Chapter 142 Shocking Acquisition

Time came to 2003. On New Year’s Day, SDTV was officially launched on the Freeview platform.

At nine o'clock in the evening on this day, which is also the "prime time" for TV dramas, SDTV premiered the first season of "Downton Abbey".

Originally, according to the plan, "Downton Abbey" would air one episode every Saturday night, so it would be a weekly TV series.

But because New Year's Day falls on a Wednesday, after the New Year's Day broadcast, the second episode of the first season will continue to be broadcast on Saturday of that week, and then it will be broadcast weekly.

Although the number of users of the Freeview platform at this time has just exceeded 200,000 households, and compared to other TV series, the viewing range of "Downton Abbey" is too pitiful, but the broadcast of this series still caused a stir in the UK. Great response.

The reason is that when the second episode of "Downton Abbey" was broadcast, it was a Saturday off day. According to tests, an astonishing over 90% of users on the Freeview platform watched this TV series.

Even through interviews and messages on the Internet, many people went to their friends' houses to watch the TV series because they had not yet reserved a Freeview set-top box at home.

Therefore, even when there are only 200,000 users on the Freeview platform, the number of viewers of the second episode of the first season of "Downton Abbey" has exceeded 1 million!

And there is news that the Queen herself is a loyal fan of the "Downton Abbey" novel. After the TV series was broadcast, she also watched the entire TV series and praised the TV series, believing that it completely restored the details of the aristocratic life of the year.

This recognition from the royal family has once again pushed up the popularity of "Downton Abbey".

It was also from this time that Digital UK's happy troubles began. Their customer service received countless calls every day and began to urge them to provide TV set-top boxes. It was best to install them within a week so that they would not miss the next one. One season of "Downton Abbey."

And they are no longer picky about set-top boxes. Even those made in China have begun to compete for them. After all, it seems that the quality of set-top boxes made in China is not as bad as imagined. On the contrary, the deposit required is Much lower.

For this reason, Digital UK even made the decision not to wait for the long sea transportation, but to directly start three shifts at the Puma Electronics (China) factory to increase the horsepower, and the set-top boxes produced will be immediately flown to England. Deliver it to users in the shortest possible time.

The British-based Puma factory has not been idle, but has begun to produce higher-end set-top boxes - using Digital UK's latest technology, set-top boxes with program on-demand and download functions are about to be launched.

Of course, such a set-top box will not be within the scope of free rental, but will need to be purchased. However, if users want to use its on-demand and download program content services, they will also need to pay.

…

"Currently, during the process of technology research and development, we found that the services of our Freeview platform will involve broadband networks - some services will be more conveniently provided to users through broadband networks, so we are preparing to cooperate with telecom operators to bring our Terrestrial digital TV set-top box, adding certain network functions."

At this time, broadband in the UK was relatively popular. Of course, the current Internet speed is still not comparable to that of a few years later, but some simple audio and video transmission functions are still available.

Even though it will be slower for users to download program content, they can completely set up the download and wait until they come back from get off work to watch it.

The words of Brad Price, CEO of Digital UK, reminded Barron of the "Shanda Box" plan of Shanda Network's boss Chen, the richest man in China at that time, in his previous life.

But if you want to cooperate with telecom operators...

Why don't you become a telecom operator yourself?

Just like BSkyB Digital, they relied on their set-top box-related network services. Later, their telecommunications business also developed to a huge scale.

But here's the problem. Although the stock prices of telecom operators have plummeted due to the bursting of the previous Internet bubble, companies with a slightly larger scale are really not something that Barron's can absorb now. A large company with a market value of billions or even tens of billions of pounds!

But think about how SoftBank developed? How did Li Chaoren make a lot of money in the telecommunications business?

So this is really an industry with great potential for development.

"Your Highness, it is an honor to see you again."

"Mr. Rolf, our friendship has stood the test of time, hasn't it?"

What Barron saw this time was Rolf, the head of credit business at Barclays Bank, when he was initially handling the loan from the family trust fund.

Seeing the young and handsome Duke in front of him again, Rolf felt quite sad. The Devonshire family, which was facing a loan repayment crisis, was in a completely different situation now. Not only did they follow the original agreement, The loans from other banks have been repaid, and the subsequent business with Barclays Bank has also been going very well.

Also relying on his "friendship" with His Royal Highness the Duke, mainly his decisiveness in handling the loan business of the Devonshire Family Trust Fund, Rolf also went a step further and became one of the vice presidents of Barclays Bank.

"You said you have big business to discuss this time, right? Your Highness the Duke."

"Yes, this time I am preparing to make a big acquisition..."

After hearing Barron's words, Rolf's eyes began to look expectant.

Sure enough, what Barron said next was not only a "big acquisition", but it also greatly exceeded Rolf's expectations:

"You mean you want to buy O2 Company?"

No wonder Rolf was surprised. You must know that although O2 was originally a business spun off by British Telecom (BT) last year, this company mainly provides mobile communication services. Its current market value is also Billions of pounds, this size, as far as Rolf knew, was not something that the Duke could acquire.

This is simply not a snake swallowing an elephant, but a rat swallowing an elephant!

British Telecom is the giant company with the longest history in the British telecommunications industry. It was originally a British state-owned telecommunications utility and managed by the British Post Office. On October 1, 1981, it separated from the Royal Mail and became an independent state-owned enterprise.

Under the British Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher, in 1984, 50% of the public shares were sold to the market and became a private company - the company has always been the largest operator of telecommunications infrastructure hardware in the UK.

After the Internet bubble burst in 2000, British Telecom suffered a heavy blow and had to announce a share increase worth 5.9 billion pounds and a postponement of dividend payment plans in 2001 to cope with a loss of 1 billion pounds in the 2001 fiscal year and reduce its profit of 27.9 billion pounds. debt.

O2's predecessor was British Telecom's wireless department, which was originally called BT Cellnet.

When adjusting its financial structure, British Telecom spun off its mobile business and established an independent company called mmO2.

This year, mmO2 officially launched the O2 brand and became the O2 Company.

It can be said that in the current mobile business in the UK, O2's share has been hovering between first and second place. Among them, the company that competes very fiercely with O2 is Vodafone - the future Softbank will acquire Vodafone's Japanese branch. Later it developed into one of the largest telecommunications operators in Japan.