Chapter 216: New Condition

Normally, a minute was fleeting for Murdoch. However, this was not the case today.

He had originally hoped that the young man sitting in front of him would calm down, but soon, as Eric slowly continued the countdown, Murdoch himself could not calm down.

He began to quickly calculate the pros and cons of Eric's terms. He soon realized that Eric was right. If Fox TV lost Friends, it would miss the best and possibly the only opportunity for it to develop enough to truly be able to compete with the three major TV networks.

If Friends had been an average sitcom, even if they lost it, Fox TV could continue to remain under the radar and develop silently. However, after Friends' ratings miracle, the three major TV networks have realized the threat posed by Fox TV Network, and would certainly not allow it to develop further if it loses Friends.

Having been in the media industry for decades, Murdoch was accustomed to all kinds of cruel anti-competition tactics. When he left Australia and went to the UK to grow his company, the most difficult period was when his competitors were unscrupulous. To retaliate against him, an outsider, the existing media companies even threatened his family's personal safety. A group of kidnappers had once mistakenly kidnapped the wife of a manager at News Corp, believing her to be his wife. When they learned that they had kidnapped the wrong person, they killed the poor woman.

When coming to the United States, Murdoch had been aware that the competition in North America would not be much milder than that in the United Kingdom.

***

In less than 30 seconds, Murdoch had already had countless thoughts in his mind.

Eric, who was sitting opposite him, was still staring at his watch, slowly counting down.

"9… 8… 7… 6..."

When his countdown reached the last few seconds, Murdoch finally sighed, waved his hand gently, and said, "Alright, Eric, I agree."

Eric paused when he heard Murdoch's words before he slowly raised his head.

Naturally, Eric wouldn't impulsively go through with the threats he had made due to a moment of anger. Although Murdoch made a lot more threats than his single threat to take away Friends, as a mature middle-aged man, he would never be swayed by his emotions while doing business. He had calculated that there was a 70% chance of Murdoch accepting his terms because Fox TV Network needed Friends more than anything.

Of course, he had also thought of what to do in case Murdoch really refused his terms.

He was sure that even if the countdown really ended and he walked away, Murdoch would definitely come to find him. Due to his original plan, he never  planned to sever Firefly's cooperation with Fox TV. In case negotiations failed, he had planned to play hard-to-get for a few days before finally agreeing to renegotiate.

But if this happened, Fox would definitely become aware of his bottom line and he would never have the opportunity to obtain 10% equity of Fox TV Network.

In fact, Murdoch's attitude after he put forward his terms had made Eric think that he would not be able to obtain 10% equity of Fox TV Network.

But after hearing his subtle threat to transfer Friends to ABC, Murdoch used his women to threaten him which gave Eric the perfect excuse to pull off his little countdown act.

Wouldn't a proud and ambitious young man be easily outraged in the face of threats?

Since the odds of Murdoch readily accepting his terms were originally slim, Eric had taken that gamble.

However, unlike Eric, Murdoch did not dare to gamble on the future of Fox TV. He was afraid that Eric would completely cut off negotiations with Fox TV and transfer Friends to ABC TV. In the worst case scenario that such an event took place, there would be no chance for Fox to get Friends back.

Therefore, Eric won the gamble.

Although Murdoch agreed, Eric didn't gloat. He simply picked up the coffee pot in front of him, poured himself a cup of coffee and slowly drank it while waiting for Murdoch to continue.

Murdoch was also not a fool. From Eric's overtly indifferent actions, he quickly realized that he might have just been fooled.

Regret!

This was Murdoch's first thought.

However, if previously Eric had only pretended to threaten him, if Murdoch reneged on his word now, Eric would truly turn those threats into reality.

To think that after more than 30 years of struggling in the media industry, he was actually swindled at the hands of a little boy. How could Murdoch be willing to accept this.

Since he couldn't immediately renege on his words, Murdoch still had to try to recover some of the loss.

"Eric, I can give you 10% equity of Fox TV Network, but you should also know that if you had used Friends alone to put forward such terms to the three major TV networks, they would have kicked you immediately. So. Friends alone is not enough. You need, um..." Murdoch pondered for a moment before he said, "You need to provide Fox with two more excellent TV shows. Of course, I know that a show of Friends' level is very rare, so as long as the average ratings of the two other TV shows can reach 15 million, I promise to transfer the equity to you."

Eric almost burst into laughter when he heard this condition.

If Murdoch had put forward some other conditions, Eric might've been in pickle, but since he had asked for hit TV shows, let alone two, Eric could come up with 20 from his memory.

During his previous life, most subtitling groups were too lazy to translate American TV shows with terrible ratings, so usually only hit American TV shows with high ratings flowed into his country. As a result, most of the American TV shows that he had seen had been the most acclaimed American TV shows.

However, Eric quickly noticed a flaw in Murdoch's statement. Murdoch was stating that he would not transfer the equity to him until after he provided Fox with two hit TV shows.

How could he possibly agree to such a vague promise? He was sure that if he really gave the three TV shows to Fox first, and waited for the ratings to come out, old Murdoch would come up with some excuses to avoid giving him the equity. In that case, all three TV shows with high ratings would air on Fox, allowing it to obtain a decent fixed audience. Afterwards, what Fox would do to him was obvious.

"Mr. Murdoch, I can provide two more shows for Fox, and the ratings will also exceed 15 million because I happen to have a few good ideas. However, I don't like to play word games. Today is the 8th, and the next episode of Friends will air on the 10th. If Fox TV doesn't transfer 10% equity to Firefly before tomorrow night, I can't guarantee what will happen."

After Eric finished speaking, he started to get up.

If Eric had only said the latter few sentences, maybe Murdoch would let Eric leave. But when he heard Eric's words about "having a few good ideas," Murdoch became excited.

He had asked for the two TV shows with more than 15 million ratings only as a way to renege on his promise. Even among all the North American TV networks combined, there weren't more than 10 TV shows with average ratings of more than 15 million and most of them were sequels. It was much more difficult for brand-new TV shows to achieve such a result. This was why the pilot Friends having more than 30 million viewers had caused such a sensation.

Seeing Eric about to get up, Murdoch waved his hand to stop him and quickly saaid, "Wait, Eric! Why would I play a word game with you? You have to believe that since I have agreed to your terms, I won't renege on it. So, can we sit down and talk about your... ideas?"

'Like hell you won't renege on your words!' Eric sneered as he cursed inwardly. He didn't want to continue talking with an old fox like Murdoch since he might fall into another one of his traps if he didn't pay attention. But after hearing Murdoch's question, Eric decided to briefly explain.

"Actually, Mr. Murdoch, I believe that if you want to increase the influence of a TV station, just a few hit TV shows are not enough. I plan to create a variety show to give Fox a different type of TV show from Friends. I guarantee that if this variety show is operated well, reaching an average viewership of more than 20 million is not a problem."

Murdoch's heart jumped and quickly asked, "Eric, can you talk about the idea behind ​​your… variety show?"

Eric smiled and shook his head, "Mr. Murdoch, like I said, I hope that I will see a preliminary equity transfer agreement by the 10th. Before that, there is no need to talk about the show."

"But if you are not willing to disclose anything, how do I know that what you said is true?" Murdoch asked.

Eric lightly rubbed his forehead in annoyance and replied, "Mr. Murdoch, don’t forget, you promised to give me the equity of Fox TV in exchange for Friends. As for the other two TV shows, you can only choose to trust me."

"Alright, Eric, I can transfer the equity to you, but it must be specified that it's only for a one-year period. If you can't provide two TV shows with average ratings of 15 million within one year, you will return 5% of the equity. What do you think?"

Eric sneered and replied, "Mr. Murdoch, falsifying ratings is 100 times easier than falsifying a movie's box office. Do you think I would agree to such a dubious condition?"