Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 617 The Fifth Largest Television Station
"Oh, MGM Grand is planning to acquire DreamHotels?"

On the balcony outside the hotel, Aaron received a call from Sheldon Adelson.

"Indeed, it seems Kirk Kocorian is going back to running the casino and hotel business in Las Vegas!"

"Okay, I know."

After hanging up the phone, Aaron didn't really pay much attention to the casino and hotel business in Las Vegas, since he only owned a 10% stake in Sands Entertainment, which owns the Venetian casino resort.

However, Kirk Kocorian is definitely going big this time, as the chairman of DreamHotels is Stephen Wynn.
Dream Hotels Group manages and operates seven hotels and casinos, including the BRICS Casino which opened in the 7s, Dream Casino Hotel which opened in 1989, Treasure Island Casino Hotel which opened in 1992, and Bellagio Casino Resort which opened last year.

In particular, the Bellagio Casino Resort, which opened last year, and the Mandalay Bay Casino Resort, owned by Carnival Circus, which opened this year, and the Venetian Casino Resort, owned by Sands, represent the new wave of luxury hotels in Las Vegas!

However, compared to Kirk Kerkorian and Stephen Wynn, Sheldon Adelson had far less experience in running casino hotels.

"Aaron, you're here?"

Christina Yerry went up to the balcony and found Aaron. "Mr. Sumner Redstone has come to the party and said he wants to talk to you."

“Sumner Redstone?” Aaron nodded, putting his arm around Christina Yerry’s waist. “Let’s go.”

Viacom has been burdened with heavy debt in recent years and has successively sold off some of its shares in Bestway, Madison Square Garden Group, USA Cable Networks, and most of Simon & Schuster’s publishing business.

This year, Viacom failed to acquire CBS in a bidding war with Dawn. Although it acquired BET, Viacom's revenue mainly comes from cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, and Showtime.

Paramount Pictures, a key member of Viacom, is still developing in a rather mediocre way!
"Oh, Paramount wants to develop a Paramount theme park within Universal Studios?"

In the lounge area of ​​the cocktail party, Aaron and Summer Redstone sat facing each other and heard the idea.

"Of course! We've acquired a large amount of land near Universal Studios Orlando, which we can definitely utilize."

“Paramount owns a lot of intellectual property, and we would absolutely welcome them if they wanted to build a Paramount theme park, after all, the appeal of Disney World in Orlando is too strong!”

Aaron would definitely be willing to bring in Paramount's IP to compete with Disney, it just depends on whether Paramount really has this idea.
Previously, Paramount had acquired and operated several amusement parks, and then branded them all under the Paramount name.

Mason Paramount King Island Amusement Park, located near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA;

Paramount Kingsland Park, located in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA;
Paramount Caro Wentz amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina;

Paramount Greater America, located in Santa Clara, California, USA; Paramount Canada Fantasyland, located in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada.

Sumner Redstone thought for a moment, "That is indeed my idea, but its implementation still needs to be discussed at the board meeting!"

The amusement parks operated by Paramount cannot compare with Universal Studios or Disneyland in terms of influence and popularity.

The two are not even in the same league. The number of tourists that Universal Studios Hollywood attracts each year is more than the number of people in these five amusement parks.

Aaron nodded. "We need to think about it carefully, after all, such a large-scale theme park requires a huge investment."

"It's a long-term investment industry, with considerable annual maintenance costs, and frequent updates to facilities and equipment!"

Given Paramount's current situation, unless Viacom dares to invest heavily, it's unlikely to have any effect.
Sumner Redstone sighed. Viacom now derives 40% of its profits from MTV, the music cable television network.
When other cable TV networks are included, this proportion exceeds 60%, with the remainder coming from Paramount and other outdoor advertising.

A few years ago, Viacom spent a lot of effort building UPN (Paramon Television Network), but its ratings have been consistently low.
The failed acquisition of CBS thwarted Viacom's strategy to own a national wireless broadcasting network, leaving Sumner Redstone with no choice but to turn to General Electric to see if he could acquire NBC.
After chatting with Sumner Redstone for a while, the two parted ways. After all, for Dawn at this point, the only real competitors were Time Warner and Disney.

Perhaps Sony and News Corporation can each be considered half rivals. After all, Sony's consumer electronics business is not to be underestimated, and News Corporation, with its FOX and Sky Europe, is not to be underestimated either!

In the past two years, with the reform of the U.S. Telecommunications Finance Act, the merger of film companies and television stations has become an unstoppable trend.
Any media group that fails to keep up will inevitably fall behind. Wireless broadcasting networks, cable television networks, and satellite television are all focal points of competition.

However, there is a prerequisite: it must pass the investigation by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission!

After acquiring CBS Broadcasting Network, Dawn already possesses a considerable number of television station resources.

The wireless television network CBS, radio stations, and cable television networks include AMC, Starz, TNN (Nashville Network), CMT (Country Music Television Network), and EOP Entertainment Cable Network.

In terms of television station strength, it is no less than Time Warner and Disney, and it is definitely stronger than News Corporation and Viacom!

In the study of Villa Belair, Aaron sat in a chair, looking at the computer screen on the table, which displayed information about UPN (Parisian United Television Network) and WB (Warner Bros. Television Network).

UPN and WB are two wireless television networks established a few years ago by Paramount and Warner Bros., modeling their success on FOX by News Corporation.

However, UPN and WB did not receive enough investment and were unable to develop as quickly as FOX. Currently, the viewership of both stations is quite low, and the limited number of stations they own results in insufficient reach.
However, Aaron remembers that UPN and WB eventually merged to become the fifth largest wireless television network in the United States. However, the ratings were consistently low, and the network did not produce many hit shows, making it difficult for the newly formed fifth largest television network to compete with the four major networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX.

Aaron couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Sumner Redstone was a very arrogant and domineering man. Since Viacom failed to acquire CBS, it would definitely set its sights on the last television station outside of the major media groups—NBC!
(End of this chapter)