My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 443 Competitive Relationship
After a brief exchange of pleasantries at the entrance of the lounge, the group entered at Ma Jijian's invitation. Upon entering, to show respect for Lee Byung-soon, the president of the company, Lee Nam-ki insisted that he and An Ru-song walk in front, while he himself lagged behind, following half a step to An Ru-song's left.

Judging from this, although the two presidents Lee belong to different political camps and may have conflicting fundamental interests, they can still coexist. At least, Lee Nam-ki, as vice president, has no intention of challenging Lee Byung-soon's authority.

In the main dining room of the executive lounge, everyone took their seats. As the nominal host, and the oldest and highest-ranking person, Lee Byung-soon was naturally invited to sit in the head seat, while An Ru-song was seated to his left. To his right was Vice President Lee Nam-ki.

After everyone was seated, while the waiters brought the food, they chatted about some trivial topics, mainly gossip about the recent political situation and personnel changes in South Korea—these topics seemed indispensable for the men at the gathering.

Everyone present knew the purpose of tonight's gathering, but no one was in a hurry to talk about it. It wasn't until everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and the waiters started serving dessert that Maki-gami, who had acted as the matchmaker, steered the conversation toward a television program produced by KBS.

“Recently, the station has been preparing for the premiere of a new drama, another work by director Mingxu and screenwriter Wen,” Ma Jijian said, picking up a knife and fork and putting some fruit on his plate. “This is also a major production that the station will be launching in the first half of this year, and the production department has high hopes for it.”

"Minister Ma, are you referring to the movie 'You Are My Destiny'?" Li Fuzhen was positioned at the far left, with Han Meiyan to her right and An Rusong further to her right.

An Rusong had also heard of this drama. He hadn't watched it in his previous life, not for any other reason than that the drama was too long, nearly two hundred episodes, and he didn't have that much patience.

KBS has been promoting this drama recently, investing a lot of promotional resources.

“Yes,” Ma Jijian picked up the conversation and continued, “This drama is broadcast weekly, and the station has invested a lot of resources in it. If it fails, many people will probably have to hand in their resignation letters to President Namki.”

The so-called weekly broadcast model can be seen as a TV series shooting and broadcasting mode where several episodes are broadcast on a weekly basis. This broadcasting mode is generally used in European and American TV series. The fact that "You Are My Destiny" was able to run for nearly two hundred episodes in An Rusong's previous life is enough to demonstrate its popularity.

When Ma Jijian said these words, he seemed quite uneasy, but in fact, he had a smile on his face the whole time, which shows that he, as the head of the copyright cooperation department, still had plenty of confidence in the drama.

"Is it the drama starring Girls' Generation's Yoona?" Han Mi-yeon continued. "I've been following the promotions for this drama, and it seems like it'll be pretty good."

She paused, then continued, "CieloTV is also very interested in the online rights to this series, but we don't know if we can include it in the list of works whose copyrights we are negotiating. Of course, CieloTV will not launch it online before the second run on television is over."

Hearing her say this, Ma Jijian fell silent. He turned to look at Li Nanji beside him, then at Li Bingchun sitting in the main seat. Seeing that neither of them intended to speak, he coughed lightly and said, "Chairman Han, regarding the online copyright issues of the station's film and television works, in principle..."

"Did Chairman Han's inspiration for creating CieloTV come from China?" Before he could finish speaking, Lee Nam-ki, who had been silent until now, suddenly interrupted.

His words stunned everyone present, but An Rusong's expression remained calm.

“Chairman Han may not be aware,” Lee Nam-ki continued, “Just recently, Minister Ma went to China to attend a meeting aimed at protecting the copyrights of film and television works. At that time, a website called LeTV contacted Minister Ma. They also hoped to acquire the online rights to a series of dramas and variety shows from KBS.”

An Rusong's lips twitched. Then, he picked up the wine glass in front of him and took a small sip of the nearly empty glass of red wine.

In his previous life's world, Jia Yueting's LeEco seemed to have been aggressively acquiring film and television copyrights starting around 05 or 06. Similar to An Rusong's plan, during this period, the protection of film and television copyrights in China was not nonexistent, but it was barely better than nothing. As for the internet, it was a lawless zone. Forget about any protection of online copyrights; what couldn't you find online?

Putting aside everything else, just take online novels as an example. These days, online novels can be written about anything. The "404 God" hasn't even been born yet, and there's no talk of internet regulation. As a result, pirated film and television works are rampant.

This is why the prices of online copyrights for Chinese films, television shows, and songs were ridiculously low, and LeEco's quiet growth began around this time. However, An Rusong never expected that LeEco would already be extending its reach to South Korea at this point.

Lee Nam-ki's words seemed to be directed at Han Mi-yeon, but his gaze remained fixed on An Ru-song, who was directly opposite him.

"What, is the price offered by LeTV higher than the price offered by CieloTV?" Han Meiyan was definitely a shrewd woman. Faced with this information suddenly thrown out by Li Nanji, she did not panic, but instead asked with a smile.

“The price isn’t high, but their demands aren’t about taking over all the movies and variety shows that KBS owns the rights to,” Lee Nam-ki said with a smile. “Moreover, with LeTV from China first, and now your CieloTV, we have reason to believe that the online copyrights to movies and TV shows that seem worthless now may become highly sought after in the near future.”

He continued looking at An Rusong across from him and asked, "President An, you are a big shot in the internet industry, and your sense of smell in related matters must be more acute than ours. So, is my guess reasonable? Tell me."

“President Namki is too modest. Your business acumen is just as sharp,” An Rusong did not shy away from the question. He smiled and said, “Indeed, the reason why Chairman Han founded CieloTV and invested heavily in acquiring the online copyrights of various film and television works was because he was betting that the Blue House would strengthen its supervision of the internet, including the issue of copyright infringement of film and television works.”

“From a realistic perspective, once the government introduces relevant regulatory policies, or even laws and regulations, the online copyrights of film and television works that are currently worthless will experience a surge in value,” An Rusong said, picking up a pack of cigarettes and gently twirling one between his fingers. “As long as this situation occurs, CieloTV will be able to make a profit, and we will be able to earn huge profits from it.”

He paused, put the cigarette in his mouth, and lit it with a lighter.

“Of course, we never thought about reselling these copyrights. Whether it’s Chairman Han, Chairman Lee, or myself, we all have high hopes for CieloTV’s future,” An Rusong said after taking a drag of his cigarette. “What we want to see is CieloTV become the next NGN, the next unicorn company in South Korea’s internet industry.”

“But this has nothing to do with KBS, does it?” Lee Nam-ki asked with a smile.

“How could it be unrelated?” An Rusong shrugged and said, “Does Chairman Namki mean that KBS only intends to sell the online rights to its film and television and variety shows to Chinese companies, and not to a South Korean internet company? Or does Chairman Namki mean that the LeTV that he mentioned wants to buy not only the online rights in China, but also those in South Korea?”

"Hehe, if that's the case, I think Chairman Namki should reconsider," An Rusong chuckled, turning his gaze to Li Bingchun beside him. "Vice President Li Yuanjun recently had his downfall; Chairman Namki mustn't follow in his footsteps. The key is, even if Vice President Li Yuanjun did have his downfall, it would only affect him personally, not others, while Chairman Namki..."

He didn't finish his sentence there, but instead gave a soft laugh.

An Rusong's words weren't just a simple threat; they addressed a real problem. As he said, even if LeTV were to buy the rights to certain KBS dramas and variety shows, it would only buy those relevant to the Chinese domestic market. This is because LeTV currently has no international ambitions; Jia Yueting hasn't even penetrated the domestic market yet, so how could he be thinking so far ahead?

Even if LeTV intends to enter the South Korean market, the issue becomes even more complex for Lee Nam-ki, because if LeTV enters the South Korean internet market, it will become CieloTV's most direct competitor.

In the past two years, with the rapid development of China's economy, the relationship between China and South Korea has been undergoing subtle changes. No matter how stubborn the South Koreans are, despite their inferiority complex and arrogance, they can still feel the impact of China's economy on South Korea.

In the world of An Rusong's previous life, in the twentieth year of the 21st century, South Koreans' anti-China sentiment was almost at its peak, and anti-China sentiment in South Korea was reaching new highs.

This is not simply due to historical grievances between the two countries, but more so because China's industrial system overlaps too much with South Korea's. China's rise itself means South Korea's decline. Therefore, in a sense, the contradictions between the two countries are fundamentally irreconcilable.

(End of this chapter)