Chapter 529

Chapter 529: Sky High Broadcast Rights.

It wasn’t known for which reason in this world the big internet streaming service like Youyi or Shanhai Streaming didn’t buy the broadcast rights for the big sporting events.

For example, when the NBA came to China, Shanhai Streaming only purchased the rights to broadcast the two Lakers pre-season games.

But there wasn’t any situation where a company bought the entirety of NBA broadcasts.

Perhaps it was because most of the NBA games were broadcasted on CCTV and felt they wouldn’t get much even if they bought the live broadcast.

The cost would also be very high.

However, things are different now.

Chen Huan was in the US now and the matter of him participating in the NBA playoff already spread through the internet over the world so the Chinese people obviously knew about this.

Numerous media reported it..

CCTV already made the decision of focusing on the Lakers.

As for Shanhai Streaming, who worked the most with Chen Huan, also smelled the opportunity so they approached the Lakers and wanted to buy the rights for the playoffs.

One had to know that the broadcasting term for sports in the US, especially in the NBA, was very complicated.

The league would package all the big games to TV stations such as ESPN or TNT and let them broadcast those games.

But people’s time was limited and the 30 teams had 82 regular season games so there were more than a thousand games to broadcast, they wouldn’t be able to do it even if they broadcasted it 24 hours a day.

Besides, they couldn’t broadcast the several games that were playing at the same time, right?

So in a season, those TV stations had options during the regular season.

Did this mean they couldn’t sell the game that wasn’t picked up live?

Of course not.

For the Lakers 82 regular season games, Time Warner Cable bought their regional TV rights.

The price was also very good!

4 billion USD for 20 years!

Although the money must be cut in half for the team they were competing with, the net income of 100 million USD each year was still very enticing.

The live presentation, different tidbits, break time, post-match interviews etc… were all different from the usual league broadcast.

After all, why would the other party spend so much money to buy the live broadcast right if they couldn’t differentiate the service?

Shanhai Streaming wanted to buy that type of broadcasting rights.

Shanhai Streaming offered 10 million USD for the possible maximum of 25 games to win, which was already a very high price.

But they wanted to monopolize the broadcast in China’s streaming service and no other streaming network was allowed to stream it.

They also requested to be refunded of 5 million if the Lakers didn’t make it to the Western Conference Finals.

After all, if they didn’t make it to the Western Conference Finals, it was about 12 games usually so it was normal to return half of it.

Little Buss and Kupchak were discussing this point for the past few days.

If the contract was signed and the ten million was used for the team, it was a very good income.

Little Buss already decided to call Shanhai Streaming this morning and was about to agree to their offer but Kupchak suddenly came in.

“President, we received another offer from China!” Kupchak excitedly declared while holding a fax, “Look at this! This streaming company wants to buy the rights for 30 million USD!”

“30 million!?”

Little Buss suddenly had a hard time breathing.

The price given by CCTV each year to the league was only 50 million.

The offer was definitely on the lower side but considering it was a market with 1.5 billion people, it was normal for them to make concessions in the broadcasting rights.

Wouldn’t it be natural for them to raise the price when there were more NBA fans in the future?

But now, there was someone who was saying they were willing to spend 30 million USD to buy the broadcast rights for the Lakers in the playoffs, this was really a big offer!

Little Buss gulped down and said, “Did you ask them what they are going to do if we don’t make it past the first round?”

“I asked and their response was they believed that Chen Huan can make miracles happen.” Kupchak said, “But they had two requirements.”

“What is it?”

“The first is that there must be exclusive rights to broadcast on the internet in China.”

“Not a problem!” Little Buss replied.

“The second was your decision must come within three hours.”

“Huh!?” Little Buss wasn’t stupid and knew the meaning behind it, “They’re afraid someone else snatch the rights from them.”

“Yeah, they are really in a hurry! How can someone snatch the rights from them with their 30 million dollars offer?” Kupchak laughed.

“Right, this streaming service called… Pomelo, did you check out what kind of streaming service are they? Don’t get scammed.” Little Buss warned.

“I asked my friends in China after my phone call with them.” Kupchak said, “They are a second-rate streaming service from China and aren’t listed but should be worth around 1 billion USD. It may be hard for them to get 30 million but they shouldn’t dare to go back on their words if a contract is signed.”

“And they also plan to pay us in installment, three times payment plan. This seems a very sincere offer and in line with their economic power.”

“Alright, you can sign the contract with them!” Little Buss slapped the table, “Have them pay 10 million at the signing, this is a prerequisite for the agreement.”

“Alright.”

Kupchak knew Little Buss was a smart man as they could guarantee 10 million already.

As for the rest, it shouldn’t be a problem at that point.

Even if something went wrong, they already got what they wanted.

…

An hour later at 11pm in China.

The second rate streaming service Pomelo suddenly posted a message on Weibo.

“Congratulations to all NBA fans and all the people who follow Chen Huan, we at Pomelo have bought the exclusive broadcasting rights for internet streaming of all the Lakers playoff games this year!”

“Our source is different from CCTV who got it from the NBA league. Our source is directly from the Lakers’ exclusive own broadcast and we not only have a special program before the game, but we can also have our own reporters interviewing the Lakers player after the game and also be there for their training games.”

“Even the perspectives, commentary and breaks will be different!”

“For this, we especially invited Teacher Su and Teacher Wang from the famous basketball magazine ‘Basketball World’ to come narrate and comment on the games live, it will definitely be a lively and great shout cast!”

“If you want to watch the Lakers games from your phone and cheer for Chen Huan, please download our app Pomelo!”

“All the live broadcasts this time will be free and you’ll be able to watch the game as long as you’re registered as a member! The games will start the day after tomorrow, be quick!”

This Weibo had been reposted 300k times.

It became the top trending topic on Weibo in just an hour.

The websites about basketballs erupted as this became their main topic of discussion.

Holy Shit!

What a big move!

They actually bought the exclusive broadcast from the Lakers!

Many people disliked the too classical style of broadcast by CCTV.

Finally, there was a different broadcast to watch the NBA and the Lakers games, to interview and interact with the sports, how could they be unhappy about it?

But while some people were happy, others were worried.

The atmosphere was as cold as ice in the president office of Shanhai Streaming.

Qi Shangqing, the deputy operating manager, was fidgeting as he stood in front of Zheng Rongrong.

“We have verified that they bought the exclusive internet broadcast rights for the playoff games for 30 million USD and there wasn’t any agreement about refund if they didn’t reach the Western Conference Finals.” Qi Shangqing stammered as he gave his report, “So the Lakers immediately signed after they gave them the first installment of 10 million.”

“Why didn’t they ask you whether you want to match it?” Zheng Rongrong lightly asked as she glanced out of the window.

“I think… I think the offer given by Pomelo is so high that the Lakers thought it would be impossible for other people to match it.” Qi Shangqing said.

“Then if they asked you, would you match the price? Or bid higher to compete?” Zheng Rongrong asked again.

“I will not.” Qi Shangqing said after gathering some courage, “We will have to bid 35 or even 40 million USD if we have to bid higher! The Lakers are playing well this season but Kobe and Iverson are almost 80 years put together and after playing for the whole season, they’re out of gas!”

“They won’t be able to go far even with the addition of Chen Huan! Chen Huan never played a single game in the NBA, let alone in the playoff! It’s still a question how much of his skill can be translated into the court!”

Zheng Rongrong said detachedly, “So you guys aren’t optimistic about this?”

“Yes! This is the results of our analysis after consulting experts!” Qi Shangqing nodded, “Buying the rights until the Western Conference Finals for 5 million is already achieving our goals! It would be already lucky for them to make it to the Western Conference Finals!”

“But it would be impossible for them to go further even with luck! This year Golden State Warriors are extremely strong and the Lakers definitely won’t bypass them! Paying 40 million USD for 12 games, which is around 300 million yuan, is just crazy!”

“Alright!” Zheng Rongrong hummed before she let out a sigh and said, “You can leave, let’s hope you’re right.”

Qi Shangqing was relieved to see that Zheng Rongrong wasn’t blaming him.

He was really not feeling optimistic about the Lakers’ chance and Chen Huan’s strength.

The princess attached so much importance to Chen Huan, loving to work with Chen Huan and treating Chen Huan so kindly, many of them were having complaints about this.

However, it was a bust this time.

It was a bust that had well-founded reasons behind it.

Even American sports journalists weren’t optimistic about the Lakers and Chen Huan, so how could he make a miracle happen?

Pomelo impulsive spending 30 million on this was just waiting to cry along with Chen Huan!