【经济学人】一种新的商业运作模式已经出现
Who will win the media wars?
谁会在媒体战争中获胜？
Disney’s new streaming service and the media wars
迪斯尼的新流媒体服务和媒体战争
America has seen some spectacular investment booms: think of the railways in the 1860s, Detroit’s car industry in the 1940s or the fracking frenzy in this century. Today the latest bonanza is in full swing,but instead of steel and sand it involves scripts, sounds, screens and celebrities. This week Disney launched a streaming service which offers “Star Wars” and other hits from its vast catalogue for $6.99 a month, less than the cost of a dvd. As the business model pioneered by Netflix is copied by dozens of rivals, over 700m subscribers are now streaming video across the planet. Roughly as much cash—over $100bn this year—is being invested in content as it is in America’s oil industry. In total the entertainment business has spent at least $650bn on acquisitions and programming in the past five years.
美国有过一些壮观的投资热潮：比如19世纪60年代的铁路，20世纪40年代的底特律汽车工业，或者本世纪疯狂的水力压裂。今天，最新的财富正如火如荼地进行，但它涉及的不是钢铁和沙子，而是剧本、声音、屏幕和名人。本周，迪斯尼推出一项流媒体服务，以每月6.99美元的价格提供《星球大战》和其庞大目录中的其他热门影片，比dvd的价格还低。随着Netflix公司开创的商业模式被数十家竞争对手模仿，目前全球有超过7亿用户在流媒体视频。今年投入到内容领域的现金额约为1000多亿美元，与投入到美国石油行业的现金一样多。在过去5年中，娱乐业总共在收购和节目制作上花费了至少6500亿美元。
l spectacular /spɛk'tækjəlɚ/ adj.壮观的，雄伟的，引人入胜的
l boom n.繁荣
l frack n.水力压裂
l frenzy n.狂热，疯狂
l bonanza /bə'nænzə/ n.财运、鸿运、好运
l in full swing 在热烈进行中，处于兴盛阶段
l acquisition /ˌækwɪ'zɪʃən/n.获得，得到
l programming /'proɡræmɪŋ/n.（广播、电视节目等的）编排
This binge is the culmination of 20 years of creative destruction (see Briefing). New technologies and ideas have shaken up music, gaming and now television. Today many people associate economic change with deteriorating living standards: job losses, being ripped-off,or living under virtual monopolies in search and social networks. But this business block buster is a reminder that dynamic markets can benefit consumers with lower prices and better quality. Government has so far had little to do with the boom, but when it inevitably peaks the state will have a part to play, by ensuring that the market stays open and vibrant.
这场狂欢是20年创造性破坏的高潮。新技术和新观念已经动摇了音乐、游戏和现在的电视。如今，许多人将经济变化与不断恶化的生活水平——失业、被敲诈，或者生活在搜索和社交网络的虚拟垄断之下，联系在一起。但这部商业大片提醒我们，充满活力的市场能够以更低的价格和更好的质量让消费者受益。目前为止，政府与繁荣经济关系不大，但当经济不可避免得到顶峰时，政府将发挥作用，确保市场保持开放和活力。
l binge n.狂欢、放纵
l culmination /'kʌlmə'neʃən/n.顶点、高潮
l rip-off 偷窃、欺诈、敲竹杠
l virtual adj. 事实上的，实际的，虚拟的
l monopoly 垄断
l blockbuster n. 轰动、重磅炸弹、了不起的人或事
l dynamic adj.有活力的，强有力的
l peak v.到达最高点（我们熟知的是名词，顶点、山峰）
The entertainment business is fast-moving by its very nature. It has few tangible assets, it relies on technology to distribute its wares and its customers crave novelty. The emergence of sound in the 1920s cemented Hollywood as the centre of the global film business. But by the end of the 20th century the industry had grown as complacent as a punchline in a repeat episode of “Friends”. It relied on old technologies—analogue broadcasting, slow internet connections and the storage of sounds and sights on fiddly cds, dvds and hard drives. And the commercial approach was to rip off consumers by overcharging for stale content packaged into oversized bundles.
娱乐业本质上是快速发展的。它几乎没有有形产业，它依靠技术来销售产品，客户渴望新奇。20世纪20年代声音的出现巩固了好莱坞作为全球电影业中心的位置。但到了20世纪末，这一行业变得自满起来，就好像《老友记》中反复出现的笑话一样。它依赖于老式的模拟广播技术、缓慢的互联网连接以及在CD、DVD和硬盘上存储声音和图像。而商业上的做法是，对被包装成超大包装的陈旧内容收取过高的费，以此来欺骗消费者。
l crave /krev/v.渴望、恳求
l cement /sə'mɛnt/v.巩固、加强
l complacent /kəm'plesnt/adj.自满的、自鸣得意的
l punchline n.笑话最后的关键句，妙语，画龙点睛之语
l overcharge v.对…要价过高
l stale adj.无趣的，老掉牙的
l bundle n. 捆，束
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