I am a master in India

Chapter 291 Deal
The owner of ATN is Siddhartha Stava, who also lives near Malabar Hill in Mumbai.

As an entertainment capital, most of India's private television stations were originally founded in Mumbai.

This place not only boasts abundant entertainment resources, but also the most professional media talent in all of India.

When Stava founded the Asian Television Network (ATN), he relied on journalists poached from newspapers to support the news broadcasts of the Hindi-language channel.

However, Stava placed more emphasis on entertainment content. He scourned over two thousand old feature films from Bollywood, along with more than ten thousand movie theme songs.

He plans to develop ATN Gold into a high-quality paid subscription channel, and these copyrighted resources are what he relies on.

Since its launch in August 1992, ATN has actually done quite well. In less than three years, its viewership exceeded eight million.

Unfortunately, the number of subscribers to the entertainment channel is growing slowly, and the public still prefers to watch free programs.

Stava spent a large sum of money to purchase the rights to Bollywood content before the television station launched, but it has yet to recoup its investment.

To make matters worse, their partner, the Russian satellite company, also faced a series of problems. Multiple negotiations between the two parties proved fruitless.

Stava simply shut down the television station, wanting to focus on resolving the copyright issue first.

ATN's biggest competitor is Zee TV, which launched its own Bollywood channel, Zee Cinema, last month.

They shared the same idea: to attract more paying subscribers by focusing on Bollywood feature films as the core content.

India's current television media market is not yet attractive enough to draw advertisers to spend large sums of money on it.

Private television stations, in particular, are too small to operate without offering pay channels.

Zee TV has caught up and surpassed its competitors, not only broadcasting its general channel 24 hours a day, but also adding a Bollywood movie channel and an English channel this year.

ATN has already fallen behind in the competition, while Zee TV's owner, Subhash Chandra, is extremely aggressive.

He launched his movie channel last month, and then issued a strong warning to ATN in June.

Chandra claims that the copyrights to 21 feature films broadcast on ATN Movie Channel belong to Zee TV.

This is an infringement, and if ATN does not immediately stop broadcasting, they will formally sue the other party.

Stava didn't take those words to heart at all.

He refuted Chandra's claims point by point in the newspaper and mocked Zee TV as a clone of All India Television.

As a newly established private television station, Zee TV suffers from issues related to experience, content, and cost, resulting in most of its programs being copied from the official All India Television.

The current understanding of copyright in India is roughly this: when something belongs to me, no one may infringe upon it! When something is in someone else's hands, I can use it as I please, regardless of what others think.

The two television stations engaged in a war of words in the newspapers, each claiming that the other had infringed on their copyright.

At the same time, in order to enrich their own copyright library, they began to compete for the film libraries of various Bollywood film companies.

ATN is unwilling to pay the money it owes to Russian satellite companies because it is short of funds and plans to save them for future copyright acquisitions.

Anyway, the satellite overhead keeps malfunctioning every few days, and users in the northern region haven't been able to receive a signal for three weeks.

Why even broadcast this? Most of ATN's users are already there, so just stop broadcasting and focus on copyright issues.

Ultimately, it all comes down to a lack of money, Stava sighed. So far, the investment has yielded poor returns.

Not only did we not recoup our investment, we also suffered a loss.

He originally thought that with India's huge population market, his business should grow rapidly.

Stava still hasn't figured out what the problem is. ATN's English channel mostly reprints news from Reuters and ABC, and the rest are entertainment programs from Thames Productions.

Most households with televisions belong to the middle class, and they should prefer English channels, but very few of these "elites" are willing to pay for them.

ATN also has a Bollywood channel specifically for Hindi speakers, but as mentioned above, the situation remains bleak.

Stava didn't let these things bother him for long; he was a returnee from overseas and enjoyed life.

Even though his company wasn't doing very well, he still threw parties at home.

The couple has friends all over Asia, Europe and America, some from Bhopal, some from New York, and others from Delhi and London.

Friends don't mind that there's no ready-made dinner waiting for them when they come in, and they don't mind helping to chop onions or mince ginger.

Some people rolled up their sleeves to help in the kitchen, some took the opportunity to hide by the window and smoke hemp, some lay sprawled on the living room floor without any regard for appearances, letting the boy ride on their stomachs, or they played with the children toy cars.

Stava offers beer, wine, and even spirits. The food is prepared with care, and plating is entirely up to the guest.

Sometimes they play music, and the children dance to it. Guests come in groups of three or five, and you can leave or join the conversation at any time.

There were discussions about excessive pollution from villa renovations, or exchanges of photography techniques and the latest exhibitions of certain masters.

Of course, Stava was asked most about his television station, as many of the guests in the room were ATN viewers.

He smiled broadly and said it was just a technical adjustment, telling everyone not to worry.

He was secretly sighing, considering whether he should take out two bank loans.

However, ATN borrowed a lot of money when it was first established, and it still hasn't paid it back. It's estimated that it will be difficult for any bank in Mumbai to lend it money again.

Stava was about to go to the balcony to relax when a servant came to report that a phone call was needed.

He initially wanted to refuse, but upon hearing who was on the other end, he immediately rushed to the phone.

After saying only a few words, Stava left the room full of guests and went out.

Twenty minutes later, he met Ron at the Ocean Plaza Hotel near the Seaside Boulevard.

“Mr. Sull, it’s an honor to meet you.” Stava stepped forward quickly.

"Hello, please have a seat." Ron smiled and shook hands with him.

The five-star hotel here is very close to Mount Malaba. Ron didn't want to go far, so he chose this place as the meeting place.

The view outside was lovely; across the road lay a golden beach and a deep blue sea, a cool breeze blowing gently. "Please forgive my intrusion," Ron said, raising his glass.

“I happen to be free today, look, perfect for having a drink with friends.” Stava clinked glasses with him with a big smile.

He was older than Ron, but in terms of career achievements, he was far inferior to Karami.

Suer Electric sells hundreds of thousands of televisions every month, and its sales figures are not even in the same league as its television stations.

Stava kept glancing at the person opposite him, wondering what good thing this big shot wanted to see him about.

Yes, given Ron's current status, he can certainly be considered a "big shot" in Mumbai's business world.

“Mr. Stava, let me be frank, I want to buy your ATN television station.”

"what?"

"I heard the TV station is having some trouble."

“Uh, it’s just a minor issue,” Stava said, recovering from her shock.

“I’m not taking advantage of your misfortune; I genuinely want it. You can name your price.”

“I don’t understand,” Stava sighed, “why did you suddenly decide to start a television station?”

“I’m not doing this on a whim, nor am I an outsider. I also own Sun Entertainment, which specializes in Bollywood business,” Ron said with a smile.

"Well, that's surprising."

Sun Entertainment isn't considered a big company in the media industry, so it's normal that Stava hasn't heard of it.

He was simply surprised by the pace of Ron's expansion; Suer Electric had already risen fast enough, and now it was the media industry's turn.

“I know ATN is having some financial problems, and I also know that Zee TV is watching us closely.”

This is a difficult situation, and the TV station won't have substantial revenue in the short term. You might consider selling it; I guarantee you won't lose out.

“To be honest, this is a bit sudden,” Stava sighed.

The operational pressures of the TV station naturally put him in a bad mood; just now, he was thinking about where to make money.

However, when it comes to selling, he really hadn't considered it. ATN was something he had put a lot of effort into building, and it had gone through many ups and downs over the past three years, but he had also developed an attachment to it.

But the person sitting in front of him was, after all, Mr. Sue, whose reputation in Mumbai was exceptionally good.

Since he said he wouldn't let himself suffer a loss, Stava was certain that ATN would fetch a good price.

After returning from studying abroad, he was repeatedly swindled by local Indian businessmen. He vowed that in the future, he would never easily believe any promises when doing business.

But Mr. Sur is an exception; he is a good man who has never broken his word, a fact acknowledged throughout India.

Stava was conflicted; he worried that if he missed this offer, he wouldn't have such a good opportunity again.

ATN was his brainchild, but it also became a burden.

“I heard you invested over 2 million rupees when this TV station was set up?” Ron asked.

“Yes.” Stava replied calmly.

"Most of them are bank loans, right?"

That's how business is done.

“That’s right.” Ron smiled and took a sip of his drink.

“I have full confidence in ATN. We have more and more users, and the best days are yet to come.”

"Then you haven't broken even, and you still have to pay off the loan."

Stava didn't say anything; how could they possibly have a conversation?

“How about this, 3 million rupees, let’s be friends.” Ron poured him a glass of wine.

“3 million?” Stava held his breath.

This price is damn tempting!

"I want everything from ATN: its employees, copyright library, television network, and distribution channels."

You take the money and leave, and the bank debts are yours too. However, I can help you pay off the satellite company's debts.

“Wow, Mr. Sue is indeed a straightforward person,” Stava exclaimed.

The offer of 300 million rupees is really good. He borrowed more than 100 million rupees from the bank and has paid off half of it in three years.

Those two thousand-plus movies and ten thousand-plus songs didn't actually cost that much money back then, less than sixty million rupees.

After accounting for these costs and assets, Stava still made a net profit of over 100 million rupees.

This is his profit after three years of entrepreneurship. How many companies in Mumbai can earn this much now?
Zee TV isn't doing well either; they're probably just breaking even right now.

“How about that? There’s no better offer in Mumbai.” Ron looked at him.

"Deal! But I have one condition."

"explain."

"If Suer Electric goes public in the future, please do not refuse my investment. Of course, you can set the amount."

“Okay.” Ron smiled.

This Stava is interesting; at least he has good taste.

P.S.: I've been so busy with work lately, everyone. I've been writing until midnight every day, I'm really doing my best.
(End of this chapter)