Chapter 252 Competition for broadcast rights

"I have already contacted the Bavarian Bank of Germany, Barron's, and have been working with them. From the current perspective, the results are pretty good..."

Barron once again came to Bernie Elkstone's house as a guest, holding a wine glass in his hand. Bernie eloquently introduced to Barron his efforts to purchase the equity of SLEC:

"Gribkovsky is my biggest gain this time. He is the person in charge of the Bavarian Bank's handling of SLEC's shares. You have to believe, Barron, that many times, we must use more wisdom..."

"Mr Elkstone, I'm sure you've been very good at this."

Barron took the opportunity to give the other party a slight pat, which made Bernie's smile even wider.

"Yes, you just need to know that we are bound to get the shares of Bayerische Bank, and the price will be very suitable. Of course, I need to remind you first that in addition to this, you will also need to pay a little extra price, but this is absolutely is worth it."

"I understand, Mr. Elkstone, just go ahead and do it. Pioneer Sports will be responsible for footing the bill."

Sure enough, Bernie was still planning according to the original time and space.

Barron is still happy to see this happen. After all, he only needs to pay in the end. Even if someone eventually pursues this matter, he can't be blamed...

This is not to say that Bernie is some kind of internationalist fighter, he is only out for his own interests.

It is a pity that Barron did not see Tamaran today. She had already gone to school. During the previous phone call, the girl said that she would return to London before Christmas to meet Barron.

"By the way, Barron, I know you also have a TV station. Are you interested in the broadcasting rights of F1 races in the UK?"

"Of course, but our sports channel is under preparation. If possible, I will win the broadcast rights."

The broadcasting rights of F1 races were initially in the hands of the BBC. Later, at the end of the last century, Bernie was dissatisfied with the way the BBC broadcast F1 races - they would never broadcast the complete races, but would choose among them. Several races are broadcast, which goes against Bernie's desire to make F1 visible to as many people as possible.

The BBC is also dissatisfied with its bid for F1 broadcast rights.

So in the end, he found ITV, another British TV broadcasting giant. They sold the broadcast rights of the F1 race to ITV in early 1996. The price sold at that time was much higher than earlier, which was less than 1 million per year. A "poor" income in pounds.

At the beginning of next year, the contract with ITV will expire, and the British broadcast rights for the F1 event will be renegotiated.

At present, Sky TV holds the broadcasting rights for Premier League and other events, and the possibility of paying too high a price for the broadcasting rights of F1 events is extremely low.

The BBC may be a competitor of ITV, but compared with ITV, the BBC also has a lot of event broadcasting rights, so it is not willing to pay too high.

For Bernie, he naturally hopes that the higher the price of the broadcast rights for F1 events, the better.

Barron now happens to have SDTV in his hands, and at the same time, he will also buy SLEC, the commercial operating company of the F1 event, so Bernie certainly hopes that he can come forward and bid with ITV for the British broadcast rights of the F1 event.

Barron remembers that in the original time and space, ITV would still get the British broadcast rights for the F1 event next year, and their bid was 25 million pounds for five years.

The equivalent of only 5 million pounds per year, which is similar to the broadcast price of F1 events in other regions, such as China.

However, compared to the Premier League, the price of 5 million pounds a year is really too low.

You must know that as early as 2000, the total price for Sky TV to obtain the broadcast rights for the Premier League games in the next three years was as high as 1.11 billion pounds, which is equivalent to nearly 350 million pounds a year. The price for the broadcast rights of F1 events is only one of their prices. A fraction.

And next year, the price of broadcast rights for Premier League games will be even more expensive!

Of course, the reason why they are willing to pay such a high price to obtain the broadcast rights of the Premier League is because many fans can bring paying users to Sky TV.

The influence of the F1 event in England is naturally not as high as that of the Premier League, but Bernie also hopes to raise the price. Only with competition can such an effect be achieved.

At present, OFCOM has allowed the Freeview platform to launch paid services and paid channels. Currently, including the BBC and ITV, their paid channels are also connected to the Freeview platform.

Summit Media is not to be outdone and is preparing to launch its own paid channel. The current plan is to launch a paid SDTV sports channel. However, if it wants to attract paid users, it naturally needs to have popular live events. Although the Premier League broadcast rights currently They are not yet able to intervene, but other events can also be considered, including F1 events.

If the price is 25 million pounds for 5 years, which is equivalent to 5 million pounds a year, it is quite cost-effective, so Barron does not mind joining the competition.

…

"Your Highness the Duke, our current partnership program in China has been very successful. Currently, more than 30 cooperative manufacturers have entered our supply catalog. They will connect to our quality control system and produce our own products. Branded products…”

Argos CEO Nathan Ellington reported to Barron:

"We have invested in most of these manufacturers to help them improve their production technology and manufacturing processes, and hold different proportions of their shares. There are currently more than ten manufacturers on the inspection list, and more will be added in the future. The number of partners we have.”

Currently, Argos is not only increasing the number of stores in the UK and Ireland, but also after entering the French market this year, they are also attacking the city. Using their extremely cost-effective products, they have established a firm foothold in the Paris area and will continue to open new ones. Stores of all sizes.

The most gratifying thing is that online ordering on Argos’ official website has become an important sales channel for Argos. Currently, the turnover through online ordering accounts for more than 20% of Argos’ total sales, and this proportion is still continuing. increasing.

The reason why they are concerned about Argos' production situation in China is that Barron's is preparing to acquire Primark with Argos as the main body.

After all, both of them focus on "affordability", and their product image is relatively close.

In addition, the Chinese OEM production model expanded through Argos can also be promoted in Primark.

In fact, in this OEM production model, when quality is required, it is not as simple as finding a factory to produce.

This involves complex management under an entire quality system, which is also the cooperation model that Argos has used in the past. It took a lot of time and effort to transplant this model to China, and only now has it been initially successful.

However, based on the variety of products sold by Argos, the supply catalog of this partnership plan may require hundreds or even thousands of manufacturers. At present, it has only begun to build a foundation, and there are still many areas that need to be improved.

However, once this foundation is laid and Primark replicates it in the field of clothing production, it will be able to get twice the result with half the effort.

For example, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions also have many clothing production factories. After Primark is acquired, they can use this system to complete OEM cooperation in China.