News Corp., founded by him, is one of the largest and most internationalized comprehensive media companies in the world, with net assets exceeding 40 billion dollars. Its core business covers the production and distribution of movies and TV programs, wireless TV, satellite TV and cable TV broadcasting, the publication of newspapers, magazines and books, and the development of digital broadcasting, encryption and viewing management systems.
Needless to say, this introduction is very comprehensive.
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Star Media, a subsidiary of News Corp. in Asia, has 40 TV channels and broadcasts entertainment and information programs in eight languages to about 300 million viewers in 53 countries and regions in Asia. At present, nine channels have landed in Chinese mainland, namely: Phoenix TV Chinese Channel, ESPN Sports Channel, Satellite TV Sports Channel, Channel[V] Music Channel, Satellite TV International Film Channel, National Geographic Channel, Phoenix Film Channel, Phoenix Information Channel, Star TV and so on.
Other aspects, such as entertainment, network, sports and other extended products.
Looking at the development of News Corp. in China market, we can see that President Murdoch has always taken the upper line:
From 65438 to 0985, President Murdoch visited China for the first time and presented 50 films made by 20th Century Fox Film Company to CCTV, including The Sound of Music and General Patton.
Murdoch, the president of 1993, bought 64% of the shares of Star Media, a satellite TV station, from the Li Ka-shing family for $525 million, and then bought the remaining shares for 1995.
1In March 1999, the Beijing representative office was established, and then two new sales representative offices were established in Chengdu and Guangzhou.
On February 7, 2000107, News Corp. and Goldman Sachs * * * both injected US$ 325 million into China Netcom, accounting for 0/2% of the shares of Netcom/kloc. It is reported that the capital contribution of News Corporation is 60 million US dollars. In 2005, News Corporation also wanted to build IPTV by investing heavily in Netcom, in order to achieve explosive growth in the IPTV era and ensure its shareholding position in Netcom. You know, in the telecommunications sector, only "Tian Tian Online" owned by Netcom has a legal IPTV operation status.
2001May 10, its subsidiary NDS Group established its first independent branch "NDS Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd." in China, with the goal of becoming a supplier of the whole system of digital cable TV front-end, receiving, set-top box and interactive program guide software in the national cable TV network.
20011kloc-0/9 China State Administration of Radio, Film and Television officially approved the Chinese channel of Phoenix Satellite TV, which is 38% owned by News Corporation, to enter the cable network in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province. It is estimated that Phoenix TV now has about 30 million cable TV users.
200165438+February 19 A brand-new variety channel under its star group was approved by the China Municipal Government to land in the Pearl River Delta region. This is the first time that China has granted the cable TV network landing right to a brand-new overseas channel (later named "Star TV"). According to the agreements signed by Star Media Group with CCTV, China International Television Corporation and Guangdong Cable TV Network Company, Star Media will broadcast a brand-new 24-hour variety channel including entertainment, music and film and television dramas to Guangdong Province through cable TV system in early 2002. As a reciprocal condition, Star Group's sister company, Fox Cable, will arrange CCTV-9, an English channel of CCTV, to broadcast in the United States. Now, through News Corp.' s nationwide live television group, 9 sets and 4 sets of CCTV programs have reached thousands of households in major cities in the United States, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Cleveland, Colorado and "Bert Moore" in Washington, D.C., as well as more than 0/0 key universities in the United States, with more than 0/50 American users.
065438+1October 2 1 2002, the new variety channel of its star group, which was allowed to land in the south, was officially named "Star TV", and the Chinese name of Star Group Co., Ltd. was named "Star Media Group". On March 28th of the same year, a brand-new 24-hour variety channel "Star TV" integrating entertainment, music and film and television drama was officially launched through Guangdong Cable TV Network. After that, Star TV landed in domestic three-star hotels and foreign-related communities. In addition, the starry sky also includes many familiar channels in China, such as Chinese Channel of Satellite TV, Chinese Channel of Phoenix TV (holding 38.25%), Family Fun Channel of Satellite TV, Music Channel of Channel [V] (holding 87.5%), ESPN (holding 50%), Movie Channel of Phoenix TV, National Geographic Channel (holding 66.7%) and so on. , has more than 30 channels in the mainland. Its ESPN entertainment and sports program network, discovery channel and other program contents have already entered the mainland cable TV system by giving away, selling at low prices, and even paying for broadcasting, and the music channel [V] has gradually penetrated through cooperation with mainland TV stations. The "Top of the Global Chinese Music List" initiated by it has entered its tenth year in 2004 and has considerable influence every year. There are also entertainment channel Zee TV in India and sports channel STAR SPORTS in Indonesia. It has basically penetrated into the Asian market, forming a trend of encircling the China market.
Up to now, the total investment of Star Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary established by News Corp. on satellite channels, has exceeded 2 billion US dollars. Its financial report for the fiscal year 2003 (June 2002-June 2003) released on August 13 shows that although the advertising revenue in Asia has generally declined due to the impact of SARS, Star Media has made a profit for the first time in its annual operation. The main reasons are as follows. However, on the whole, it is not profitable in China market. It is estimated that Star Media will lose $20 million to $30 million a year in China, and its business in China is expected to break even by 2006. Phoenix TV, which holds 38% of Star Media, is also having a hard time. When it went public in 2000, Phoenix Satellite TV had more than $90 million in cash, and made a profit of about HK$ 50 million that year (2000-200 1 fiscal year). But by the fiscal year of 20001-2002, the loss was10.40 billion Hong Kong dollars; After that, in the fiscal year of 2002-2003, the loss was HK$ 70 million, mainly for the information desk, and the total expenditure in the past two years was about US$ 30 million. Although Star Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Corporation, has not yet made a profit in China, this will not change Murdoch's long-term strategy of entering the China market. What he is interested in is that there are too many spaces and opportunities for the future development of China media market.
From June 5438 to February 20, 2002, its subsidiary Star Media Group formed a strategic alliance with Hunan Radio, Film and Television Group, and agreed to cooperate extensively in program shooting, global distribution and program exchange in the future. Although no substantial progress has been made in the cooperation between the two sides, The Asian Wall Street Journal commented that this is the first time that the China government has allowed foreign TV organizations to fully cooperate with China film and television organizations.
In 2003, News Corporation reached an agreement with CCTV. The conditional access CA system developed by NDS Group, a company specialized in technology development under News Corp., has passed the final acceptance of CCTV Central Satellite TV Communication Center, and began to transmit the digital encrypted TV program signals of the center through provincial and regional cable TV front-ends in the national cable TV network, and finally transmitted them to cable TV receiving home users.
After establishing the first foreign satellite channel, the first joint venture channel and the first TV guide in China, its leading Star TV set up the first wholly foreign-owned advertising company in China under the framework of CEPA in 2004, which will be responsible for the advertising business of Star TV in China. It is said that Star TV is already negotiating channel content cooperation with Ningxia TV Station.
National Geographic Channel belongs to it, National Geographic TV and NBC. 1999 entered China with News Corp. On 200 1, Star Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Corp., was allowed to land in Guangdong, China, and the programs of National Geographic Channel could begin to meet China audiences through Star Media. In August 2004, CCTV Fengyun Communication Co., Ltd. launched the World Geographic Digital Pay Channel, and the partner was National Geographic Channel. The two sides signed a program content provision agreement, that is, National Geographic Channel provides programs for CCTV's pay channels. In February 2005, it was rumored that a subsidiary of CCTV was planning to set up a joint venture with National Geographic Channel to provide 300 hours of TV programs every year and provide 300 hours of TV program support for two digital pay TV developers under CCTV, that is, CCTV Fengyun Communication, a national comprehensive platform for digital pay TV and a program provider. If the joint venture plan is approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, it will be the first "marriage" between News Corporation and domestic companies in the field of program production, and it will also become the first TV program production company invested by News Corporation in Chinese mainland. However, the person in charge of the National Geographic Channel in Beijing said that the joint venture plan has not yet achieved any substantive results, but it is only in the contact stage.
The latest news:
On June 8, China Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. (094 1. HK, hereinafter referred to as "China Mobile") issued an announcement, which was officially signed with Phoenix Satellite TV Holdings Limited (8002. HK, hereinafter referred to as "Phoenix Satellite TV"), and signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation with News Corporation (NWS). New york Stock Exchange) and Star Media Group Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Star Media"). At the same time, China Mobile's China Mobile (HK) Group completed the acquisition of 9.9% shares of Phoenix Satellite TV/KLOC-0 from Star Chuan Mei Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Star Media. This mobile operator with the largest user base in the world has taken another big step in cooperation with content companies.
China Mobile's New Media Dream
China Mobile's acquisition of Phoenix Satellite TV shares was expected by the industry as early as two months ago. After the news of the acquisition of Phoenix Satellite TV and cooperation with two major media groups was officially announced, how China Mobile will build a new media empire has become the focus of discussion in the industry.
The industry has always believed that data services will be the top priority of competition in the future 3G era. According to the financial report of China Mobile in 2005, the total revenue of new services except voice services of China Mobile reached 5010.80 billion yuan, a rapid increase of 58.6% compared with last year, among which the revenue of non-SMS services such as wireless music increased rapidly. The new business income accounts for more than 20% of China Mobile's total revenue, which is the highest among several major domestic operators. However, compared with Japanese and Korean operators, the gap is still obvious, and this field will become the focus of China Mobile in the future.
Before cooperating with Phoenix TV, News Corporation and Star TV, China Mobile has tried to cooperate with many domestic and foreign media companies. In April 2005, China Mobile signed a cooperation agreement with Viacom's MTV to cooperate in the field of wireless music. In the past year, China Mobile has become the most influential wireless music distribution channel in China market. In May, China Mobile signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Wenguang Group to launch a wireless entertainment platform and cooperate with mobile streaming media. In May 2006, it was reported that China Mobile cooperated with Google, a search giant, in mobile phone search business.
In what way should telecom operators intervene in the lucrative content industry, the industry has always had different views. In 2005, after China Mobile modified the sharing mode with SP, the industry always thought that China Mobile would surpass the identity of traditional telecom operators.
Although China Mobile executives have indicated on different occasions that they will not directly compete with content partners and SP, China Mobile is bound to take a more active role in the content industries with great potential, such as wireless music, streaming media and mobile phone search, under the background of 3G's upcoming launch. After signing a cooperation agreement with a media company, China Mobile executives said with great certainty: We are also the media.
Murdoch's retreat and advance
It is not surprising that Murdoch sold shares in Phoenix TV. The development of News Corporation in China market is far from successful. Due to the changes in government regulatory policies, it is difficult for News Corp. to see a turnaround in the China market in a short time. When the news of the sale of Phoenix TV shares came out, many analysts took this action as a signal that Murdoch had withdrawn from the China market.
The Financial Times believes that the sale of shares in Phoenix TV shows that the strategy of News Corp. in China has undergone major changes, and in a longer period of time, News Corp. may completely withdraw from Phoenix TV. Judging from the development of foreign media groups in China in recent years, it seems to be a trend to temporarily withdraw. A few years ago, time warner Inc. Company (TWX: new york Stock Exchange) sold its shares in China Education Station to Tom Group (2383: HK).
Although the expansion of News Corp. in China market is not smooth, the performance of Phoenix TV has improved considerably in the past year or two. The financial report of Phoenix Satellite TV shows that the income of Phoenix Satellite TV increased rapidly in 2004 and 2005, and the annual operating income in 2005 reached HK$ 654.38+0.34 billion.
At this time, Murdoch must have sufficient reasons to reduce his stake in Phoenix TV. Judging from the strategic cooperation memoranda reached by News Corp. with Star Media and China Mobile, the reason why China Mobile impressed Murdoch was wireless multimedia.
In the memorandum, China Mobile, News Corporation and Star Media expressed their intention to establish a long-term strategic cooperative relationship in the field of wireless multimedia and explore different areas of cooperation, so as to give full play to their complementary advantages as the world's largest media company and the largest mobile telecommunications company in this century. The initial cooperation scope includes giving full play to the advantages of News Corporation's huge content library and China Mobile's powerful wireless distribution network in China market, and synthesizing, developing and promoting multimedia content and other wireless value-added services.
"For Star TV, today's partnership means important growth opportunities in the field of new media." Gao Meixian, CEO of Star Media, believes that China Mobile will "enable us to expand the brand and service of Star Media to the largest wireless market in the world."
Viacom, like Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, withdrew from the China market in the past. After establishing a cooperative relationship with China Mobile in 2005, MTV and China Mobile. It is time for Murdoch to learn from his old rivals. Although he reduced his shareholding in Phoenix TV, he established a cooperative relationship with China Mobile, which has a mobile phone customer base of 265 million, and this has become a new starting point for Murdoch to once again enter the China market.
Trilateral * * * won?
After China Mobile, Phoenix Satellite TV, News Corporation and Star Media announced the cooperation news, most voices in the industry agreed with the industrial direction represented by the tripartite cooperation: the increasingly close integration of telecommunications and media.
Judging from the specific ways of cooperation, most analysts basically think that it is a win-win situation. China Mobile's hundreds of millions of users and its great influence in China's content distribution market are connected with the content advantages of Phoenix TV, News Corporation and Star Media, which is really worth looking forward to.
Wang Ran, CEO of Yi Kai Network Capital Co., Ltd. believes that this transaction belongs to three parties and is basically a happy situation: Mobile has obtained the content resources of Phoenix and News Corporation; News Corp. solved the problem in terms of funds and got mobile support on the wireless platform; Phoenix has improved the shareholder structure while relying on the towering tree of new media. The three parties have their own places, and they are basically happy endings.
However, for such a long-term strategic cooperation, it is obviously not the time to make an assertion. Although China Mobile and many SP have achieved great success in wireless music, most new media profit models are still being explored, and the cooperation between foreign traditional media and operators was not successful before.
How to balance the relationship between China Mobile and several media companies has also become a real problem. After China Mobile shares in Phoenix Satellite TV, some media companies and SP are worried that this will affect their cooperative relationship with China Mobile. Although Wang Jianzhou emphasized that the agreement was not exclusive, the most favorable terms still worried other partners.