"Something like that!" Rosa exclaimed in surprise, then immediately handed the remote to Brook. Brook clicked on the TV replay section he hadn't accessed yesterday and found a calendar. Clicking on yesterday's date allowed him to see a list of 42 episodes of "Growing Pains" from episode 21 to episode 62. With the TV remote, he could select any episode he wished.
"Wait, I remember you said you watched up to episode 65 yesterday. Why isn't it here?" Brook asked, confused.
"You idiot, it was early this morning, not yesterday morning!" Rosa retorted sarcastically. Brook's face flushed red, and he was about to change it to today's early morning viewing. But Rosa snatched the remote away, saying, "If we can rewatch it, why don't I start from episode 1 from the day before yesterday and catch up on all the episodes I missed?"
So, Rosa acted on her impulse and rewound the TV to the day before yesterday. Indeed, she found the first episode of "Growing Pains."
"That's not right. 'Growing Pains' is 30 minutes long, and with commercials, that's about 42 episodes a day. But why did they only broadcast 20 episodes the day before yesterday?" Seeing the episode count seemed off, Rosa asked curiously.
"I think, perhaps... this TV station only started broadcasting the day before yesterday!" Brook said, narrowing his eyes.
"Never mind, I think this TV station is amazing. With this station, I'll never have to worry about missing TV shows again. I declare this the best TV station in the world! Netflix is also the best video rental company in the world!" Rosa cheered.
"Speaking of Netflix, dear, we've finished watching 'Terminator 2.' Should we rent another movie to watch?" Brook brought up the discs and asked.
Two years prior, Netflix had begun abandoning physical rental stores and shifting entirely to online video rental services. Ordering discs online directly saved a significant amount on physical store expenses, greatly increasing the company's profitability.
"No rush. We don't have to pay any late fees anyway. We can keep the discs for now. After I finish watching 'Growing Pains,' I'll see which TV series is next... Oh, wait, I seem to remember this station made a preview. The next TV series is 'Misty Journey,' and it's scheduled to start at 6 PM the day after tomorrow. Dear, have you heard of this TV series? Is it good?"
"What, 'Misty Journey' will air after 'Growing Pains'!" Brook's jaw dropped, then he hugged his wife and said, "My dear, believe me, this is the greatest TV series of 2005... no, this will be the greatest TV series of the entire 21st century."
This scene was playing out in many households simultaneously. Netflix had six million members across the United States, and 500,000 of them had received digital TV boxes mailed from Netflix headquarters.
Well, it wasn't that Netflix had meticulously selected users, but rather that Jiangnan Group's production capacity was insufficient. The cost of these TV boxes was not a loss, otherwise, they couldn't be given away for free.
The main valuable component inside was a decoding chip; other components were negligible. Since Jiangnan Group had self-produced all components, they outsourced the assembly to other companies within the alliance. Thus, the final cost was about 100 RMB, which is about $14 USD in America. So, the cost was truly not a loss, and Jiangnan Group could afford it themselves.
The trouble lay in the low production of chips. Although this decoding chip was only a mid-level chip, Jiangnan Group's own chip manufacturing center could produce it directly. However, it had just been designed and put into mass production. The current output for half a month was only one million chips.
However, Boss Huang had issued a strict order: within the next three months, they had to produce a full ten million of these chips, and one hundred million within a year, thereby allowing their own TV boxes to directly capture the entire US digital TV market.
Moreover, all the boxes would be given away for free!
Although this would undoubtedly consume a large amount of capital, Huang He didn't care. Even though there were already other brands of digital TV boxes on the market.
For instance, Apple had launched a digital TV box as early as '97, but its official retail price was a staggering $200 per unit, equivalent to the price of a handheld game console.
Selling at a higher price might have been acceptable, as it was a novelty, and users wouldn't know its true value.
But the problem was that for a device priced at $200, it offered very little content to watch. At its peak, there were fewer than a few dozen TV series, and those were obscure ones nobody watched, along with hundreds of movies.
Fine, perhaps the content would increase in the future, which could be looked forward to. But the issue was that if you used this device to watch TV, it would stutter 10 times a minute, only playing for less than 20 seconds at a time. Did they expect viewers to go mad?
Then, this TV box spectacularly failed. It wasn't until many years later, with the rapid development of the internet, that these TV boxes were redeployed in the US, with giants like Warner and Disney entering the market.
However, that was all after 2012. At this time, the TV box market was uncharted territory for any company, meaning there was no competition.
And with its inherent advantages, the TV box was completely capable of overwhelming traditional television stations. At the very least, the TV boxes did not conflict with television stations.
When you want to watch TV, you watch TV. When you can't find what you want to watch on TV, you use the TV box. This was a perfect solution.
The only thing that could hinder the spread of TV boxes was likely their price, as most people would not be willing to spend tens or hundreds of dollars on a TV box they had never used or heard of.
But what if the TV boxes could be given away for free? Acquired at no cost, as long as you had broadband at home?
Then, it was believed that all Americans with internet access would want one. In a few months, Jiangnan Group could monopolize the entire US digital TV market for the modest price of a few billion dollars, which was definitely a profitable venture.
Simultaneously, this was also good news for Netflix, prioritizing users who had been with them for three years or more, thus maintaining good relationships with their existing customers.
However, something that displeased Boss Huang was that Netflix Chairman Hastings had a dispute with him regarding this matter.
Let's rewind a week. At this time, the first batch of one million network digital TV boxes had just arrived at the port, ready to be sent to the warehouse. Boss Huang visited Netflix and met with Hastings.
Hastings and Netflix were quite unique within the entire Jiangnan Group system.
Although Boss Huang directly controlled Netflix, he rarely interfered with Netflix's decisions; they were all made by Hastings himself. Apart from the meeting with Hastings during the acquisition, Boss Huang had never even called Hastings. The only regular contact was through the financial department's quarterly review of Netflix's financial data.
Therefore, Netflix enjoyed considerable freedom within the Jiangnan Group system. If it weren't for the need to temporarily acquire a TV station to act as a proxy and proactively contact Hastings, there would have been no contact at all.
This meeting between Boss Huang and Hastings was also their first meeting since the acquisition was completed.
Hastings was very satisfied with this arrangement, as no one wanted an emperor dictating their every move, and Jiangnan Group was very generous. Hastings had requested $40 million in funding support from the parent company, and Jiangnan Group had promptly provided it.
However, Hastings had also increased his investment according to his shareholding proportion, thus maintaining his 40% ownership of the company.
Precisely because of this consistently good relationship, Hastings offered the highest level of reception when the actual controlling shareholder, Huang He, arrived at the company headquarters. All senior executives of Netflix collectively awaited Boss Huang's arrival at the company entrance.
However, the friendly atmosphere ended there. When Huang He discussed the joint development of Los Gatos Television and Netflix in the chairman's office, and prepared to have Netflix give away TV boxes to 500,000 users, Hastings immediately raised his objection.
"I strongly oppose this!" Hastings' words were blunt, cutting off Boss Huang.
"You can say whatever you want!" Boss Huang rubbed his nose and said, "Do you think 500,000 is too few, or do you think Netflix shouldn't be giving away these boxes?"
"Neither. I think we shouldn't prioritize these 500,000 boxes for existing users, especially those who have been with us for over three years. This is very inappropriate!" Hastings said.
"Is that so?" Boss Huang seemed surprised. He hadn't expected Hastings to object for that reason. "Then I'd like to know, if not for existing users, then who should they be given to?"
"These boxes should not be given to any existing users. Instead, we should use these boxes to attract new customers. We should tell them that by joining Netflix and becoming our ongoing monthly subscribers, they can receive a TV box for free!" Hastings said excitedly.