Chapter 104 Buying Exclusive Broadcast Rights

Although Pei Qian basically didn't watch IOI matches and wasn't very interested in IOI, he couldn't miss such an opportunity to spend money!

Judging from the current situation, the broadcast rights for the ICL didn't seem to have been settled yet.

Why hadn't they been settled?

Definitely because they were expensive.

Finger Company and Long Yu Group obviously couldn't accept selling the ICL broadcast rights too cheaply. On one hand, it was a matter of face, and on the other hand, it was because their expectations for the future of the ICL league were very high.

But the various streaming platforms weren't stupid either. They felt that the current popularity of the ICL league was all fake, built on burning money. Buying the broadcast rights at a high price would likely lead to losses, so they definitely had to lower the price.

Of course, the "Cocoon Hasn't Become a Butterfly" video at this crucial moment also greatly increased the bargaining chips for these streaming platforms.

However, the problems that plagued other streaming platforms didn't exist for Pei Qian.

The ICL's popularity was fake? Buying the broadcast rights at a high price would definitely lead to losses?

That's exactly what he wanted!

Pei Qian now needed this kind of project with falsely high popularity that would inevitably lose money the most!

Moreover, IOI was GOG's direct competitor. Spending a lot of money to buy the broadcast rights of the ICL was equivalent to funding the enemy, which coincided with Pei Qian's expectation of supporting IOI and suppressing GOG.

Rabbit Tail Live was positioned as a knowledge-based live streaming platform. Currently, the content on it was mainly live streams by young scholars and lecturers, which was incompatible with something like ICL broadcasts.

In short, buying the ICL broadcast rights would burn money, fund the enemy, and cause some negative impact on Rabbit Tail Live. It was simply perfect!

Even more boldly, he could not buy the broadcast rights but buy the exclusive broadcast rights directly.

Exclusive live broadcast!

That way, spending money would definitely be higher.

The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more appropriate it felt. He immediately decided to go to Rabbit Tail Live to meet Old Ma and Chen Yufeng and finalize this matter.

...

Half an hour later, Pei Qian arrived at the Rabbit Tail Live office area.

After this period of development, the number of Rabbit Tail Live employees had increased significantly, and everyone was busy working.

After all, Rabbit Tail Live had only officially launched recently and was still in a period of rapid development, with a large number of new features that needed to be developed and a large number of daily tasks that needed to be handled.

Many people were staring at the screen and busy with their work, and didn't even notice that President Pei had quietly walked past them.

Seeing the working atmosphere of Rabbit Tail Live, Pei Qian felt very worried, but he was also helpless.

Although Rabbit Tail Live was still burning money and hadn't earned a single cent so far, seeing these employees so full of energy, Pei Qian felt that there were always hidden dangers.

But he didn't have a very good solution. This was a chronic problem of the entire Tengda Group, and it couldn't be cured overnight.

He could only hope that Old Ma, as a leader, could play a role!

Pei Qian found Ma Yang and Chen Yufeng and called them to the meeting room.

"Brother Qian, do you have any instructions?" Ma Yang was still as energetic as usual.

Pei Qian nodded, "Well, I plan to buy the exclusive broadcast rights of the ICL league for Rabbit Tail Live. I'm here to inform you."

Ma Yang's long face showed a blank expression: "What is ICL?"

Chen Yufeng was shocked: "President Pei, you absolutely must not!"

"I've also been paying attention to the ICL broadcast rights recently. Currently, several major streaming platforms such as Wolf Fang Live and ZZ Live are talking to Zhao Xuming. It is said that Zhao Xuming's offer is 11 million, and the current bottom price is 9 million."

"This price is obviously inflated. The major streaming platforms don't recognize it at all. They hope to win the ICL broadcast rights for about 7 million, so the two sides are currently at a stalemate."

"If you want to buy the exclusive broadcast rights, it will be even more expensive! If you sell the broadcast rights, Zhao Xuming can sell them to at least three or four streaming platforms, with an expected price of about 30 to 40 million. If we want exclusive broadcast rights, we definitely have to pay even more than that!"

"What's more, we are competitors with Finger Company. How could Zhao Xuming sell the broadcast rights to us..."

The more Chen Yufeng analyzed, the more outrageous he felt this matter was.

President Pei himself had the broadcast rights for the GPL, which he could give away casually, but he didn't plan to let Rabbit Tail Live broadcast the GPL at all.

He had a free, better, and self-owned league that he didn't broadcast, but he insisted on spending a lot of money to buy a competitor's league?

What was he up to?

Completely incomprehensible.

Pei Qian had expected Chen Yufeng's reaction and couldn't help but smile slightly: "It doesn't matter, I'll call Eric. I'll definitely be able to buy it."

It wasn't that he felt he had any friendship with Eric, but mainly that he was more confident in his ability to use money.

Eric wouldn't sell? Easy, just add money.

In the business world, there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.

Tengda Group was a competitor of Finger Company, with deep-seated hatred... he had to add money!

Pei Qian believed that as long as the price he gave and the relevant supporting publicity were sincere enough, Eric would definitely be moved.

Seeing President Pei's confident expression, Chen Yufeng had nothing to say.

Since President Pei was so sure, he must have arranged a backup plan.

Then what was there to say? Just watch President Pei's operation.

What's more, Chen Yufeng felt that Finger Company and Long Yu Group would definitely not sell the ICL's exclusive broadcast rights to Tengda. President Pei's phone call would most likely be rejected.

Pei Qian didn't hesitate. He had Eric's contact information on his phone and directly made a video call.

It took a long time for Eric to answer.

Obviously, Eric didn't expect President Pei to contact him on his own initiative at all. For a moment, he didn't know how to react and hesitated for a while before answering.

Eric's image appeared on the phone screen. It seemed like he was in his own office.

Eric's expression was very interesting. Obviously, he was racking his brains to think of a suitable opening line, but he felt that any greeting was a bit wrong.

Pei Qian didn't talk nonsense with him and directly said, "President Eric, long time no see. I'm looking for you today to talk about the ICL broadcast rights."

Eric was stunned, and a shocked expression appeared on his face.

You have the nerve to talk to me about the ICL broadcast rights?

Because of the promotional video you released, not only did I have to spend 20 to 30 million more, but the price of the broadcast rights I negotiated with other streaming platforms also shrunk significantly, and we haven't reached an agreement yet!

Eric's feeling at this time was as if he had been beaten up by someone, and then the other party came to the hospital to feign concern.

He was both angry and inexplicable, and didn't know how to react for a moment.

Pei Qian continued, "I heard that you haven't reached an agreement with the various streaming platforms? You must be very troubled, right? To be honest, Rabbit Tail Live wants to buy the exclusive broadcast rights of the ICL. President Eric, you can name a price."

Eric was a little dazed.

President Pei wanted to buy the ICL broadcast rights? No, the exclusive broadcast rights?

This one-word difference meant the price would be several times higher!

Moreover, what was President Pei up to? Looking at his confident appearance, why did he think I would definitely sell it to him?

Eric couldn't understand what President Pei was thinking at all.

But since President Pei had asked, he would just give a slightly higher price to scare him away.

Eric carefully considered it.

After these few days of wrangling, Eric also knew in his heart that it was basically impossible to sell the broadcast rights for 11 million. 9 million was a relatively ideal price, but it was also very difficult. In the end, it would be good if he could sell it for about 8 million.

And based on the current situation, there were only three or four platforms that were really interested in the ICL broadcast rights. The final selling price would be about 24 million at the low end and about 32 million at the high end.

The other platforms, although they seemed interested on the surface, were not firm at all. They might give up if the price was slightly higher, and he couldn't count on them at all.

Then for the exclusive broadcast rights, setting it at around 35 million was already a relatively high price. President Pei was careful and calculated, so he shouldn't agree.

Eric replied, "President Pei wants to buy the exclusive broadcast rights? It's easy to say, a fixed price of 35 million. If President Pei accepts this price..."

Pei Qian immediately made a decision, "35 million? No problem."

In fact, Pei Qian's expectation was 40 million. He didn't expect Eric to quote a price lower than he had expected, and he instantly had a feeling that he had made a profit.

Eric's last half of the sentence was directly choked back. Looking at the phone screen, he fell into a state of silence.

President Pei agreed so readily???

Based on the wrangling between Eric and Zhao Xuming and the various streaming platforms these past few days, an exclusive broadcast price of 35 million was definitely not low.

But President Pei agreed without even thinking about it?

After ruling out the possibility that President Pei was deliberately making fun of him, Eric really couldn't think of a reason why.

Could it be that... there was another conspiracy behind this?

Or, did the ICL league have some unique value that I didn't discover, that other streaming platforms didn't discover, but that President Pei discovered?

President Pei's promise was so straightforward that Eric couldn't respond.

He couldn't just finalize the contract now, could he?

Eric absolutely didn't want to sell the ICL's exclusive broadcast rights to President Pei. He was very worried that President Pei would make some tricky moves and trick him.

But he had made the offer himself, and President Pei had already agreed. At this time, it didn't seem appropriate to change his mind and say he wasn't selling.

Eric hurriedly added a few more conditions, "35 million is just the most basic. We also have many additional conditions. For example, we must ensure the stability of the live broadcast and avoid disconnections and lags; we must use all the platform's publicity resources to promote the ICL; unilaterally terminating the contract cannot stipulate excessive liquidated damages."

Eric wasn't stupid. What if President Pei bought the ICL league's exclusive broadcast rights and then deliberately caused trouble, making Rabbit Tail Live very laggy and seriously affecting the viewing experience?

President Pei using Rabbit Tail Live to trade for the ICL league in an extreme one-for-one exchange would definitely be a profit for President Pei.

Therefore, Eric also put forward some more demanding conditions, especially the last one, to agree on the amount of liquidated damages, so that even if something went wrong and he forcibly terminated the contract in the future, the losses would be controlled within an acceptable range.

Pei Qian nodded again, "No problem, we accept all these conditions."

Eric had obviously overthought things.

If Pei Qian made small moves and ruined the ICL league, wouldn't GOG be even more dominant? Wouldn't Tengda earn even more?

Of course, he had to broadcast the ICL well, support the IOI National Server, and let Eric see hope so that he could continue to burn money with him!

Therefore, Pei Qian accepted all these conditions.

Eric froze.

On the phone screen, Eric didn't move at all, not even blinking.

Pei Qian thought his phone was lagging and asked, "President Eric? Can you hear me?"

After a long time, Eric reacted, "I can hear you."

He never expected that President Pei would agree to the price he wanted without saying a word; President Pei would also accept all the conditions he proposed!

If the other party wasn't Tengda, but another company, Eric would have happily signed the contract with them.

But only for Tengda, for President Pei, Eric needed a reason to convince himself.

Eric considered for a long time and said, "President Pei, can you tell me, why do you want to buy the exclusive broadcast rights of the ICL? If you can give a sufficiently convincing reason and the contract is agreed upon in enough detail, then I can consider it."

Pei Qian immediately replied with a pretext he had already thought of, "Of course, it's because I want to promote Rabbit Tail Live."

"Live streaming is obviously one of the future trends. Currently, Rabbit Tail Live doesn't have much of a unique exclusive content compared to other live streaming platforms. Buying the exclusive broadcast rights of the ICL is the first step for Rabbit Tail Live to challenge those established live streaming platforms."

These words were purely nonsense, but they sounded very reasonable to Eric.

Eric asked, "Then why don't you broadcast the GPL on Rabbit Tail Live?"

"Uh..." Pei Qian paused.

Eric meant that since you want to grow Rabbit Tail Live, then why don't you put your own good stuff on it? But you want to buy it from me?

The motive was suspicious!

But Pei Qian quickly reacted, "Rabbit Tail Live has only just launched and the architecture isn't particularly stable yet. The GPL live broadcast has already been scheduled and will be up soon."

If you don't catch a wolf, you can't get a cub. In order to eliminate Eric's doubts and successfully buy the exclusive broadcast rights of the ICL league, he had to arrange for the GPL broadcast to be on Rabbit Tail Live.

Eric nodded slightly, and the suspicious expression in his eyes finally subsided.

Since President Pei was also putting the GPL league on Rabbit Tail Live, then there shouldn't be any major problems.

At that time, if Rabbit Tail Live didn't have enough bandwidth and there was lag, the GPL live broadcast would also be affected.

What's more, both parties could make a series of detailed agreements when signing the contract. Once something went wrong, Eric could immediately terminate the cooperation.

If the fault was on President Pei's side, then Eric could partially refund the payment and naturally terminate the contract according to the contract; if the fault was on his side, the liquidated damages were set relatively low, so he could stop the loss in time.

Eric carefully considered it again and found that he was actually tempted.

It had to be said that the conditions President Pei offered were much better than those of other live streaming platforms.

Eric and Zhao Xuming had been wrangling and haggling with these live streaming platforms for the past few days, and he was already very annoyed.

If he gave up President Pei's cooperation opportunity, he didn't know how long he would have to wrangle with those live streaming platforms, and the final price would probably be worse than selling it to President Pei.

Although President Pei's motive for buying the ICL's exclusive broadcast rights was a bit far-fetched, it was still justifiable. Because even if President Pei didn't buy it, the ICL would always find a platform to broadcast it, and it would still have the popularity it deserved; President Pei buying the exclusive broadcast rights would create popularity for Rabbit Tail Live instead, which was a win-win situation.

The logic was very smooth, and the motive was very reasonable.

Thinking of this, Eric nodded, "Let's do this, President Pei, I'll talk to President Zhao and the legal department to draw up a detailed contract, and then we'll discuss the details of the cooperation. If President Pei sincerely wants to cooperate, then we don't have to give up the opportunity for a win-win situation because of our positions."

Pei Qian smiled slightly, "Okay, then I'll wait for good news."

After hanging up the video call, Pei Qian looked at Chen Yufeng, "It's done, let the legal department study the contract."

Chen Yufeng was a little dumbfounded.

It was done just like that?

President Pei, in a few words, got the archenemy Eric to agree to sell us the exclusive broadcast rights to the ICL?

Although the price seemed a bit inflated and it wasn't very cost-effective to buy, since President Pei thought it was worth it, then it must be worth it.

Chen Yufeng didn't say much and immediately nodded, "Okay, President Pei, I'll arrange it right away!"