The News Department is a complete department under ABC, responsible for the production of all news columns of ABC TV Network. The profit margin of news programs has always been very low. In recent years, only CNN has broken this rule. However, the News Department is the most important media communication channel for a media group. This national ethics control tool is definitely not a simple measure of profit. Even if it is operating for losses, several major TV networks will not easily sack their news programs.

When Carsonberg talked about the late-night news column of "Nightline", Eric did not just hear the huge profit gap between "Nightline" and the late-night show of NBC and CBS. Instead, he asked cautiously: "What is the contradiction between Robert and the president of the News Department David Westin? Also, if you introduce "David Letterman" late-night show, what should you do if you do?"

Katzenberg replied: "This is mainly because David is worried that once "Nightline" is laid off, it will become the fuse for the headquarters to compress the news department. In addition to "Nightline", the News Department has several other low-rating news programs. If all of these programs are laid off, the number of employees and budget of the News Department will be compressed by at least 30%. The News Department has always been a complete system, so it is difficult for the department's management to accept that the original stable state was suddenly broken. Regarding "Nightline", Robert's plan is to postpone this news program by one hour and post the late night show."

"It's really bad to postpone an hour. It's better to just lay off the issue. If I were David, I would probably have a stumble with Robert," Eric shook his head and smiled. "Nightline" was originally broadcast at 11 o'clock in the evening, and after the early morning, it completely entered the trash period of the TV station. After thinking for a moment, Eric said: "You call David Westin to talk about this matter in person, don't delay it and intensify the conflict. That's my promise. The headquarters will not make any large-scale adjustments to the Department of News. Even if "Nightline" is cancelled, the Department of News will not lay off a large scale."

Katsenberg asked, "What should I do if the extra employees?"

Eric thought for a while and said, "There are two major professional news stations in the industry. Professional news stations need to be scaled to achieve profitability. The reason why Fox News can rise rapidly is that we rely on the media resources of the entire news group all over the world. We have no advantage in this, so we will not do the ABC News Channel. However, there are no professional news websites on the Internet. I think we can start from this aspect. Although the ABC News Department cannot support a 24-hour news channel, it is more than enough to set up a professional news website."

Katsonberg wondered: "Eric, isn't Yahoo a news website?"

Eric shook his head and said, "Yahoo's positioning is a comprehensive information platform website. The news section is only a small part of Yahoo's business. Yahoo will produce some content, but most of the information still comes from the entire Internet media. It is equivalent to an "online supermarket" that distributes content on other websites."

Katsenberg nodded as if he was ignorant, and made up his mind to go back and study the relevant information carefully.

Eric said: "The Internet is likely to be the main media communication channel in the future, so let David Westin pay attention to this matter. If you encounter any problems in website construction, you can contact Yahoo for help. When Ted Turner established CNN, many people felt that CNN did not have any profit prospects, so they gave the cake that should belong to several major TV networks to this latecomer. The current situation is very similar to that in the past. Almost no one noticed the potential of professional news websites on the Internet. ABC entered the market early. Maybe it could reach the height of CNN in reality."

Eric knew the later Internet environment. Compared with search engines, e-commerce and other fields, news websites did not have much profit prospects. What is more important is that they can be used as online public relations tools. This is what Eric values ​​most, but he will not say it clearly at this time, otherwise the news department would definitely not be able to do its best to develop business in this field.

The most important purpose of Eric's proposal was to provide another development direction for the news department and resolve the internal conflicts caused by the business adjustments of "Nightline" in the news department. However, Katzenberg was a little excited by Eric's suggestion, and the Internet wave had begun to rise at this time. As the head of a media group, Katzenberg was also increasingly exposed to relevant information. Creating a news channel to compete with CNN in reality. Katzenberg knew that ABC absolutely did not have this strength, but if he could seize the initiative and create a professional news website on the Internet that was no less than CNN's status in reality, it would be a very fulfilling thing.

"Eric, if this happens, I will take time to take charge of the ABC News website personally. With this business, David should not continue to make trouble, and the adjustment of "Nightline" can also go smoothly."

Feeling Katsonberg's confidence, Eric was not good at hitting him, and his thoughts changed and said, "It's better to do this. Firefly can set up another subsidiary to be responsible for news website affairs, so as to facilitate listing financing and other operations in the next few years."

Carsonberg wondered: "Eric, why did you want to go public? Haven't you always opposed it?"

Of course, it is to make money.

Usually, the profit prospects of news websites are unclear, and it is almost impossible to go public and raise funds separately.

But it will be different in the next few years. The Internet wave is emerging, and any Internet concept company will be sought after by investors. Eric does not expect how much operating income the abc news website can achieve. However, if he does not take advantage of the Internet bubble to make a big profit in the financial market, he will be too sorry for his prophet advantage of the reborn.

This kind of thinking cannot be told directly to Carsonberg. Eric didn't want to talk nonsense, but just said, "Jeffrey, I can't explain it to you now. You will understand in a few years."

This is not the first time Eric has encountered this rhetoric by Kasenberg, and later it often proves that Eric is right. So he no longer questioned it, but continued to ask about Eric what specific ideas he had about the establishment of a news website.

It was until the sunset sank into the sea level outside the glass curtain wall that Carsonberg and Kelly said goodbye and left together.
Chapter completed!