Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1533: The Red Shoes Diary Becoming a Target

"We regulated cable television in 1992, Ronald," Doug Jr. told Ronald on the phone.

"Oh, I know, I just thought adding some regulation would be more beneficial to us."

It is not easy to get politicians to legislate for their own benefit. There are many technical details involved.

Regulatory legislation always lags behind development. Sometimes, when a new thing or a new industry emerges and has profoundly affected the lives of ordinary Americans, it will arouse the interest of legislators when the government really needs to do something.

Another form of legislation, that is, legislation promoted by major players in the industry with the purpose of promoting industrial development, will be passed at an earlier stage of industrial development.

The legislation Doug mentioned, the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, belongs to the latter category. As the name of the bill suggests, it contains the word "competition", which means that the rules are drawn in advance and move in a direction that is favorable to those who promote legislators.

For example, one of the biggest clauses in this law is to restrict content providers to provide basic television services at low prices, because "television" is seen as a low-cost channel for the public to obtain information in order to ensure the "freedom" of America.

Moreover, although there is no restriction on content providers such as HBO to charge more "premium" channel subscription fees according to market prices, users' freedom to subscribe should not be restricted. Even if they only subscribe to the most basic package, they must be provided with cable TV.

In many cases, this is actually a losing business, and cable TV stations are really interested in those wealthy users who are willing to spend more than ten dollars a month to subscribe to premium content, because cable TV mostly charges subscription fees directly, rather than earning income through advertising fees like traditional wireless TV stations.

The final result of this bill is that it is beneficial to the content providers who already have wireless TV stations in the industry, and they are also the advocates of congressional legislation. However, TCI, led by John Malone, who wanted to use large-scale coaxial cable infrastructure to replace traditional wireless TV transmission centers, was publicly condemned by Deputy President Al.

John Malone's philosophy is simple: try to unify the construction of infrastructure by one or two companies across the country, and then charge users. As for the content on cable TV platforms, content providers will compete freely to see how many viewers they can attract to subscribe.

If this market structure is implemented, TCI will be invincible no matter what. Whether it is the installation and basic subscription fees paid by the audience, or the premium subscriptions such as HBO, a considerable part will become TCI's profit.

Of course, such a strategy is certainly not favored by those established TV stations. They prefer to establish their own regional cable TV networks and use the content they have accumulated over the years to carve out pieces of the regional cable TV market.

These stations have been in the United States for more than 40 years and have much stronger ties to Capitol Hill than TCI.

Therefore, the 1992 bill was packed with many protective clauses, which did not really help the people enjoy high-quality services at a relatively low cost.

This strategy of not wanting a unified national market and preferring states as the basic competitive areas is, to some extent, beneficial to Ronald's strategy of acquiring small wireless TV stations in various places.

"Why did John Malone fail so completely? It seems that the clauses that were favorable to him were not included in the 1992 bill, while the clauses that were unfavorable to him were passed." Ronald and Doug Jr. chatted for a while and found that this 1992 bill seemed to be specifically aimed at TCI.

"He has an old grudge with Vice President Al, who singled him out as a conservative who is hindering technological progress. But this matter has little to do with cable TV. It's mainly because Malone has ambitions for the information superhighway." Doug Jr. has many friends in New York and Washington, DC, and is much more informed about these legislations than Ronald.

"Information superhighway, what is that?" Ronald asked. The name sounded very familiar, but he didn't know the details. And when he heard it, he felt that it was a big deal.

"It is a plan promoted by Vice President Al. He likened the Internet to a facility like a highway, emphasizing the core role of infrastructure. He hopes to build a nationwide digital network to connect individuals, schools, businesses and governments."

"What network? Is it the BBS system? Tell me more..." The more Ronald listened, the more familiar this thing seemed to him. However, although he could see some fans' reactions on that BBS, it seemed far from the highway that Al boasted about..."

No matter how much they tout it, the current Internet provider AOL has no special uses other than being able to send emails or chat with people who have similar interests on BBS after going online.

"According to the Vice President's speech, in the future, the secrets of libraries will be available online, we can file taxes online, apply for driver's licenses, and even vote in elections, all through the information superhighway.

He also said that you can watch TV and movies online in the future, can you believe it? Hahaha..."

"Uh," Ronald wanted to agree, but he always felt that this didn't seem to be bragging.

"OK, let's not go too far. John Malone wants to use the coaxial cable of cable TV to provide Internet services, but he wants to bundle his services into it. And Al supports the telecommunications network, allowing service providers from all industries to compete on it. Anyway, the two of them are in a very bad situation..."

When it comes to the Internet, Malone, who advocated for competition in the cable TV industry, becomes conservative and closed. This is not surprising, as everyone is driven by profit. As for the slogans they shout, they are all excuses to obtain legislation that is beneficial to them in Congress.

"It seems that this deputy commander-in-chief is our ally."

Ronald is the same. He has to support any legislation that is beneficial to him. He then asked Doug, a Washington know-it-all, "Who are our allies?"

"If we want to strengthen the supervision of cable TV content, we cannot ignore these organizations." Little Doug said the names of several organizations and individuals in succession.

They are the American Family Association, a conservative organization originating from the conservative and backward state of Mississippi that opposes violence, pornography and anti-Christian values ​​in the media.

There is also Focus on the Family, an evangelical religious association based in Colorado that promotes traditional family values ​​and helps young parents cope with the challenges of raising children.

Both organizations are located in the most conservative central region, figuratively speaking, they are Forrest Gump's hometown. Their advocacy contains a lot of religious content and ideologies against minority groups, which is actually not the same as the kind of support Ronald wants.

And the two congressmen who also called for stricter regulation of cable television were both anti-Hollywood.

One was Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, a conservative from Kansas who wanted to regulate all media industries, and the other was Jewish Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut.

Although Lieberman is Jewish, he is an outlier. Together with Dole, he called for regulation of Hollywood and a ban on pornographic and violent content in films and TV shows that would harm young people.

He is a die-hard Orthodox Jew who, in addition to living according to religious rules, is dedicated to protecting Israel's interests. This has caused other congressional colleagues to complain that he seems to have acquired Israeli citizenship and is more like an Israeli than an American.

In short, those who call for tighter regulation have ill will toward Hollywood and are dissatisfied with the current big-selling commercial films. If they are allowed to succeed, it will be a fatal blow to Hollywood.

Ronald wanted nothing of the kind. At best, he used this as an excuse to complain about the existing TV ratings and the fact that paid cable TV networks, such as HBO and Showtime, were virtually useless in regulating teenagers and children.

For example, if you purchase HBO service, and your children at home secretly pick up the remote control to watch when you are not at home, you have no way to stop them.

It would be better to have a mechanism to prevent children who should not watch adult content on cable TV from watching it privately, and to strengthen regional content so that children can watch more educational TV programs.

This is what Ronald wants, so-called "regulation", just a little bit, not against Hollywood. Just regulate those cable TV stations, not Hollywood.

"In that case, I recommend someone." Doug recalled a man he had met in Washington, DC, who was the Secretary of Education during Ronald Sr.'s time and the Director of the National Prohibition Commission during George Sr.'s time. William Bennett, who lost his job after the new president took office.

This guy jumped from the Donkey Party to the Elephant Party during the old Ronald era, and then turned to the Conservative Party. During his tenure as Minister of Education, he also called for the establishment of a real rating system that could technically solve the problem of teenagers watching rated films and TV series that they should not watch.

He also strongly advocated for maintaining chastity and that one should not lose virginity in high school because many people are immature and morally imperfect at that time, so one should wait until college or after work to have sex.

In general, this person is conservative, but not extremely conservative. He upholds morality, but does not have unrealistic fantasies. He still advocates solving problems by making modifications within the rules.

Precisely because he is not extreme enough and is more pragmatic, politicians who are elected do not like him very much. Although he has spent a lot of time doing public relations in Washington, hoping to get a senior federal office again, no one has paid attention to him.

Moreover, the best thing about this person is that he is a sanctimonious hypocrite. Although he advocates that young people should abide by morality, he is an avid gambler in real life. He spends a lot of money every year in Las Vegas and various sports betting.

It has affected his family's financial situation and he has a lot of gambling debts. This is one of the reasons why he is trying hard to return to the federal political stage.

One advantage of such a person is that once the handle is in the hands of the financial backer, he can be more trusted to serve the financial backer's purpose, and is unlikely to kick out the donors at the time after being elected to an important public office.

Ronald had Bud Jr. set up a new charity and then a new PAC action committee, hired William Bennett as a consultant for both, and then took a high salary and consulting fees to lobby in Washington for the new organization, befriending various members of Congress and advancing the organization's agenda - giving parents complete control over their televisions.

This organization, named the Parents Television Council, called for necessary regulation of the emerging cable television, such as adding a parental monitoring chip to each cable television subscriber, just like the anti-theft chip in a VCR, which can lock certain TV channels when leaving home.

The newly formed Parents Television Council wanted to target some nationally renowned television series. After looking around, they set their sights on Showtime's flagship TV series, "Red Shoe Diaries," and began their media criticism.

"The Red Shoes Diary" was actually originally a TV movie. Director Zalman King told the story of the protagonist who accidentally discovered his gentle and elegant fiancée's diary after her unfortunate death. The diary recorded his fiancée's completely unknown life. While she was in love with the protagonist, she was also having an affair with a construction worker.

This TV movie was broadcast on Showtime, a subsidiary of Viacom, and received good ratings. After all, such erotic films, such as the famous 9 1/2 Weeks, can only be watched at home through videotapes. The new cable TV can broadcast some large-scale films and TV series that public television stations cannot broadcast.

Zalman King saw the potential, so he lobbied Showtime to start a spin-off TV series based on the movie, also called The Red Shoe Diaries.

This TV series follows the ending of the movie, with the male protagonist placing an ad in the newspaper. He cannot understand why his fiancée would have an affair with a construction worker, so he asks ladies to send him their experiences.

Each episode begins with the male protagonist receiving a letter from a woman, telling a story of an affair, and then at the end, the male protagonist and his dog complain about why women are like this.

This TV series has become Showtime's ace program, not only because of its accurate positioning, but also because of the male lead.

The male lead was played by David Duchovny, an extra Ronald used when directing Working Girl. In 1991, he had to shoot a TV movie with erotic connotations such as Red Shoe Diaries. Later, he had to sign a contract with the TV station for a derivative TV series in order to earn money.

However, just after the filming of the first season of the TV series was completed, he was invited to Fox's science fiction drama "The X-Files", in which he played the leading actor, Fox Mulder, an FBI investigator investigating supernatural events.

The role brought him national fame. David Duchovny had a high penalty contract with the Red Shoe Diaries, so he had to appear at the beginning and end of each episode.

The style of this TV series is not high, but the casting taste is good. Every time they find some out-of-date or not famous but very elegant actresses to play female roles.

Therefore, it has become one of the most popular TV series for high school students to watch secretly. Ronald's Parents Television Committee is ready to use this TV series as a target to call for stricter legislation on the cable TV industry.

It seems that there is some misunderstanding. The nutritionist I found is not a Chinese medicine practitioner, but he has studied Chinese medicine. He himself has studied and practiced as a nutritionist abroad. Like all of my readers who care about me, he also pointed out that the main problem of ventilation is metabolic disorder. The purine in food is only a small part of the purine synthesized by the human body. I still need to increase exercise and eat less food with fructose and additives.