King of Hollywood
Chapter 638 - 46 AT&T Broadband

Chapter 638: Chapter 46 AT&T Broadband

It’s a good thing I asked casually in the coffee shop back then; otherwise, I would have missed a lot of fun. Dennis has always been full of surprises. The love triangle that caused quite a stir was a grand drama that Adrian watched for a long time. As for the ridiculous events on the engagement night, even though only Adrian knew about them, it was enough to make him burst into laughter.

However, there are still many unclear things, like how Winona turned out to be a lesbian, how Aniston ended up in bed with Winona, and how Courtney ended up sharing this news with Dennis. Adrian decided not to pry too much; after all, it was his family business. Well... The previous one was just some advice from a friend’s perspective, haha.

Right, maybe I could also arrange for some journalists to follow up; maybe they could dig up some sensational news. I believe Dennis should be able to handle those two women, and then there will be more fun to watch.

Although Adrian planned like this, what happened next was beyond his expectations. Dennis didn’t do as he said. Instead, after calming down, he had a good talk with Winona and Aniston, and then... Winona actually announced that she had truly fallen in love with Aniston!

"She says she wants to compete with me fairly, and she kept persuading Jenny... to elope with her...," Dennis told Adrian, his expression was exceptionally interesting while saying this.

Adrian was a bit better off than him but couldn’t help covering his forehead with his hand. Winona said she really fell in love with Aniston and even persuaded her to elope with her? Who had taken over her body? Unfortunately, there were no more updates. Dennis didn’t even mention Aniston’s reaction, so it was hard for him to guess what Winona was really thinking, plus he had already decided not to interfere in their family matters.

"In any case, my opinion hasn’t changed, solve it in bed," Adrian said nonchalantly, ignoring Dennis’s rolling eyes.

Alright, let them figure it out. I’ll just enjoy the show. As for the media... A few days later, the San Francisco Chronicle came out with the headline "Rekindling Old Flames, Dennis and Jennifer’s Marriage on Red Alert," accompanied by a photograph of Winona leaving Dennis’s house.

Immediately, the entertainment reporters, like sharks smelling blood, swarmed Dennis’s house and the Friends set. Many also brought out the episode where Aniston and Winona kissed, trying to prove that Winona had started an affair with Dennis from that time. Dennis had to come out with Aniston to clarify, claiming that Winona and Aniston had become friends and that her visit was just to see a friend. Interestingly, in confronting the reporters, Winona neither denied nor confirmed anything about becoming a lesbian and now pursuing Aniston, which clearly proved that at least part of Adrian’s guess was right.

Even though they dealt with the reporters, Dennis remained somewhat indecisive, and his relationship with his wife also started to become strange. This was bound to be a long-drawn-out drama, so Adrian was in no rush, just waiting to see how things would unfold.

By the end of July, Adrian went to Australia with not only his new executive assistant but also the new head of planning at ABC and some of ABC’s senior staff, so this trip was not for vacation. Simply put, with the popularity of ANTM, various countries and regions had bought the rights from ABC to create their local versions, including Australia.

Since the Australian TV stations had bought the rights, it was natural for the ABC to send people to provide guidance. Although Charlize had been appointed head of the planning department not long ago and had a season of American Idol in preparation, coming along to broaden her horizons— the responsibilities of an executive assistant and department head are different—earning a bit of merit wasn’t a bad thing.

As for why Adrian came, on one hand, he was there to support his woman; on the other hand, it was due to the enthusiastic invitation from Australia. After all, he was the first to propose the concept of the show, and as the spokesperson for the Hollywood Australia alliance, the local TV stations naturally wanted to forge a good relationship with him.

The entire itinerary was quite unremarkable. When Adrian arrived in Australia, the auditions for "ANTM" Australia had already concluded. His daily activities consisted only of attending various cocktail party invitations and occasionally participating in the second round of selections, which were much stricter than the initial auditions. Only those who passed this round had the chance to appear on TV and then, after withstanding various trials in front of the audience and the media, could they win the championship.

"Looks like you’re not really interested in these girls?" Charlize teased Adrian before another participant entered, "There are quite a few attractive ones, and you’ve even ’accidentally’ met them in private."

"What? In your eyes, am I a man who thinks about getting with every woman he sees?" Adrian spread his hands.

"Isn’t that so?" Charlize asked rhetorically, already expecting such a response. Adrian rolled his eyes, moving on to think about his own matters.

It was nothing too serious, just some matters regarding movie projects, such as the hope to initiate the preparations for "The Expendables 2" sooner. The first installment had performed well; although the plot was cliché, the collaboration of The Three Giants had still won many fans’ acclaim. The omnipresent tongue-in-cheek humor and action scenes were also perfectly blended. Hence, producing a sequel was without a doubt on the agenda.

However, Schwarzenegger, Willis, and Seagal had only signed on for the first movie and had retired at the end of it. This presented a bit of a problem. Retiring in a movie was easy to deal with, as any reason could bring them back, but getting them to sign for a sequel would prove more difficult. As action stars, Seagal aside, Schwarzenegger and Willis were not quite past their prime yet; Schwarzenegger, in particular, was eyeing the governor’s seat, while Willis’s recent career shift was deemed successful. His signing on last time was partly due to respect for Adrian and partly because he genuinely wished to measure up against his peers in action cinema.

Thus, the likelihood of getting them all together again for a second movie was not very high. Also, other actors like Jet Li, The Rock, and Van Diesel were relatively new, while Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren had fallen to second-tier status, so relying solely on Stallone and Renault wouldn’t work. The sequel had to offer new thrills to achieve success. Of course, Adrian had foreseen this issue after the premiere of the first movie, and his team had come up with corresponding strategies based on his insights to include new, popular yet affordable cast members.

For instance, Nicholas Cage or John Travolta. Initially, there had been talks of turning the franchise into a well-known action film series. Adrian was now considering whether to bring Dennis on board. Lately, watching a lot of news about him along with Aniston and Winona naturally brought him to mind, although he had starred in various film genres over the years, originally made his mark as an action star.

How about casting him in "Shooter"? This idea suddenly popped into Adrian’s mind. Firstly, "The Expendables" was lacking a sniper; secondly, the novel had been published back in ’93, and such movies generally enjoyed popularity if well-made; thirdly, Dennis fit the profile perfectly—not overly muscular, but skillful.

Most importantly, the ending could be tweaked: after the protagonist avenges himself and flees, a post-credits scene could feature Stallone finding him in a bar and coolly saying, "Heard you’re the best; I’ve got a guy, wanna give it a shot?"

Yes, just like how Marvel had hyped "Avengers" in the past; this could definitely create buzz and attract a lot of attention. However, this might affect the preparations for "The Expendables 2," but there was no need to worry. As a project aiming for longevity, it was essential to focus on the long term and not just immediate benefits. Even Stallone, who was most eager for a sequel due to the movie’s return to the mainstream, would understand.

In addition, they could have Dark Horse Comics create related comics first to promote the movie. Though they cannot compare with Marvel and DC overall, they excel at adapting movies into comics. Works like "Star Wars," "Terminator," "Alien," and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" have already proven this, and "The Expendables" was no exception. It not only met Adrian’s requirements but even exceeded them, so acquiring them was indeed a good idea.

If they wanted to attract more attention, they could add a female team member. Aniston, having heeded her advice, had been working hard on action movies and was a good choice. Of course, they could also give Winona a try. Without a foundation, she could train, which would undoubtedly be interesting. If they authorized Dark Horse Comics to release an issue of "The Expendables" featuring her or her likeness and teamed with Dennis’s sniper spectacle, that would be even more fun.

As it turns out, Dark Horse Comics is now owned by AC Media. Claude had offered a tempting price along with numerous promises, so acquiring it posed no difficulty. And Hasbro was still dragging its feet, but they couldn’t hold out much longer. Half of the year 2000 had already passed, and the sales of "Star Wars" toys had not noticeably increased. A loss this year was inevitable, and the discontent among shareholders was certain, given the losses last year. If they continued to apply pressure and used the toy rights of the "Harry Potter" series as bait, acquiring them was just a matter of time.

By now, no one could deny or ignore the immense popularity of the "Harry Potter" series. Warner and Disney had both made contact with Rowling back in 1998, hoping to secure the film adaptation rights. Of course, they failed. The series was already in Adrian’s possession, and there was no way they would let them interfere. When Universal announced that it would bring the "Harry Potter" series to the big screen and had held open auditions in the United Kingdom, various manufacturers approached them, wanting various licensing rights, with Sony also wishing to release a game of the same name on the PS2, among others. Mattel and Lego, as famous as Hasbro, also hoped to secure the toy manufacturing rights.

Hasbro had also participated in the competition, and now they had a chance to completely outdo two competitors, which was very tempting for them—although they couldn’t secure all of the toy rights for the "Harry Potter" series, at least the type of building block toys that Lego made were out of Hasbro’s reach, but with the backing of AC Media, getting a piece of the pie was definitely not a problem.

So, just like the actresses auditioning, although they were still somewhat reluctant, if they wanted the role, they would definitely do everything possible to obtain it, such as willingly stripping off their clothes, without needing to care too much.

In fact, Adrian turning his thoughts to this was mainly for an upcoming acquisition. This would be the largest acquisition since AC Media was established, its importance rivalling that of the initial acquisition of ABC. If they could bring it into their fold, then AC Media’s semi-closed industrial chain would be even more solid. This company was AT&T!

AT&T stood for American Telephone and Telegraph Company. In terms used in his previous life, it was the telecom of the United States, founded in 1877, originally as Bell Telephone Company by Alexander Bell, the inventor of the telephone. It had long monopolized the U.S. long-distance and local telephone markets, and the social demand for communications would never decrease, thus, a telephone company simply could never face a loss.

Of course, Adrian didn’t intend to swallow the entirety of AT&T. Setting aside whether he had the massive capital for it, AT&T had undergone splitting and restructuring on the government’s order back in 1984. Although they had been split and restructured several times in history, this time was the most thorough. Split into several pieces over a decade, those behind the scenes still controlled the telephone industry, but on the surface, competition still existed.

So, Adrian’s goal was one of the subsidiaries: AT&T Broadband!

This company was separated out in 1995 and finished its restructuring in 1999, mainly operating broadband services—not network broadband but cable television broadband. They now had over 20 million users in 38 states, and acquiring them would almost certainly be a profitable deal. Plus, it would allow them to better understand the popularity of programs.

As known, with the rapid development of cable television, although the television industry was becoming more profitable, even surpassing the film industry, the competition was also becoming fierce. In a few years, many large-scale, encrypted TV series having even a million or two subscribers would be considered quite good. Moreover, the viewership of these TV series was mostly not disclosed, and even when disclosed, it was just to deceive the public, so being able to understand various viewership details timely would enable them to respond faster and more effectively.

Of course, it might have been somewhat illegal, but who hadn’t used these tactics?

These were known from a post about American TV series he had read in his past life. Adrian had wanted to acquire AT&T Broadband thanks to that post. Initially, he had planned to acquire Comcast, which primarily provided broadband and IP telephony services until it acquired AT&T Broadband in 2002, subsequently overtaking Warner as America’s largest cable operator.

However, there were two problems. First was the issue of funding. The most appropriate timing for the acquisition would have been before the year 2000. Both Comcast and AT&T Broadband began to grow rapidly after the Millennium. In 1998, Comcast was valued at only several billion dollars, but now it was worth over a hundred billion. Before 2000, without the profits derived from the IT bubble, acquiring Comcast would require a massive investment, and then acquiring AT&T Broadband would be financially unfeasible. Especially since cable television had developed very rapidly after the Millennium, in just a few months, what might have previously cost several billion might now cost tens of billions.

If delayed until after the Millennium, even with substantial funds earned from the IT bubble, the situation would remain the same, choosing between Comcast and AT&T Broadband. Ultimately, Adrian did not want to finance or acquire by giving up control. That was his bottom line, and the most important way to utilize his knowledge of the future.

After much deliberation, he finally chose AT&T Broadband, which represented another issue. Comcast was the second largest internet service provider in the United States, and AC Media owned many websites, with more expected in the future. Acquiring Comcast would likely attract the attention of antitrust authorities, which could be troublesome.

On the other hand, AT&T Broadband was relatively less problematic. With Warner as a precedent, even if monitored, it wouldn’t be as tight as acquiring Comcast. Every large conglomerate has faced antitrust reviews. Of course, some key insights had to be carefully handled. As long as the acquisition was successful, they would firmly secure the position as the top media conglomerate in America. Other conglomerates, even allies like Viacom, wouldn’t just stand by.

AC Media might not be as lucky as Microsoft. The burst of the IT bubble drastically altered the original outcome, and it was the first time Claude wasn’t so confident.

"There’s about a 50% chance, we might end up fighting this battle alone," he had said, without mentioning anything about financing.

If more people could be brought in, support from Wall Street would increase, but Adrian would definitely not agree. So Claude didn’t dwell on this, instead doing his utmost to strive for success.

He must be preparing now, Adrian thought to himself, feeling fortunate to have such a loyal friend. But Claude underestimated him too much. After all, he had earned nearly 30 billion through the bubble and short-selling in private. He had originally planned to use half of that, but now, what if he supported Claude with all of it? Besides...

"Innie," he suddenly signaled to Ivanka, who was sitting nearby. As she approached, he whispered in her ear, "Arrange it for me when we return to Los Angeles."

Ivanka nodded, indicating she understood, and Adrian turned his attention back to the contestants. Then, he paused, as the next contestant had just walked in—around seventeen or eighteen, with long brown hair, a round face with a touch of baby fat, making her quite cute. Her blue eyes were large, eyebrows finely arched, and her cheeks sported faint dimples that would likely look nice when she smiled. Why did she look so familiar?

(To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)