Senior industry experts predict that Ali's distribution of "Radio and Television" across the country through participation and alliance is a big game, and the battle for radio and television entry has only just begun.

Shares and mixed reforms

The monopoly and regional networks of radio and television have a strong barrier. If you can infiltrate it by way of equity, it is the best policy


In early June, Alibaba took a share of SMG (Shanghai Media Group)'s First Finance with 1.2 billion yuan. Ma Yun and Li Ruigang attended the signing ceremony. This is the “sub-optimal cooperation” after Ma Yun wants to participate in the unsuccessful integration of BesTV and Oriental Pearl. It is also the second time that Alibaba Group has infiltrated into the Broadcasting System by way of equity participation after it became a shareholder of Hua Digital Media in 2014. In this regard, Li Ruigang said that it is optimistic about the huge data behind Ali can be used for a wealth.

“Actually, when BesTV and the Oriental Pearl suspended the merger and reorganization last year, Ma Yun and Li Ruigang discussed the possibility of introducing Ali as a war-fighting venture, but they eventually failed to make it due to policy factors,” said an informed source.

From a tactical point of view, strategic investment is obviously a deeper layout. Some state-owned experts have stated to the Shanghai Daily that radio and television media have always been regarded as the mouthpiece of the country and are an important position in the cultural security ideology. Its "mixed change" has been cautious.

Analysts familiar with Ali said that Ali had long been paralysed by the Internet in the broadband network and the huge market for home Internet (400 million households). In 2013, he launched the “Ali Box” with Hua Digital Media, but due to the policy limitations A variety of factors, such as large, Ali box promotion in various places encountered resistance. "If you invest in this capital-level partnership, it is relatively easy to use local radio and television networks to promote its Ali box. This is true for cable TV operators Huadian Media, which has stakes in Hangzhou."

In May 2014, Yunxi Investment, controlled by Ma Yun, Xie Shihuang and Shi Yuzhu, invested RMB 6.536 billion in Huadian Media, which accounted for 20% of the equity and became the second largest shareholder of the latter. One year later, Huada Media revealed that the sales volume of Tmall's magic box has exceeded one million, and the number of "Hua number TV" Internet TV terminal products has covered more than 60 million units.

Alibaba's layout on the road to broadcasting and television, the selection of China’s number one can be said to be the best choice. WCDMA Media has more than 2 million subscribers in Hangzhou. The integration of "provincial network integration" and "China-Guangzhou Cable TV" is expected to reach 20 million cable TV subscribers, and its interactive TV subscribers with foreign cable network companies will also have nearly 20 million subscribers. The era of users is king, the value is very prominent. The identity of one of the country’s largest digital content media resources and one of the seven full license service providers is also an important weight for Wada Media to attract Ali.

Ali's shares are obviously not coming from financial investment. In a recent interview with the media, the relevant person in charge of Hua Digital Media also stated that the mere mixed-equity reform is unacceptable and must identify its own positioning and needs and carry out changes in thinking and action.

Wu Chunyong, chief editor of the fusion network who specializes in research in the broadcasting and TV industry for many years, frankly stated that if Ali continues to infiltrate into cable TV network operators around the world, Ali may become a virtual national cable network operator in the future.

According to an observation from the Shanghai Daily, after the Hua Digital Media and CBN, Alibaba.com launched a capital-level cooperation with Gehua Cable, and it is expected that the company will commence capital operation with E-Media in the future. "Gigi Media has also planned to introduce Ali as the second largest shareholder. However, it has not been discussed," an informed source revealed.

It is difficult to participate in the "mixed reform" of cable network operators, and content producers around Ali's shares can be said to be familiar with the situation. According to statistics, Ma Yun took a large share of the stock before the Huayi Brothers IPO. In April 2014, Ali won 18.5% of Youku Tudou for US$1.2 billion. In June 2014, Ali returned to the cultural China with 6.244 billion Hong Kong dollars, finally creating Ali. Film industry, in March this year, Ali invested nearly 2.4 billion yuan to become the second largest shareholder of optical media. These shareholdings and even admissions are all important links for Ali to create a home Internet ecosystem.

Vertical and horizontal

In addition to investing in shares, Alibaba Group has also used a variety of strategic alliances.

E-Media stated on July 1 that its wholly-owned subsidiary recently reached a business cooperation agreement with Tmall and Indigo. Based on 6 million cable TV subscribers in Hunan Province, Tmall’s digital entertainment-home internet service was introduced to complete delivery of the intelligent set-top box equipped with YunOS, providing richer, higher-quality DVB+OTT home entertainment for Hunan cable TV users. Experience, enhance the stickiness of the cable network users, realize the increase of user ARPU value. The previous week, Alibaba had just signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation framework agreement with E-broad Media.

At the same time, Jishi Media, which has the ability to cover 688 million cable subscribers in Jilin, said that the company has signed a cooperation agreement with Alipay to fully open payment channels for value-added services and to open the e-commerce business model for TV terminals. This is a continuation of Katsay Media's test of "TV Taobao." According to the company’s announcement in early June, Jishi Media signed a cooperation agreement with Hangzhou Huashi Zhiping Information Technology Co., Ltd. on the cooperation of TV Taobao business. According to the person in charge, "TV Taobao" is a shopping service based on television screens. Its commodity system, trading system, logistics system and data system are all open to Taobao.

According to reports, Hangzhou Huashuzhiping Information Technology Co., Ltd. is an affiliate authorized by Ali Group to develop and operate the “TV Taobao” business based on TV screens. The reporter inquired about the nationwide enterprise information disclosure system and found that the two shareholders of Hangzhou Huazhizhiping Information Technology Co., Ltd. were Hangzhou Zhiping Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Broadcasting and Television Mobile Corporation, among which the shareholder of Hangzhou Zhiping Technology was Hangzhou Kunbao Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. The company, while the legal person of Kunbao Investment is Ma Yun, and the three natural person shareholders are: Ma Yun, Zhang Ying, and Shang Yufei.

Ali has said that Ali has been discussing how to transfer the profits of PC e-commerce to television, allowing it to generate greater value on television. "In the future, e-commerce interests on TV will far exceed PC."

In addition, in the most recent six months, Ali has also successively joined companies across the broadcasting and television industry in Shenzhen Broadcasting, Guangdong Broadcasting, and Gehua Cable. One of the most remarkable is that Ali joins shares and takes over China Television Cinemas Holdings Co., Ltd.

The China Television Theatre Line Operation Company was born on June 14 with a registered capital of 500 million yuan. The Beijing Beiguang Media Group, the parent company of Gehua Cable and its controlling shareholder, cooperates with China Film Group Co., Ltd., China Radio and Television Network Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Ali Ventures. Six companies, including Investment Co., Ltd. and BRICS Road Investment (Shenzhen) Partnership, have jointly initiated and established. Among them, Gehua Cable intends to invest 310 million yuan, accounting for 62% of shares. Although Gehua Cable was dominant in terms of funding, all sponsors unanimously decided that Alibaba.com was a sponsor shareholder and Alibaba, as the Internet giant, had a unique resource advantage, selecting Ali as the main operator, and Ali selected the first general manager to control the overall situation.

Earlier, Gehua Cable jointly established a "China Television Theater Alliance" with more than 30 provincial cable TV network operators in the country, and signed television network business cooperation agreements with 30 provinces and cities, relying on high-definition interactive platforms of various provinces and cities. , opening up the second largest film distribution market outside the traditional cinema line. The member units of the alliance are domestic cable television network operators, and they establish China Television Cinemas Holdings Co., Ltd. The Gehua Cable jointed with six companies such as Alibaba and jointly initiated the formation of the China TV Theatre Line Operation Company, which is the actual operation of the above-mentioned alliance.

Brokerage analysts believe that China Film, as a leading company in China's film industry, has close cooperation with hundreds of famous film companies in more than 200 countries and regions in the world. Gehua has network channels and a stable user base. The strong alliance between the two will expand the development of the television theater line, and Alibaba's participation will be able to unite TV + movie + Internet and open up new markets.

Breakout and integration

In the face of the "Internet Plus" era and the BAT's Big Three's storm, local radio and TV stations are also undergoing consolidation and restructuring, or seeking cooperation with the industry.

While Ali is at the forefront of radio and television broadcasting, local radio and television are also undergoing consolidation and reorganization, or seeking cooperation with the industry. Correspondingly, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television also recognizes that reform and capital operation are the general trend. On June 9th, Luo Jianhui, director of the Network Division of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, pointed out that under the “Internet +” wave, broadcasting and television must adapt to the development of the Internet, promote the integration of traditional media and new media, and also strengthen capital operations.

Radio and television Department of Internal Integration Benchmarks was the reorganization of Shanghai Media Group. With the unveiling of the Ming Dynasty on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on June 19th, the merger and reorganization between Oriental Pearl and BesTV of Shanghai Wenguang's two listed companies have been successfully completed. In this regard, Li Ruigang said that the Internet TV business will be the entry point for new listed companies in the future, thus building an Internet media ecosystem, business model, and institutional framework to create the newest Internet media group with the most market value, communication, credibility, and influence. .

In the same month in June, Oriental Pearl participated in the private placement of the Shaanxi cable TV operator Radio and TV network with its own funds of 355 million yuan, and will become its second largest shareholder. In March this year, the company also participated in the targeted issuance of Gehua Cable, not only leveraging capital to achieve cross-regional expansion, but also accelerating the implementation of the “DVB+OTT” integration business in a “capital+business” cooperation model. Ling Gang, president of the Oriental Pearl, told reporters that the country’s wired network has about 240 million users, and the largest feature of the cable network is its high viscosity. In the current situation where the user is king, the integration within the broadcasting and TV industry will not wait.

A senior person in the Department of Broadcasting and Television said that for cable operators, the basic function of the network as a network is to distinguish it from other competitors. In the face of the strong offensive of the Internet video industry and telecommunications operators, the only way to consolidate and develop is good. This big network, it is possible to make a comeback. In early January, after Gehua and more than 30 peers initiated the establishment of the "China Television Cinema Alliance," EDG Media and Hubei Broadcasting and Television Corporation staged the nationwide first "heavy link" of two heavyweight cable network operators. The two parties stated that they will focus on jointly promoting the sharing of broadband Internet resources, video content sharing, two-way value-added services, smart city business communications, and digital circuit business promotion.

Hunan also conducted data network interconnection with six provincial networks including Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou, forming a large “intranet” for 45 million households. Deng Qiulin, chairman of Hunan Cable, said that Hunan Cable is firmly grasping this basic advantage. First, it uses market-oriented operations to carry out network integration of capital instruments to lay a network in the province, and then integrates vertical and horizontal to implement cross-regional network integration. To establish inter-provincial alliances to achieve interconnection.

Fusion and hidden trouble

The Department of Broadcasting and Television shall use the advantages of BAT to make up for its shortcomings. Otherwise, once policy support is lost, the entire industry will lose all users overnight.

Compared with the internal integration of the broadcasting and TV Department, Ali's "mixed reform" broadcasting system is more integrated and complementary.

Industry analysts pointed out that broadcasting and TV companies with broadcaster qualifications in broadcasting and television companies have distribution channels; Ali Group has a full range of e-commerce systems, including payment, logistics, and merchants, and can use internet tools such as big data to dig out more premium content. Realize financing, marketing and distribution innovations on various internet platforms. Cooperation with radio and television companies, for Ali system, the film and television chain has been further strengthened, which is undoubtedly an important part of Ali's "ecommerce + TV" strategy. From content originality to distribution, distribution, dissemination to terminals and then to the derivation of the entire IP, the matrix of entertainment and media will be enlarged, and the whole industry chain will be opened up, which will be the complete layout of Ali's ecology.

Wu Chunyong, editor-in-chief of FusionNet, frankly stated to the Shanghai Daily reporter that with the continuous deepening of the cooperation between Ali and the broadcasting and TV industry, the pros and cons of the broadcasting and TV industry can be described as pros and cons. One of the benefits is to solve the fund shortage problem. Ali's powerful financial resources can solve the long-term financial difficulties of radio and television industry under the radio and television industry. Radio and television network operators all over the country can quickly complete digitalization, two-way transformation, and integration of cable networks. The second is to solve the problem of technological innovation. Whether it is a cable digital TV or an Internet TV, the corresponding operators and licensees always have certain shortcomings in their technology and business innovation, and Alibaba’s such as Alipay, Taobao, and mobile operating system YunOS will be based on The need for corresponding screens to innovate. Cooperation with Ali also solves business innovation problems.

But the drawbacks are also obvious. If Ali can really become a virtual nationwide cable TV network operator, this can be said to be a disaster to the original cable network that is difficult to integrate. In addition, the broadcasting and television industry, which has a relatively serious institutional problem, has certain weaknesses such as personnel training and reserves, business innovation, technology research and development, market operations, and industrial openness.

With the continuous enhancement of the competitiveness of Internet companies, and in the absence of a better way out, the broadcasting and TV enterprises have become "have to" and BAT three giants cooperation. The Department of Broadcasting and Television shall use the advantages of BAT to quickly make up for its shortcomings. Otherwise, once policy support is lost, the entire industry will lose all users overnight.

However, regardless of the advantages and disadvantages, the trend of reform and integration has already come. In the face of a population of 1.3 billion people and 400 million households, the largest global home internet market in the world, resourceful ambitious giants have been quick to accumulate. “Ali’s way of participation and alliance is through The nationwide layout of the 'broadcasting radio and television cloud' is a big chess game, and the competition for radio and television entry has only just begun.