At the HBO Television meeting room, President Krah Willie looked at everyone with a big, joyful smile.
"Everyone," he announced, "the numbers for the last few months of 1998 are in! And I am happy to say that HBO now has over 38 million subscribers in the United States! We have beaten the Paramount Network. We are officially Number One!"
The room erupted in cheers and applause.
"Yes! We finally did it!"
"Now that we're number one, we can't ever lose it!"
"Take that, Redstone! That old man at Paramount is past his prime. It's only natural he lost to us."
Everyone was celebrating. For the last three years, HBO and Paramount had been in a huge battle for the top spot. Now, HBO had won.
"Alright, quiet down, ladies and gentlemen," President Willie said, raising his hand. "Also, our revenue for the last few months was $420 million. That's almost 7% more than last year!"
President Willie was beaming with pride. He had been the boss since 1992, and he had turned the company into a giant. He was the hero of this success.
"We couldn't have done it without you, Mr. Willie!" his director, Dinonte, said.
"That's right!" another boss, Smith, agreed. "I bet by the summer, you'll be promoted to be the big boss of the whole Time Warner group!"
Willie waved his hand, pretending to be modest. "Oh, stop it, you guys. I still have a lot of work to do."
Just then, the door opened. An assistant walked in and handed a report to Smith. Smith looked at it and gasped in surprise.
"What is it?" Willie asked with a smile.
Smith didn't say a word. He just slid the paper over to the President.
"Smith, today is a happy day! Don't look so sad. Be happy..." Willie started to say. But then he looked at the paper.
His smile vanished.
The report had one title: UPN.
...
Meanwhile, at Paramount Network...
"Damn that Zane Blackwood!!!"
Sumner Redstone, the 75-year-old boss of Viacom (Paramount's parent company), was roaring with anger.
"I knew we lost to HBO," he yelled. "But I never expected that Zane's little UPN network would silently sneak up on us! They now have 21 million subscribers! They are in third place!"
This news was shocking.
Paramount and HBO had spent years and billions of dollars to get 30 million subscribers. Zane's UPN had only been around for a few years! How did it grow so fast?
Back at HBO, President Willie was just as shocked.
"Everyone," Redstone said solemnly to his team, "from now on, we have a new enemy."
"Yes, sir!" everyone agreed.
How did UPN do it?
Of course, the hit show The Walking Dead helped. And so did the popular cartoons SpongeBob and Peppa Pig.
But the most important reason was Zane's "No Ads Strategy."
In Zane's old life, HBO invented the "no ads" idea in 2001. It made people love them. But here, Zane had stolen the idea! He did it first! And it worked perfectly.
...
The next morning, the headline of the California Entertainment News was huge:
"Zane Blackwood: The 'TV Emperor' Is Worthy of the Name!"
The article listed the facts:
UPN: 21.25 million subscribers (Ranked #3 for paid TV).
WB: Ranked #5 for public TV.
Once the numbers came out, no one could make fun of Zane's title anymore. He was an emperor.
"Mr. Blackwood is awesome!" people said, reading the paper. "I thought he only did cartoons! Who knew he was good at TV dramas, too?"
"The paper says he's worth over $3 billion now!"
"Wow! That puts him in the top 300 richest people in America!"
The whole country was buzzing about Zane's success.
However... when Zane saw the report, he wasn't celebrating. He just frowned.
"It's still not as good as HBO," he thought to himself.
"HBO makes $1.5 billion a year. In the future, I know they'll make $13 billion and have 80 million subscribers."
Zane sighed. "My UPN network still has a long, long way to go!"
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