually, Tommy, what you mean is that you want to launch a second channel, BT Television’s second channel, don’t you?"
"No, it’s separate, an entirely different one, existing completely independently from BT Television, and it’s a cable news network," Tommy explained again, looking at Wolfe.
Wolfe opened his mouth but no sound came out, yet both Sophia and Tommy could guess from his mouth shape that Wolfe was probably thinking "WTF."
"You need to lease a satellite and then profit from subscriber fees on this TV network? And it’s a news network?" Wolfe looked at Tommy with a sense of disbelief, the skepticism clear in his voice.
"Yes," Tommy nodded. "That’s the idea."
"Tommy, you can seek your life’s value through founding a television station, but there’s no need to burn money in a blaze or, in other words, investing in founding a satellite news network might as well be like burning the cash—at least that way you could enjoy the visual beauty of the fireworks," Wolfe exhaled deeply:
"Who put this idea in your head? Earl Rash? I was just about to talk to him! I can’t stand by and watch as he rounds up my friend’s hard-earned money with all sorts of lousy investments!" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
Wolfe was truly angry now. In his eyes, this was definitely someone fooling Tommy into investing, then finding ways to embezzle Tommy’s cash, with the main suspect being BT Television’s CEO Earl Rash, that damn lawyer.
Tommy immediately began to explain: "No, it has nothing to do with Earl. I came up with it myself, Wolfe. It’s unrelated to anyone else. The experience of founding BT has made me realize what the television industry really lacks, and it also allowed me to see the limitations and narrowness of my previous ideas. I finally know what I need to do to prove my value."
"And what do you think that is?" Wolfe asked Tommy, restraining his anger.
"To bear witness," Tommy said with a radiant smile.
Wolfe was slightly stunned: "Bear witness?"
"Exactly, to bring all the major events of the future world into American living rooms through satellite. They may not be able to experience those pivotal, history-changing moments thousands of miles away in person, but I can let them witness them from their own sofas," Tommy said, with an almost reverential tone.
Wolfe felt certain at that moment that the current vulgar style of BT Television had nothing to do with Tommy; it must have been caused by that profit-driven lawyer, Earl Rash.
This is the Tommy Hawk that he recognized, just like back then, when this young man had invited him with clear eyes to join BT and create a television station needed by the black community, by which black people could improve and change themselves through BT’s programs and, thereby, transform the stereotypical image of black people.
"Uh... to be honest, the moment you finished that sentence, I thought about coming back," Wolfe, moved, said to Tommy with a smile:
"Your dream is magnificent, but the investment is staggering. It’s not a traditional television network like BT, nor is it traditional television. In the entire United States, there’s only one cable news network—CNN. Eight years since its launch, its founder Turner is desperately selling assets looking for investments. You should know that just three years ago, he ambitiously bought MGM for 1.5 billion, and within merely three years, he has split off and sold MGM for just one billion, only keeping the film library to establish the TNT movie channel, trying to make money through a subscription movie channel to sustain his cable network. These eight years have shown all TV people that news doesn’t make money; on the contrary, it consumes a lot of money. If it weren’t for Turner’s advertising business and several profitable sports teams, and if he hadn’t totally beaten Murdoch yet, he would have already shut down CNN."
"What’s the conflict between him and Murdoch?" Tommy asked, curious upon hearing Wolfe’s words.
He knew that all the major network bosses hated Murdoch with a passion. How much? At the television industry conference held by the FCC in Washington, as the station with the oldest qualifications, the president of NBC, Grant Tick, walked up to the front of the dais, loudly slapping the American flag and the major networks’ program schedules on the wall, and, without any regard for the FOX people sitting below, bluntly stated:
"We, and I, will not stop the emergence of a fourth television network on this soil. With the development of the times and audience demands, its birth is inevitable. But, we believe, it will definitely not be one founded by an Australian thriving on selling lies and pornography."
The profound hatred of the three major networks towards FOX and Murdoch was not because Murdoch poached a large number of talented individuals from them—poaching happens regularly among networks and it’s common for subordinates to resign for a higher offer.
