Daenerys Entertainment's long-prepared fashion television channel, Fashion TV, will officially launch on February 8.
While the media buzzed about Cisco and AOL both reaching a market value of $20 billion, Simon arrived in New York on February 6 to personally oversee the final preparations for Fashion TV's debut.
The head of Fashion TV is Anna Coleman.
She appears to be a woman in her mid-thirties with dark hair. Yes, Coleman is Jewish.
Simon's choice of Coleman was not based on her ethnicity.
Of course, Simon understood that Anna Coleman's rise to the top was undoubtedly facilitated by other high-ranking Jewish executives like Amy Pascal and Robert Iger.
The final shortlist of candidates consisted mainly of Jews.
Simon has never been particularly sensitive or adverse to ethnic issues; he just needed a competent professional manager.
Anna Coleman had previously held significant positions at Condé Nast, the publisher of renowned fashion magazines such as Vogue, GQ, and Vanity Fair, and at Viacom's MTV, where she served as Vice President of Program Production. During her tenure at MTV, she launched the highly successful show "House of Style."
In Simon's memory, "House of Style" remained on air for twenty years, and its first host from 1990 to 1992 was Cindy Crawford, who stepped down just before last year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
Fashion TV's positioning is largely akin to a 'dynamic fashion magazine' broadcasted on television.
Therefore, Coleman's experience at both Condé Nast and MTV made her an ideal fit for this role.
On another front, after months of operation, Fashion TV is expected to reach 23 million users through major North American operators like Comcast and Warner Cable upon launch, covering an audience of 60 million.
Simultaneously, Daenerys Entertainment and the operators have agreed on a revenue-sharing model set at 15 cents.
This means that each operator will pay Daenerys Entertainment 15 cents per month for each connected user.
With an estimated 23 million connected users, the operator revenue share guarantees Fashion TV a baseline annual income of $40 million.
As a basic cable channel, Fashion TV can also incorporate advertisements into its programming. Typically, ad revenue for a basic cable channel can match its operator revenue share. Given Fashion TV is just starting, Daenerys Entertainment doesn't expect to heavily advertise on the channel in its first two years. Thus, it's projected that ad revenue will be about 50% of the operator revenue share, roughly another $20 million.
A total annual revenue of about $60 million seems substantial, yet, relative to the operating costs of a national cable channel, it's still minimal.
The North American team, consisting of approximately 200 employees, will require at least $30 million annually for basic salaries and office space alone.
As a 24-hour fashion channel, even though fashion program budgets are generally low, the combined costs of various projects and the essential marketing expenses for the channel are estimated to be no less than $50 million.
Thus, Daenerys Entertainment has prepared for an annual loss of at least $20 million in the first two years.
And that's just in North America.
Simon envisions Fashion TV as a global fashion television network.
Initially, Simon hoped for a simultaneous launch in Europe and North America. However, he underestimated the natural protectionist resistance of European countries against North American media companies. This was not surprising, considering the USA similarly prohibits foreign companies or individuals from owning American television channels, a restriction likely to be lifted in the next year or two.
Among European countries, the UK, with the most open market, has no restrictions on foreign investments in TV channels, making the preparations for Fashion TV's launch in the UK the smoothest. It's expected to go live in April through Sky Broadcasting, a subsidiary of News Corporation.
Unfortunately, this misses the major Spring fashion weeks.
Sky Broadcasting's network covers much of Europe, but any channel wanting to broadcast in various countries still needs to go through their respective government approvals.
Currently, the approval process is toughest in France, the most developed fashion market. Domestic fashion giants are resisting Fashion TV, with companies like LVMH preparing their own fashion TV networks. Italy, Spain, and Germany are also at different stages of approval.
However, by the end of this year, Fashion TV is expected to be accessible in most European countries.
A significant factor is that in November 1993, the EU will be officially established, leading to mutual market openness among major countries in continental Europe. Once Fashion TV launches in the UK, it should be able to broadcast throughout the EU.
Since Fashion TV cannot expand in Europe immediately, Daenerys Entertainment will focus primarily on North America.
On the content side, Fashion TV has secured broadcasting rights for fashion show content from all major luxury brands worldwide for the past five years. Even luxury brands from Europe, like LVMH, which are cautious about Daenerys Entertainment's relationship with Melisandre, have agreed to provide content to Fashion TV.
These companies understand that giving up this vital platform for brand exposure would only allow competitors more airtime, leading to obvious advantages for the latter.
Moreover, LVMH has also become one of Fashion TV's first advertisers, signing a two-year advertising contract worth $6 million.
By leveraging both content provider and advertiser roles, LVMH included a corporate reputation protection clause in their agreements, ensuring that Fashion TV cannot broadcast any content damaging to LVMH's brands.
Upon learning of this, Simon couldn't help but admire the shrewdness and acumen of Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH.
Fashion TV's anticipated total ad revenue in North America for the next two years is only $40 million, and LVMH alone is contributing $6 million. Moving forward, similar collaborations will likely extend to Europe as Fashion TV expands there.
Most crucially, through financial entanglement and contractual restrictions, Bernard Arnault preemptively shielded LVMH from any potential negative portrayal by Fashion TV.
Initially, Simon decided against making Fashion TV a subsidiary of Melisandre. His vision was to build a global fashion television network.
For a media network to grow and thrive, maintaining as much neutrality as possible is essential. From the start, Simon never intended to use Fashion TV to defame or suppress other luxury brands, as this would only lead to the channel's demise.
However, not suppressing other brands doesn't mean Fashion TV can't actively promote the Westeros system's fashion brands.
With 24 hours of programming daily, if Melisandre's brands occupy eight hours and LVMH's only two, the disparity will still create a significant competitive edge.
Of course, this is just a hypothetical example.
For Fashion TV to develop and expand long-term, it must balance its content, ensuring that Melisandre's favoritism is not overly apparent.
New York, Manhattan.
Fashion TV's official launch time in North America is set for 6 PM on February 8, Eastern Time.
By 4 PM, prominent figures from various fields began gathering outside the Gramercy Hotel in Midtown Manhattan for the launch ceremony, which would be followed by a celebratory cocktail party.
At 5 PM, media and guests filled a conference room inside the Gramercy Hotel as the launch ceremony commenced.
To accelerate the promotion of this channel, although unable to secure airtime on major public TV networks, Daenerys Entertainment arranged for USA Network and several key local TV stations on the East and West Coasts to broadcast the hour-long event live. The Egret Portal website also provided real-time web coverage.
Simon, Amy Pascal, and Robert Iger, key executives of Daenerys Entertainment, attended the launch ceremony, alongside numerous stars and supermodels from the entertainment and fashion circles. The conference room, with over a hundred seats, glittered with star power, leaving smaller celebrities and models unable to attend.
The ceremony was personally hosted by Fashion TV President Anna Coleman.
For the first half-hour, the newly joined executive from Daenerys Entertainment clearly outlined Fashion TV's operational philosophy, content structure, and development goals. From 5:30 PM to 5:50 PM, she fielded a 20-minute live Q&A session with various media outlets.
Sitting in the audience, Simon was increasingly impressed by Coleman's fluent presentation and answers during the 50-minute session.
At 5:50 PM, with ten minutes left until the channel's launch, representatives from major operators like Comcast and Warner Cable joined supermodels Cindy Crawford and Jerry Hall on stage. After the final speech, they counted down together and pressed a symbolic button.
Immediately, the projection screen at the front of the conference room displayed Fashion TV's broadcast.
The first program was a two-hour special hosted by Cindy Crawford, offering a more visual introduction to Fashion TV's programming.
To keep the program engaging, it was filmed entirely on location and featured simple effects, showing Cindy Crawford moving through various fashion-related scenes, such as studios, runways, and design workshops. She introduced shows like "Fashion Personalities," "Top Models," and "Runway Highlights" in a light-hearted and humorous manner, with numerous fashion icons making cameos and extending their congratulations on Fashion TV's launch.
As Fashion TV's signal began reaching homes across America, the Gramercy Hotel's launch event concluded.
The celebratory cocktail party was scheduled to start at 7 PM, and many guests temporarily left.
Some left to rest, while others changed outfits.
Especially the models and celebrities, who needed different attire for the cocktail party and the launch event.
Simon returned to his Fifth Avenue apartment to rest briefly before heading back to the Gramercy Hotel with Janet, who had been busy at Cersei Capital all day.
The cocktail party was primarily for promotional purposes.
Upon arrival, after the customary photos, Simon and Janet entered the hall.
After spending about ten minutes socializing with the guests, Simon joined a small group of Daenerys Entertainment executives.
Anna Coleman had already received preliminary launch data for Fashion TV.
According to
East Coast viewership samples, the Fashion TV introduction program hosted by Cindy Crawford had approximately 6.5 million viewers, an impressive debut, reaching over 10% of Fashion TV's 60 million audience coverage. For a niche fashion channel, drawing 6.5 million viewers at launch was a significant success.
It's essential to understand that, unlike traditional TV channels relying on blockbuster shows for attention, Fashion TV couldn't expect an immediate hit.
Like the established fashion magazines such as Vogue and GQ, Fashion TV needed to build its reputation and audience through long-term, professional operation.
Moreover, the 6.5 million viewership figure is more symbolic.
Once stabilized, the channel will aim for 2-3 million viewers during prime time.
In many years from now, basic cable channels often only draw tens of thousands of viewers for prime-time shows, but that's a scenario decades later when the internet and streaming services have significantly impacted traditional cable TV, and many people may not watch TV for weeks.
Currently, the internet is just beginning, and due to bandwidth limitations, it doesn't pose a threat to cable TV.
Fashion TV's commercial success hinges on cultivating a core audience and achieving scale globally. Fashion TV's content is universally appealing to fashion enthusiasts worldwide. Thus, the broader its reach and the more extensive its audience, the lower its average content production costs.
In Simon's memory, this was precisely the case for Fashion TV.
As the world's largest fashion TV channel, Fashion TV's renown was comparable to top-tier cable channels like CNN and ESPN. Although it couldn't match these channels in revenue and profit, Fashion TV maintained a comfortable niche by leveraging its global fashion media network.
Simon is well aware that merely adopting the same name doesn't guarantee the new Fashion TV's success.
Daenerys Entertainment is already a giant in the industry, and large companies often lack the drive of smaller ones when venturing into new areas.
However, even if Fashion TV doesn't live up to its fullest potential, as long as it can break even, it will continue to operate and serve as an effective advertising and marketing platform for the Westeros system's fashion brands.
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