CBS與維亞康姆破鏡重圓，Netlfix可能受到沖擊

隨著市場迅速整合以及向線上轉移，媒體界的兩個“老頑固”是否能夠再度攜手并實現增長？對于即將成為合并后新公司董事長的莎莉·雷德斯通和首席執行官鮑勃·巴克什來說，計劃確實就是如此。雷德斯通目前是維亞康姆的掌門人。

維亞康姆最初由CBS創立，隨后在1971年被其剝離。上周二，CBS同意按照原計劃120億美元的價格與自家之前的制片業務部門維亞康姆重新聯姻。合并后的實體將接管所有業務，從CBS的廣播網絡一直到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Netflix等視頻流媒體公司來說可能是個壞消息，因為合并后的新公司ViacomCBS就更沒有理由繼續向其互聯網競爭對手提供《海軍罪案調查處》（NCIS）和《國務卿夫人》（Madam Secretary）等流行老劇的授權。例如，最近完結的熱門喜劇《生活大爆炸》（The Big Bang Theory）現在已經是CBS旗下All Access流媒體服務的獨家節目。

然而與好萊塢的一眾老牌相比，這個剛剛起步的娛樂巨頭依然缺乏足夠的規模與之抗衡；而與科技領域的新面孔相比，它并未與龐大的觀眾群建立直接聯系。因此，雷德斯通可能不得不沿用其傳統競爭對手在過去幾年中不斷收購的老套路，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下再次分道揚鑣，自那之后，大多數競爭對手都已經發展壯大。康卡斯特在十年前收購了NBC環球，并在2016年將夢工廠攬入懷中。AT&T在2016年收購了時代華納。迪士尼則已經收購了漫威影業和盧卡斯影業，去年又收購了21世紀福克斯公司的大部分資產。

雖然“掐線”（取消有限電視訂閱——譯者注）現象正在擠壓有線電視和衛星電視服務等內容提供商的收入，但也讓大型娛樂供應商獲得了更多可用于交易壓價的籌碼，繼而推動趨勢向整合方向發展。

據《華爾街日報》（Wall Street Journal）報道，新合并的公司將向有線電視用戶平均收取每人每月16.34美元的節目和頻道費用，在業內排名第二，僅次于迪士尼的21.82美元。議價能力的增強可能會令平均收費下降，這個問題異常關鍵，因為高昂的收費讓維亞康姆旗下的Nickelodeon和Comedy Central等頻道承受著很大的壓力。維亞康姆過去9個月的營收下降了1%，至94億美元。

這兩家公司指出，雖然雙方共計占到了電視總收視率的22%，但收取的聯播費和轉播費僅占總額的11%，可供改進的空間是巨大的。

盡管如此，康卡斯特和AT&T現在都已經將發行和制作業務并入了一家公司，這就使其更有底氣來對抗CBS和維亞康姆等節目供應商提高費用的要求。

此次合并還有助于新公司在新視頻流媒體大戰中更好地展開競爭。Netflix目前仍然在通過授權的方式從CBS和維亞康姆獲取內容。自從Netflix崛起以來，好萊塢一直受到新數字播放服務的圍攻。今年，僅Netflix一家就將花費150億美元制作原創內容，而亞馬遜Prime Video、Hulu和蘋果等規模較小的流媒體服務也將各自投入數十億美元。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。CBS和維亞康姆表示，其合并原創內容制作預算將超過130億美元。

CBS正試圖以6美元的包月價推廣其流媒體服務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，但其有吸引力的節目似乎并不多，因此難以俘獲大量的觀眾群。這項服務目前的訂閱人數約為800萬，而Netflix的訂閱用戶已經超過1.5億人。與競爭對手蘋果和AT&T不同的是，CBS自身并未與龐大的觀眾群建立直接聯系。維亞康姆旗下基于廣告的免費服務Pluto TV在今年7月公布的數據顯示，其月度活躍用戶人數達到了1800萬。（財富中文網）

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.