Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1291 One Fish, Three Ways

"Mr. Shao came to Pingyang this time to discuss some matters with Dongling High-Tech!"

Li Dongling spoke to Gu Xiguang, then glanced to his left and right. Gu Xiguang knew that Li Dongling had something important to say.

"what?"

Inside the banquet hall, glasses clinked and toasts were exchanged as Ren Yuefeng, Zhang Ao, Hu Zixian, and others gathered with the heads of Dongling High-Tech's three overseas headquarters.

This kind of meeting between powerful figures from headquarters and overseas lords only happens once a year at Dongling High-Tech.

The relationship between Dongling High-Tech's three overseas headquarters and the Pingyang headquarters is quite delicate. The overseas headquarters need the support of the headquarters, but they don't want to be too restricted. After all, who wants to have someone pointing fingers at them all day long?

But just as Ren Yuefeng had exchanged a few words with Lin Xianhui, Zhou Hualiang and others, he heard commotion coming from Li Dongling and Gu Xiguang's side.

After exclaiming in surprise, Hou Jincheng, the director of the Ministry of Commerce standing next to Li Dongling and Gu Xiguang, realized that he had lost his composure.

Hu Guangsha, from the Ministry of Information Industry, was also deeply shaken. Although he was from the Electronics Department under the Ministry of Information Industry, he knew just how astonishing the information Li Dongling had revealed was.

The news that TVB is changing hands is also big news for the Ministry of Information Industry!

Moreover, and more importantly, the parent company, Cyberport, is Dongling Hi-Tech's largest potential buyer of TVB. This means that Hong Kong, which has just returned to China, may have a Hong Kong television station controlled by a mainland company. The significance of this is self-evident.

This acquisition involves not only the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Information Industry, but also the State Economic and Trade Commission, the Foreign Exchange Department, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and even many other departments in Beijing.

Ren Yuefeng, Lin Xianhui, Zhou Hualiang, and the others glanced in Li Dongling's direction, all understanding that something big must have happened.

However, Ren Yuefeng and the others did not show any abnormality. Instead, they raised their glasses, and the banquet hall returned to its usual noisy atmosphere.

"If TVB is going to be sold, then Cyberport must be acquired!"

At the very least, it cannot fall into the hands of overseas conglomerates!

Gu Xiguang quickly regained his composure and stated directly that the Economic and Trade Commission would naturally support Cyberport's acquisition of TVB, and that Beijing would definitely support Cyberport over other potential acquirers.

There is precedent for this. In the previous acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom, Yanjing also unconditionally supported Cyberport, staging the largest battle between Chinese and British capital in Hong Kong's history.

Now that he's at TVB, it's even less likely that Yan Jing would abandon his "own people" and turn to help other conglomerates.

"I need to report this matter to the ministry."

"However, the Beijing Commerce Bureau, in principle, supports Cyberport!"

Hou Jincheng said that he would definitely report this matter to the department; it was not something he could decide on his own.

"I think the news of Shaw Brothers' withdrawal from TVB will come out soon, and Cyberport will officially launch its acquisition of TVB after the New Year!"

"Dongling High-Tech will have Cyberport join forces with Oriental Media Group in mainland China to form an acquisition consortium to launch an acquisition of TVB!"

The reason Li Dongling first hinted to Gu Xiguang was that he wanted Cyberport to gain Yanjing's support first.

If Cyberport can secure the support of Yanjing, it will be virtually invincible in this acquisition, at least giving it a significant advantage over other potential acquirers.

Bringing in Oriental Media was crucial in ensuring that a mainland acquirer was involved in the acquisition.

Oriental Media was jointly established by Dongling High-Tech, Focus Media, Pingyang TV Station, and CCTV, a subsidiary of CCTV.

The purpose of establishing Oriental Media is to provide content copyrights for Pingyang TV.

According to regulations in the domestic television industry, television stations cannot accept investment from private companies, nor can they be directly listed on the stock market.

The establishment of Oriental Media, which provided Pingyang TV with large-scale productions of TV dramas, variety shows, and animations, was tantamount to providing funding for Pingyang TV in disguise.

Pingyang TV didn't need to spend too much money to acquire a lot of TV dramas, variety shows, and other content from Oriental Media, attracting new users and increasing viewership.

Of course, Oriental Media is not doing this for charity. When Pingyang TV successfully goes satellite, that will be the time for Oriental Media to reap the rewards.

The first step is to go public. Apply for listing under the name of a copyright company under a satellite TV station, just like Mango TV in the previous life, which was launched by Hunan TV and completed the listing on the stock market using the same operation.

At its peak, Mango TV's market capitalization exceeded 1720 billion RMB, making it one of the few profitable companies in the film and television industry and the highest-priced Chinese-language media company on the stock market.

In the future, Oriental Media will likely follow the same path as Mango TV in its previous life, and its future capital is estimated to be much greater than that of Mango TV in its previous life.

With the support of Pingyang TV, Hanxi Provincial TV, and Gangcheng TVB, Oriental Media could very well become the company with the largest film and television copyright library in the domestic media industry! For Dongling High-Tech, establishing Oriental Media, sending Pingyang TV to satellite, and generating revenue is only part of the story.

More importantly, it's about having effective communication channels and a strong voice in the narrative. That's crucial!

Dongling Hi-Tech has been building up its publicity and promotion channels. If Oriental Media can be successfully established, it will be equivalent to Dongling Hi-Tech having its own camp and base in the television industry.

In the future, even in the worst-case scenario when a public opinion storm arises, there will be a guaranteed "opportunity" to speak out, rather than being silenced and having no chance to speak at all.

Hearing Li Dongling's words, Gu Xiguang nodded in satisfaction. This was why he valued Li the Great Philanthropist so much.

The fact that they were fellow students at Hanxi Jiaotong University was just a pretext. What truly satisfied Gu Xiguang was Li Dashan's style of doing things. He had a very good sense of proportion and didn't need them, who were backed by Dongling High-Tech, to worry about him.

Including Oriental Media in the acquisition group is equivalent to bringing in the provincial TV station in Hubei, and more importantly, the central media behind CCTV.

With this relationship, it's equivalent to a mainland media company acquiring a stake in TVB, which makes many things much easier to handle.

Upon receiving news of the proposed acquisition of TVB, Hou Jincheng did not linger at the banquet. After a few drinks, he hurriedly left, clearly to report to his department.

Hu Guangsha then used this as an excuse to ask Li Dongling, "I heard that Dongling High-Tech wants to participate in next year's 3G voting conference?"

"Yes!"

Li Dongling did not deny it, saying, "Dongling High-Tech wants to be included in the list of mainland companies participating in the 3G voting!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Guangsha swirled his wine glass and then asked Li Dongling, "Mr. Li, which standard do you think will become the global 3G industry standard next year?"

Li Dongling could hear the probing in Hu Guangsha's words, and then said, "Whether it's WCDMA in old Europe or CDMA2000 in America, they are all overseas 3G standards. If China has its own 3G standard, Dongling High-Tech will definitely support it!"

"Is this true?"

Hu Guangsha knew, of course, that Li Dashanren's words were largely exaggerated, but he still couldn't help but ask Li Dongling.

"Of course!"

Li Dongling stated his position directly: "If China has its own 3G communication standard, then Shenzhou is willing to launch Shenzhou mobile phones developed based on this standard!"

Looking at Li Dongling's expression, Hu Guangsha felt that Li Dongling was not joking.

Datang Telecom wants to promote TD-SCDMA as the domestic 3G communication standard, and it has many supporters, but the Ministry of Information Industry is definitely one of the biggest supporters.

Once this standard becomes one of the global 3G standards, those who promote it will immediately receive tremendous credit!

The biggest challenge in promoting the TD standard for 3G, besides getting America and Europe to agree to approve the standard at next year's 3G conference, is...

Another issue is how to implement the TD standard in China, including building base station signal towers and developing mobile phones that support the TD standard, because it is highly unlikely that other regions outside of China will use this standard.

Only if a product is successfully developed and popularized domestically will it be likely to be adopted by overseas regions.

If Dongling High-Tech is willing to support this standard, at least the problem of TD standard mobile phone terminals can be solved.

"Next year, we will do our utmost to support the TD standard at the 3G conference, including using the domestic telecommunications market as leverage, to ensure its passage in the vote!"

Hu Guangsha revealed to Li Dongling the determination of the Ministry of Information Industry: the biggest bargaining chip in the domestic communications market is not how advanced the TD standard is, but the huge domestic communications market.

I ask you, do Nokia, Ericsson, Qualcomm, and other manufacturers want the telecommunications market with over a billion users in China?

To enter the domestic telecommunications market, one must support the TD standard proposed by Datang Telecom; this is a rehash of the "market for technology" approach.

"If the domestically developed TD standard can be approved, Dongling High-Tech is willing to support the implementation of the TD standard in Pingyang, making Pingyang the first 3G pilot city in China!"

The philanthropist Li doesn't mind playing a game of "raising a gu" to make Pingyang a bridgehead in the domestic 3G market. Who knows, in the future, a saying will emerge in the telecommunications industry: "Whoever controls Pingyang controls the mainland 3G market!"

We will introduce TD, WCDMA, CDMA2000 and other 3G standards to Pingyang to establish pilot projects. Let's put them to the test and see which 3G standard is more powerful.

As for who wins and who loses, it won't have much impact on Dongling Hi-Tech, since Dongling Hi-Tech is planning to make the most of everything.

The key is that if all three standards can be adopted in Pingyang, Dongling High-Tech can take the opportunity to launch mobile phones based on these three standards.

Regardless of whether it's China Telecom, China Mobile, or China Unicom, Dongling Hi-Tech can launch Shenzhou contract phones that meet their respective 3G standards!

Dongling Hi-Tech is determined to reap the benefits of the 3G mobile phone market. As Li Dashan said, no one can stop them!
(End of this chapter)