隨著市場(chǎng)迅速整合以及向線上轉(zhuǎn)移，媒體界的兩個(gè)“老頑固”是否能夠再度攜手并實(shí)現(xiàn)增長(zhǎng)？對(duì)于即將成為合并后新公司董事長(zhǎng)的莎莉·雷德斯通和首席執(zhí)行官鮑勃·巴克什來(lái)說(shuō)，計(jì)劃確實(shí)就是如此。雷德斯通目前是維亞康姆的掌門人。

維亞康姆最初由CBS創(chuàng)立，隨后在1971年被其剝離。上周二，CBS同意按照原計(jì)劃120億美元的價(jià)格與自家之前的制片業(yè)務(wù)部門維亞康姆重新聯(lián)姻。合并后的實(shí)體將接管所有業(yè)務(wù)，從CBS的廣播網(wǎng)絡(luò)一直到MTV和Showtime等有線頻道，外加派拉蒙影視和圖書出版商西蒙-舒斯特公司。

此舉對(duì)Netflix等視頻流媒體公司來(lái)說(shuō)可能是個(gè)壞消息，因?yàn)楹喜⒑蟮男鹿綱iacomCBS就更沒(méi)有理由繼續(xù)向其互聯(lián)網(wǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手提供《海軍罪案調(diào)查處》（NCIS）和《國(guó)務(wù)卿夫人》（Madam Secretary）等流行老劇的授權(quán)。例如，最近完結(jié)的熱門喜劇《生活大爆炸》（The Big Bang Theory）現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是CBS旗下All Access流媒體服務(wù)的獨(dú)家節(jié)目。

然而與好萊塢的一眾老牌相比，這個(gè)剛剛起步的娛樂(lè)巨頭依然缺乏足夠的規(guī)模與之抗衡；而與科技領(lǐng)域的新面孔相比，它并未與龐大的觀眾群建立直接聯(lián)系。因此，雷德斯通可能不得不沿用其傳統(tǒng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手在過(guò)去幾年中不斷收購(gòu)的老套路，否則就得把自己賣給更大的買家。

CBS和維亞康姆上一次的重聚是在2000年，后于2006年在雷德斯通之父雷石東的主導(dǎo)下再次分道揚(yáng)鑣，自那之后，大多數(shù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手都已經(jīng)發(fā)展壯大。康卡斯特在十年前收購(gòu)了NBC環(huán)球，并在2016年將夢(mèng)工廠攬入懷中。AT&T在2016年收購(gòu)了時(shí)代華納。迪士尼則已經(jīng)收購(gòu)了漫威影業(yè)和盧卡斯影業(yè)，去年又收購(gòu)了21世紀(jì)?？怂构镜拇蟛糠仲Y產(chǎn)。

雖然“掐線”（取消有限電視訂閱——譯者注）現(xiàn)象正在擠壓有線電視和衛(wèi)星電視服務(wù)等內(nèi)容提供商的收入，但也讓大型娛樂(lè)供應(yīng)商獲得了更多可用于交易壓價(jià)的籌碼，繼而推動(dòng)趨勢(shì)向整合方向發(fā)展。

據(jù)《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》（Wall Street Journal）報(bào)道，新合并的公司將向有線電視用戶平均收取每人每月16.34美元的節(jié)目和頻道費(fèi)用，在業(yè)內(nèi)排名第二，僅次于迪士尼的21.82美元。議價(jià)能力的增強(qiáng)可能會(huì)令平均收費(fèi)下降，這個(gè)問(wèn)題異常關(guān)鍵，因?yàn)楦甙旱氖召M(fèi)讓維亞康姆旗下的Nickelodeon和Comedy Central等頻道承受著很大的壓力。維亞康姆過(guò)去9個(gè)月的營(yíng)收下降了1%，至94億美元。

這兩家公司指出，雖然雙方共計(jì)占到了電視總收視率的22%，但收取的聯(lián)播費(fèi)和轉(zhuǎn)播費(fèi)僅占總額的11%，可供改進(jìn)的空間是巨大的。

盡管如此，康卡斯特和AT&T現(xiàn)在都已經(jīng)將發(fā)行和制作業(yè)務(wù)并入了一家公司，這就使其更有底氣來(lái)對(duì)抗CBS和維亞康姆等節(jié)目供應(yīng)商提高費(fèi)用的要求。

此次合并還有助于新公司在新視頻流媒體大戰(zhàn)中更好地展開(kāi)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。Netflix目前仍然在通過(guò)授權(quán)的方式從CBS和維亞康姆獲取內(nèi)容。自從Netflix崛起以來(lái)，好萊塢一直受到新數(shù)字播放服務(wù)的圍攻。今年，僅Netflix一家就將花費(fèi)150億美元制作原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容，而亞馬遜Prime Video、Hulu和蘋果等規(guī)模較小的流媒體服務(wù)也將各自投入數(shù)十億美元。另外，康卡斯特、AT&T和迪士尼也都在組建自己的流媒體服務(wù)。CBS和維亞康姆表示，其合并原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容制作預(yù)算將超過(guò)130億美元。

CBS正試圖以6美元的包月價(jià)推廣其流媒體服務(wù)CBS All Access，但效果并不是很理想。雖然All Access以《星際迷航》（Star Trek）系列以賣點(diǎn)，但其有吸引力的節(jié)目似乎并不多，因此難以俘獲大量的觀眾群。這項(xiàng)服務(wù)目前的訂閱人數(shù)約為800萬(wàn)，而Netflix的訂閱用戶已經(jīng)超過(guò)1.5億人。與競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手蘋果和AT&T不同的是，CBS自身并未與龐大的觀眾群建立直接聯(lián)系。維亞康姆旗下基于廣告的免費(fèi)服務(wù)Pluto TV在今年7月公布的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，其月度活躍用戶人數(shù)達(dá)到了1800萬(wàn)。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：艾倫

審校：夏林

Can two old fogies of the media landscape reunite and grow, as the market rapidly consolidates and moves online? That’s the plan of the soon-to-be chair of a combined CBS and Viacom, Shari Redstone and her CEO Bob Bakish, who currently heads Viacom.

CBS, which first created and spun off Viacom in 1971, agreed on last Tuesday to reunite with with its former production unit in a planned $12 billion deal. The combined entity will control everything from the CBS broadcast network to cable channels like MTV and Showtime, plus the Paramount film and TV studio and book publisher Simon & Schuster.

The move is likely bad news for video streamers like Netflix, as the combined ViacomCBS, as the new company will call itself, will have less incentive than ever to continue licensing its popular older shows like NCIS and Madam Secretary to its Internet rival. For example, recently-completed hit comedy The Big Bang Theory is already an exclusive on CBS’s All Access streaming service.

But the incipient entertainment giant probably still won’t have the scale to catch up to its usual Hollywood rivals, or the direct connections to a big audience to rival its new, tech industry competitors. Redstone will probably have to pull off a few more deals, like its traditional rivals have in years past, or face selling out to an even bigger buyer.

Since CBS and Viacom last reunited in 2000 and broke up again in 2006 under Redstone’s father Sumner, most of its competitors have bulked up. Comcast bought NBCUniversal a decade ago and added Dreamworks in 2016. AT&T bought Time Warner in 2016. And Disney, which had already bought Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, added most of 21st Century Fox last year.

While cord cutting is squeezing the revenue of distributors like cable and satellite TV services, bigger entertainment suppliers have more leverage to extract better deals, driving the trend towards consolidation.

Combined, CBS and Viacom collect an average of $16.34 per month per cable subscriber for their programming and channels, which would rank second in the industry behind only Disney, at $21.82 per month, the Wall Street Journal reports. Greater bargaining power could improve that average, a key issue as Viacom’s fees for its channels such as Nickelodeon and Comedy Central have been particularly under pressure. Viacom’s revenue for the past nine months fell 1% to $9.4 billion.

The companies note that while they together account for 22% total TV viewership, they collect only 11% of all affiliates and retransmission fees, leaving plenty of room for improvement.

Still, Comcast and AT&T each now combine distribution and production in a single company, giving them the ability to better resist demand for higher fees from programming suppliers like CBS and Viacom.

The merger could also help the combined company compete better in the new video streaming wars. Since the rise of Netflix, which still licenses content from both CBS and Viacom, Hollywood has been under siege from new digital players. Netflix alone will spend $15 billion this year developing original content, while smaller streaming services including Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Apple will each spend billions more. And Comcast, AT&T, and Disney are also all developing their own streaming services. CBS and Viacom say their combined budget for generating originals will top $13 billion.

CBS has had limited success trying to sell its own streaming service, CBS All Access, for $6 a month. Though it’s headlined by the Star Trek franchise, All Access doesn’t seem to have enough attractive shows to lure a major audience. The service has about 8 million subscribers, versus over 150 million for Netflix. And CBS, unlike rivals Apple and AT&T, doesn’t have a direct connection to a big audience on its own. Viacom’s free, ad-based Pluto TV reported 18 million monthly active users in July.