Web Deals Cheer Up an Ailing Hollywood
好萊塢露疲態網路提供活水
By Brooks Barnes

LOS ANGELES – Movie attendance hit a 16-year low in 2011. DVD sales keep plunging. Yet Hollywood sees cause for optimism.
去年電影院觀眾人數創下16年來的新低；DVD營業額不斷下跌。然而好萊塢看到了樂觀的理由。

After all, it’s not the music business.
電影畢竟不同於音樂。

Instead of Hollywood suffering its own Napster moment – the digital death trap that decimated music labels first through illegal downloading and then by a migration to legal downloads almost solely through iTunes – several deals have it feeling more in control.
音樂出版業曾因免費交換網站Napster造成非法下載氾濫，接著人們又幾乎完全透過iTune合法下載而跌進數位死亡陷阱，受創慘重。好萊塢不但不會步此後塵，多項交易並已使它自認更能掌控全局。

Web is coming to them. Google is developing a home entertainment device, and several media companies have announced plans for online streaming services. No supplier will have a monopoly over the distribution of Hollywood films and television shows on the Internet. With more buyers comes leverage, and higher prices for content.
網路已經開始向它招手。Google正在開發一款家庭娛樂裝置，數家媒體公司也在規畫網路串流服務。沒有任何一家供應商可以壟斷好萊塢影片及電視節目的網路銷售。買家多足以產生槓桿作用，內容的價格也會更高。

“The mood has shifted from, ‘Oh, my God, our business models are broken and we’re going to be cannibalized’ to something resembling euphoria,” said Peter Guber, chief executive of the Mandalay Entertainment Group, which has interests in movies, TV and sports. “Studios see a robust, accelerating online market.”
曼德勒娛樂集團涉足電影、電視及運動，執行長古柏說：「心情已經從『噢，我的天。我們的經營模式已經行不通；我們一定會被生吞活剝』變成振奮。各製片公司已經看到茁壯且不斷加速成長的網路市場。」

Serious Web-based buyers for movies and television shows are popping up all over. Netflix, the DVD-by-mail and streaming service, was already aggressively pursuing Hollywood content and making sizable payments for it. In a clear challenge to Netflix, Verizon and Redbox said they would team up on a service to stream studio films on the Internet. Amazon has a deal to buy episodes of Viacom-owned programs, including “Jersey Shore” and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” as it prepares to introduce a stand-alone streaming service that also will compete with Netflix.
態度認真的影視節目網路買家舉目可見。郵寄暨網路租片兼串流服務供應商Netflix開始花大錢積極購買好萊塢提供的內容。電信業者威瑞森與DVD租賃公司Redbox不甘示弱，宣布準備聯手提供網路影片串流服務。亞馬遜公司已敲定協議購買維康公司名下影片，包括「玩咖日記」與「海綿寶寶」，準備獨力推出串流服務與Netflix一較高下。

Hollywood also anticipates that YouTube and Google will soon expand their movie and television service beyond rentals to include sales. Steadily ramping up their offerings are Walmart’s Vudu, Best Buy’s CinemaNow, Apple’ iTunes and Hulu. The competition for online movie and television rights is also heating up in places like Brazil, where NetMovies Entertainment has a deal to stream material owned by the Walt Disney Company.
好萊塢還預期，YouTube與Google很快就會擴大影視服務範圍，租之外還賣。逐步加強服務的還有沃爾瑪的線上電影租售服務Vudu、百思買的CinemaNow、蘋果的iTune及線上影片網站Hulu。爭奪網路影視播售權的競爭也在巴西等地展開。在巴西，NetMovies娛樂集團已敲定串流迪士尼內容的協議。

The money is not yet big enough to make up for lost DVD revenue, but it is substantial. Barton Crocket, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, estimates that Netflix spent $937 million for streaming rights in 2011 and will pay $1.8 billion in 2012.
這些資金尚不足以彌補DVD銷售額的損失，但已相當可觀。拉沙德資本市場公司分析師柯洛吉估計，Netflix去年花了9.37億美元購買串流權，今年會增至18億。

Netflix has struck a deal for certain films from the Weinstein Company, including “The Artist,” which won the best picture award at the Oscars on February 26. DreamWorks is getting an estimated $30 million a movie over an unspecified number of years. Disney agreed to provide streaming content to Comcast, a cable TV and Internet service provider, as part of a 10-year deal that will bring billions of dollars in revenue to Disney.
Netflix已與溫斯坦影業公司簽約購買數部影片，包括上月26日拿下奧斯卡最佳影片獎的「大藝術家」。夢工場每釋出一部影片權利金約3000萬美元，年限未經透露。迪士尼已與有線電視兼網路服務供應商Comcast談妥一項10年協議，提供串流內容換取數十億美元收入。

Studios worked meticulously to get to this point, holding content back, or at least avoiding exclusive arrangements that would damp competitive bidding. They also have had bandwidth on their side: the music industry was speedily overtaken by the Web in large part because songs are small enough to trade on limited bandwidth.
製片商藉由精心的安排才達到今天的境地，扣住內容不外放，或者至少避免讓獨家買斷，以免影響競標。它們還握有頻寬的優勢：音樂產業很快就被網路取代，主要是因為歌曲可在很小的頻寬上買賣。

“We’re still in the learning process, but it’s looking very exciting,” said Ken Werner, president of domestic distribution at Warner Brothers Television. “The digital marketplace is evolving in a way that is very good for us.”
華納兄弟電視公司國內銷售總裁沃納說：「我們還在學習階段，然而局面看起來令人十分振奮。數位市場正朝對我們非常有利的方向演進。」

But Roy A. Salter, a financial adviser with an entertainment focus, equates the current boom to the 1980s and ’90s, when TV networks around the world started gobbling up movie rights. That proved to be a bubble as some buyers, confronting slower-than-expected growth, could not make their licensing payments.
不過娛樂業財務顧問沙特把前當的熱潮比作1980、90年代的景況。當時，全球各地電視網大買電影播放權。事後證明這是泡沫，因為部分成長不如預期的買家無法支付許可費。

Another caveat involves the movie side of Hollywood, which is less able to capitalize on the streaming of new releases because its contracts with premium cable TV channels like HBO and Showtime do not allow for movies to be streamed on rival services during their pay-TV runs. Just a year ago, Netflix was the only company of size in America paying big upfront money for streaming content.
另外一個障礙涉及好萊塢的電影面。它比較無法因為新片串流而獲利，因為與優質有線電視頻道HBO、Showtime之間的合約不允許好萊塢在後者播映付費收看的影片期間，又把影片交給其對手串流播映。就在一年前，Netflix是為串流內容支付巨額預付款的唯一美國大型業者。

“One buyer is your biggest nightmare,” Mr. Guber said. “They can hear the rattle of your begging cup a mile away.”
古柏說：「怕就怕只有一個買家。他們大老遠就聽得到你行乞的敲缽聲。」

Mr. Guber predicts it is only going to get better for studios. “Nobody’s going to a Web site to see zeroes and ones,” he said, referring to computer coding. “But they will go for oohs and aahs, and the tech companies know it.”
古柏預言製片廠前途會更好，他說：「沒有人會為了看0和1而上網站（他指的是電腦編碼），然而人們會上網去看些讓他們驚奇讚嘆的東西，這一點科技公司明白。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/business/media/web-deals-cheer-hollywood-despite-a-drop-in-moviegoers.html

2012-03-13聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 陳世欽譯原文參見紐時週報八版上