紐時賞析／派拉蒙併購案 開啟串流大戰新紀元

併購案可望增加派拉蒙在串流時代的競爭力，圖爲派拉蒙在好萊塢的一個入口。（紐約時報）

Paramount Deal Ushers In New Era in Streaming Wars

派拉蒙併購案 開啓串流大戰新紀元

For the past decade, Paramount has been outgunned in the streaming wars, trying to keep up as tens of millions of people migrated from movie theaters and cable television and toward on-demand entertainment via the internet.

過去十年來，派拉蒙在串流媒體大戰中一直處於劣勢，努力追趕數千萬觀衆從電影院與有線電視轉向透過網路隨選娛樂的潮流。

Now the company, which owns CBS, Comedy Central, MTV and the movie studio behind “The Godfather” and “Top Gun,” will finally get much-needed reinforcements.

如今，這間旗下擁有哥倫比亞廣播公司、爆笑頻道、MTV，以及製作「教父」、「捍衛戰士」的電影公司，終於獲得急需的增援。

The $8 billion merger of Paramount and media company Skydance closed early Thursday morning, catapulting new power players to the top of Hollywood and ending a tortuous process that had lasted well over a year. Gone are the Redstones, whose family controlled CBS and Paramount Pictures for decades. In are the Ellisons. Skydance is controlled by David Ellison, a movie producer and the founder of the company who is the son of Larry Ellison, the tech titan and one of the world’s richest men.

派拉蒙與天空之舞傳媒的80億美元合併案於週四凌晨完成，將新的權力玩家推上好萊塢之巔，也結束持續長達1年多的曲折過程。這讓掌控哥倫比亞廣播公司與派拉蒙影業數十年的雷史東家族退出舞臺，艾里森家族取而代之。天空之舞由電影製片人兼創辦人大衛．艾里森掌控，其爲科技巨頭、世界富豪之一的賴瑞．艾里森之子。

The new owners give Paramount stronger financial wherewithal and have ushered in a set of new executives to call the shots. The result, if Skydance has its way, will be a reinvigorated competitor in an entertainment landscape that has mostly settled into place — Netflix and YouTube at the top, Disney and Amazon in the second tier, and everybody else scrambling for steady profitability, relevance or survival.

新東家爲派拉蒙帶來更強的財務實力，並引入一批新高層主導決策。若一切如天空之舞所願，派拉蒙在江山已大致底定的娛樂圈將成爲重振的競爭者，目前Netflix與YouTube居於頂端，迪士尼與亞馬遜位居第二梯隊，其餘所有企業都爲穩定獲利、維持影響力及求生存而奮力掙扎。

The merger could also usher in a new period of dealmaking, including future corporate mergers or streaming bundles.

這樁合併也可能開啓新一波交易潮，包括未來的企業併購或串流服務捆綁方案。

The challenges, however, for the newly combined company, officially called Paramount, a Skydance Corp., are significant. Paramount derives much of its revenue from its cable networks, which are in free fall. The company’s new leaders said they want to find more than $2 billion in cost savings, a considerable challenge given that the company has gone through numerous rounds of job cuts and budget reductions. And the coming disruption from artificial intelligence raises a new series of challenges.

然而，對新合併的公司（正式名稱爲派拉蒙天空之舞公司）而言，挑戰依舊嚴峻。派拉蒙大部分收入來自有線電視網路，這部分正急遽下滑。該公司新領導說正尋求節撙超過20億美元的成本，考慮到公司已歷經多輪裁員與預算削減，這是相當大的挑戰，而正在到來的人工智慧也帶來一系列新挑戰。

Much of the entertainment industry is breathing a sigh of relief that the merger is finished. Paramount will remain a stand-alone studio, and the Ellisons could potentially offer the promise of greater investment in a period when production has slowed sharply and the Peak TV era is long gone.

整個娛樂產業對於合併塵埃落定普遍鬆了一口氣。派拉蒙將繼續作爲一家獨立片廠存在，而艾利森家族有可能在製作急遽放緩、電視巔峰時期早已過去的當下，爲業界帶來更大規模的投資希望。

文／John Koblin and Benjamin Mullin　　　譯／江昱蓁

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