"The injection of 50 million Hong Kong dollars has already been transferred into the company's account. Now, I think it's necessary to talk to you about the development direction of the TV station."
"For a television station, the main areas are nothing more than TV dramas, news, and variety shows—among them, TV dramas are what influence ratings the most."
"In terms of TV dramas, aside from original productions, we can adapt popular novels. Works by Jin Yong and Gu Long are great choices. Their large fanbases are potential viewers. It might even become a hit before airing."
"Speaking of dramas, we must mention actors. The company now has money, so we can poach people from TVB and RTV—whether directors or actors—as long as there's a need."
"Find some time to prepare a list of actors from our station and the other two stations. Whether they're already stars or just extras, as long as they're in the industry, I want their information. It doesn't need to be too detailed, but names, photos, and ages must be included."
While some people were still unknown, Lin Baicheng decided to bring them all into his station. As for whether they would still become stars after being poached—he didn't care for now. He believed that as long as they weren't forced too hard, those who were destined to become big stars in the future would still shine at ATV.
"President Lin, if we do that, TVB and RTV will also start poaching people from us. Digging from each other will only increase expenses," Huang Xizhao reminded him. Though there was no written rule, the three stations had a tacit agreement—not to actively poach each other's personnel. This allowed them to keep salaries and appearance fees at a manageable level.
"Manager Huang, we want to make our station the number one in Hong Kong. The other two stations will eventually become our enemies sooner or later. For now, bring the talents over and sign them to ten-year contracts with high penalties for breach. If TVB or RTV still want to poach them, let them—at least we'll earn the penalty fee."
Lin Baicheng knew that ATV's only real competitor in the future would be TVB. As for RTV, it likely wouldn't survive past next year.
Huang Xizhao said, "In that case, we'll need to offer them better treatment than before, or they won't agree to come to ATV, let alone sign contracts with high penalties."
"It's fine. Just follow my instructions. As for the exact compensation, you can decide."
Lin waved his hand. These early investments were necessary.
"Also, President Lin, if you want information on even the extras, that'll be a huge workload. It'll take time to gather all that data."
Huang couldn't understand Lin's thinking. Did he even want information on background extras? Was he planning to poach them too? If that was the case, ATV had plenty of its own extras they could train themselves.
"No rush. I don't need it immediately. Just give it to me once you have it."
Lin wasn't in a hurry. A month should be enough to compile the list. It was unlikely that many of those future stars would suddenly become famous within a month—maybe a few, but not many.
"Now that we've talked about TV dramas, let's discuss news. The station can send reporters to the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and other countries to send back important news, creating international news segments. This way, people in Hong Kong can learn about global events faster. I believe there will be a market for this."
"And then there's entertainment news. We can report on celebrity gossip and scandals. People are always curious about the private lives of stars. For this kind of news, we can even set up a dedicated newspaper. Since we'll have many stars under our station, we can get exclusive updates firsthand."
"Next is financial news. We can report on changes in company shareholdings, movements of the Hang Seng Index, or major rises and falls of stocks. We could even invite professors to create a financial commentary program—analyzing the Hang Seng Index's trend, which listed companies are good for long-term investment, and so on. As long as we don't recommend specific stocks, it should be fine."
"As for variety shows, I have some ideas. We can talk about those in detail later."
"Besides that, the station can host singing contests or beauty pageants. For singing contests, we can sign promising contestants and establish a record label, developing them over time and fully utilizing our resources."
"For beauty pageants, currently the only one in Hong Kong is TVB's 'Miss Hong Kong Pageant'. We can organize a 'Miss Asia Pageant'—not limited to Hong Kong residents. Women from Japan, Taiwan, Mainland China, Southeast Asia, etc., can participate. To attract contestants, we can offer high prize money and tailor roles in dramas for the winner—making the pageant a shortcut to fame."
"In the future, the station needs to expand horizontally and develop in more directions. Other than what I've said, if you have good ideas, feel free to suggest them at any time. As for funding, as long as the station produces results, I'll inject more capital if necessary."
"And to be clear, everything I've said is just the development direction for the station—not that everything needs to be done right away. The execution is up to you, as the general manager."
"President Lin, with your ambition, as long as funds are sufficient, I will make all of this happen," Huang said excitedly. What Lin had outlined could not only boost ratings but also significantly expand the station's scale. If all of it was realized, ATV would no doubt become number one in Hong Kong—fulfilling his lifelong dream.
"I look forward to it."
Lin smiled faintly. Whether Huang could achieve this or not would become clear in the next year or two.
Although information from his past life told Lin that Huang had strong capabilities in the television industry, he still couldn't be certain. If in one or two years Huang didn't meet his expectations, Lin would fire him and hire a new general manager.
To Lin, in his companies, no one is irreplaceable except himself. If his subordinates failed to satisfy him, the only outcome for them was to get out.