Chapter 296 Rubik's Cube Restoration Competition and Changxing Comic Weekly
Chapter 296 Rubik's Cube Restoration Competition and Changxing Comic Weekly
"Making televisions? Black and white?" Wang Zhiqun asked after a pause.
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Of course, I want to make color TVs, but I don't have the technology. Besides, the economic conditions in Hong Kong and surrounding areas cannot support color TVs."
As early as the 60s, the United States, the world's most powerful country, began to popularize color televisions. Other places did not even have black and white televisions.
In its previous life, Samsung entered the electronics industry in the 70s with black-and-white televisions, and its main market was underdeveloped countries, which was enough to show that this market could last for a long time.
Wang Zhiqun said: "The technical content of black and white TVs is indeed a little lower, but it is also like microwave ovens. We don't have the technology for core parts."
"This is different from a microwave oven." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Microwave ovens are new products. There are no other civilian brands in the world. If we want to miniaturize them, we can only develop them ourselves.
But televisions have been around for decades, and the technology is just more advanced now. I don’t plan to do research and development in the early stages, so you can just arrange for people to go to the United States to acquire the corresponding technology and production lines.”
If a microwave oven is already available, he may not necessarily make it now, and even if he does, he will consider purchasing the technology directly.
Although research and development is the foundation of an enterprise, for a new enterprise, the most important thing is to have products first, gain market share, and then consider more advanced things after having funds and market.
Wang Zhiqun said: "This will be much more convenient. The United States is currently eliminating black and white TVs, and the cheap Japanese products have impacted the market for American TV brands."
"This can be considered as the Japanese helping us." Yang Wendong smiled.
When Japan tried its best to crush many American companies, these American companies had no choice but to give up some low-end industries in order to stop the losses. This also gave many other countries opportunities.
In the original history, it was South Korea that seized this opportunity. Later, relying on its "greater obedience" and "greater competitiveness", the United States decided to provide large-scale support to South Korea to fight against Japanese companies. Eventually, Japan collapsed. By the 21st century, the only traditional industry left was automobiles.
Wang Zhiqun said: "I will have someone go to the United States to contact these companies to see if there are any opportunities."
Yang Wendong nodded and continued, "The key point is RCA, which is considered the top company in the field of televisions in the United States. They also had black and white televisions before.
Given the size of their company and the labor costs in the United States, they would have gradually phased out the black-and-white TV industry even without competition from Japan.”
Speaking of RCA, people in the past probably didn’t know about it because the company was acquired by General Electric in 1987.
Before that, it was the largest color TV company in the United States, the owner of the largest TV station HBC, and the largest radio brand. Even liquid crystal was developed by this company.
"Okay." Wang Zhiqun agreed and said, "When I was in the United States, I also knew some people from RCA. I will call them and ask them when it's daytime in the United States tonight."
Yang Wendong added: "Okay, but I have to buy the patent for the entire cathode ray tube technology, and also the production line. I just hope that after I spend the money, I can produce it directly in Hong Kong, instead of an assembly line."
In the 70s, Hong Kong also had television factories, but they were all assembled, and the core components, cathode ray tubes, were still imported. This was actually working for others, so even if the annual sales were hundreds of thousands or millions, they did not make much money.
On the contrary, Samsung and other Korean companies either conduct their own research and development or purchase technology. This requires large early investments, but in the long run they will have their own advantages and gradually grow and develop.
Of course, we cannot blame Hong Kong's group of industrialists. For them, the risk is too great and they would be better off investing the money in real estate.
"I understand." Wang Zhiqun agreed.
Planning for local production of TV stations and television sets was also a plan that was made a long time ago. After all, if you want to make a big media business in Hong Kong without TVB, it would be impossible. And in the era before computers appeared, the electronics industry would definitely have to work hard to make it big.
Time quickly came to the beginning of September:
The drought in Hong Kong continues, but the disaster has been alleviated a lot thanks to the addition of five large oil tankers from Changxing Shipping. At least in many places, there is still enough drinking water.
Of course, even the current situation is only the beginning of the drought. In the next six months, there will be almost no rain in the entire South China region, and all the difficulties have just begun.
However, for wealthy families, the impact is basically not significant unless it is a destructive disaster such as a super-large plague or earthquake.
The horses continue to run and the dances continue to be performed.
Hong Kong's real estate market has hardly been affected by the water shortage, because those who can speculate or buy houses basically don't have to worry about water shortages. Just spend a little money and someone will deliver water to your door.
In addition to making money, rich people also need entertainment, so naturally each of them has a TV.
In order to provide different programs for these viewers, the only Rediffusion Television in Hong Kong has also spent a lot of energy to shoot various programs:
In an industrial building on Hong Kong Island, many people gathered together, and there were also several cameras, ready.
Several young people gathered together, and one of them said, "Along, we'll be on stage soon. Whether you can get 5000 Hong Kong dollars depends on you."
"Don't worry, I will definitely get the money." Aaron said, "In order to participate in this event, I have broken several Rubik's Cubes."
"Okay, get on stage quickly," the others urged.
Not far away, Yang Wendong and Qin Zhiye were also in the audience stands.
"Mr. Yang, the competition is about to begin." Qin Zhiye said, "Those who are going to compete have been selected before, and they are basically all masters."
"Well, I see that many people overseas can recover in a few minutes." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Then this competition won't take long, right?"
Qin Zhiye nodded and said, "Yes, it won't be long, but after it goes on TV, ATV will extend the time to two hours through various advertisements and host interactions."
"Well, this is indeed the only way." Yang Wendong nodded.
The duration of a Rubik's Cube competition itself is not very long, and the TV stations in Hong Kong are inexperienced and do not have much ability to create hype and come up with many new things.
But it doesn’t matter. People in this era are inherently bored and have a very low threshold for entertainment. Anything that is a little bit interesting can attract a lot of attention.
When I have my own TV station in the future, I will probably be able to let them watch many classic variety shows.
Qin Zhiye added: "Before this program, the Hong Kong Chinese Daily also promoted it, and the radio station also promoted it. It's just that because it can't be seen, the radio station can't broadcast it as well."
"A game like Rubik's Cube really depends purely on watching, so the radio is useless." Yang Wendong smiled.
Many large-scale news and sports competitions can be broadcast through the radio, but Rubik's Cube competitions cannot, as this is something that is purely experienced through vision.
After a while, the competition officially began:
Two cameras were pointed at the contestants, and the other two were pointed at the audience.
The host began to introduce the entire program elegantly, interacted with the audience from time to time, and placed an advertisement, etc.
Ten minutes passed before the main topic began. The Rubik's Cube competition officially began. Yang Wendong also saw that there were a total of 8 people participating in the competition, but not all of them competed together, but came in pairs. Qin Zhiye said, "Mr. Yang, because the camera is expensive and the film is expensive, it is impossible to shoot from all angles like a large event. Moreover, the Rubik's Cube is small, and the camera is too far away and it can't be seen clearly, so we can only shoot one by one."
Yang Wendong nodded: "That's good, it gives us a little more time, otherwise with eight people together, it would only take a few minutes to finish."
The first person started quickly. Next to him, there was a large alarm clock that could be started or stopped by pressing a button. The camera also filmed the scene to show that the content was true.
Although it is not an absolute live broadcast, the competition itself must be absolutely authentic, including the angle of the Rubik's Cube, which is the same for everyone.
“Come on, come on, come on~~~~~” A group of people began to cheer.
For Yang Wendong, a time traveler, watching this kind of competition is not very fun, but for outsiders, it is indeed very exciting.
After a while, the Rubik's Cube was successfully restored. The winner took 3 minutes and 26 seconds, while the other one was a little late and took 4 minutes.
"The speed is not bad." Yang Wendong praised.
This speed is far slower than his, but the restoration methods have just appeared in this era, and there is no Internet to teach, so it would be great if you can figure it out by yourself even if you just look at the book.
Qin Zhiye smiled and said, "I also have a recovery method, but I may not be able to recover even after spending half a day. I lost interest after playing for a while."
"Not everyone is interested." Yang Wendong added: "Although many people buy Rubik's Cubes, many people don't really want to study it."
Let alone the Rubik's Cube, in the previous mobile game industry, millions or even tens of millions of people bought games every year, but did not play them.
Even many of the game companies behind the scenes don’t understand why so many people would engage in such behavior!
The competition continued, and the 8 people were divided into 4 groups. First, 4 winners were selected, and then the 4 people continued until the final championship and runner-up competition.
In the end, a contestant named Han Zilong won the race in 2 minutes and 46 seconds and took home a prize of HK$5000.
Yang Wendong said: "Look up the specific information about this person and tell him to continue to practice Rubik's Cube restoration. In the future, he may have the opportunity to represent Hong Kong in competitions in other countries."
In the future, when the Rubik's Cube becomes famous, even if I don't promote it, as long as it is popular, many TV stations will organize such activities on their own.
Qin Zhiye agreed: "Okay."
Yang Wendong added: "Negotiation with ATV on the broadcast time, and then some promotion before the broadcast. The higher the ratings in Hong Kong, the more likely it is to attract the interest of local TV stations when it goes overseas."
"I understand." Qin Zhiye nodded.
In the following days, the Hong Kong Chinese Daily and Hong Kong Commercial Radio began to promote the upcoming Rubik's Cube competition program, while the Oriental Daily did not, also because their customer groups are different.
On September 9, the Rubik's Cube competition was broadcast at 9:19 in the evening, and with advertisements, host interactions, etc. in between, it did not end until 21:.
The next day, the data statistics quickly came out.
Qin Zhiye rushed over immediately and said, "Mr. Yang, the crowd for the Rubik's Cube Restoration Competition last night was about 6300 people, accounting for 79% of the total TV audience."
"79%? Is this number considered very high?" Yang Wendong asked.
There is currently only one TV station in Hong Kong, so there is naturally no such thing as ratings, after all, you can only watch one program.
Therefore, ATV internally evaluates whether a TV program is good or not by looking at the audience ratio.
Qin Zhiye smiled and said, "That's pretty good. This has almost broken the record for variety shows."
"Okay, then let's summarize the experience, and then find a way to go to some small overseas TV stations to organize similar projects first." Yang Wendong said.
In Hong Kong, this is just a small test. The real popularity still needs to rely on overseas local programs, especially in some developed countries where the local people have a good economy and many people have televisions, so the Rubik's Cube can be promoted on a large scale.
Qin Zhiye said: "Okay, I will discuss this matter with Mr. Wei."
"Well, OK." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "The first edition of Changxing Culture's comics has been completed. Come with me to take a look later."
Today, the toy industry has also begun to prepare and lay out. One is the channel, which requires a unique Rubik's Cube, and the other is the cultural industry.
The protection of cultural copyright in many countries around the world is stronger than that of patents. Even in countries that do not currently have copyright laws, if they have them in the future, they will basically recognize your unregistered cultural copyrights.
"Okay." Qin Zhiye agreed.
After a while, Yang Wendong came to the 13th floor of Changxing Building, where Wu Hailin and several of his subordinates worked.
"Mr. Yang." Wu Hailin came over and greeted him with a smile, saying, "I have recruited a few more people, locals from Hong Kong, with some background in art."
Yang Wendong said: "No problem, just hire people if you need them."
Since he is not a middle or senior level executive, Yang Wendong basically doesn't care about his subordinates' recruitment situation. Generally, each business company will report the number of employees hired and resigned in the previous month every month, and he just takes a look at it.
Wu Hailin added: "The comics of Calabash Brothers have all been completed. Mr. Yang and Mr. Qin, you two can go and take a look."
"Okay." Yang Wendong said.
Afterwards, Wu Hailin took out his draft and showed it to the two of them. Yang Wendong took a quick look at it and gave it to Qin Zhiye, who looked at it for a while.
"How is it?" Yang Wendong asked.
Qin Zhiye thought for a moment and said, "It feels good. The super powers of these Calabash Brothers really make people think about it."
"Yeah, I also hope to have these abilities." Yang Wendong smiled.
Superpowers such as immense strength, clairvoyance, super hearing, head of steel and arms, fire-breathing, water-spraying, invisibility, small gourd, etc., were nothing in the previous era when online literature was full of wild imagination.
But in this era, it is enough to open the minds of many people. He remembers that when he was a child in his previous life, he fantasized about having these abilities.
Wu Hailin said: "These are just cartoon drafts. They need to be revised before they can be published in newspapers."
"Then let's prepare for printing." Yang Wendong said, "Lao Qin, you all should cooperate well and print the first issue of Changxing Comic Weekly as quickly as possible."
"Yes/Understood." Both of them agreed.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)