紐時賞析／大型科技業者 為何要砸錢爭直播運動賽事？

Why Big Tech Is Making a Big Play for Live Sports

大型科技業者 為何要砸錢爭直播運動賽事

More than a decade after Apple disrupted the music industry and Amazon upended retail, the tech heavyweights have set their sights on a new arena ripe for change: live sports.

在蘋果擾亂音樂產業和亞馬遜顛覆零售業十多年後，這兩大重量級科技公司眼光投向一個成熟到可以改變的新領域：體育賽事直播。

Emboldened by their deep pockets and eager to boost viewership of their streaming-subscription services, Apple and Amazon have thrust themselves into negotiations for media rights held by the NFL, MLB, Formula One racing and college conferences.

蘋果和亞馬遜自恃財力雄厚，且渴望增加自家串流訂閱服務觀眾，於是全力投入談判，向職業美式足球聯盟（NFL）、美國職棒大聯盟、一級方程式賽車和大專院校體育聯盟爭取轉播權。

They are competing to replace DirecTV for the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, a package the league wants to sell for more than $2.5 billion annually, about $1 billion more than it currently costs, according to five people familiar with the process. Eager not to miss out, Google has also offered a bid from YouTube for the rights beginning in 2023, two people familiar with the offer said.

根據五名知情人士說法，這兩家公司爭的是取代美國AT&T旗下串流平台DirecTV，取得「NFL周日賽」套餐的轉播權，NFL希望這個套餐每年能賣到超過25億美元，比目前售價貴10億美元左右。兩名消息人士透露，Google不想錯過，也以旗下串流媒體YouTube名義競標2023年起的賽季轉播權。

The NFL Sunday Ticket package — which shows out-of-market Sunday NFL games that aren’t being shown on local television — is available because DirecTV chose not to bid. It has been losing as much as $500 million annually on the package, though it has also benefited from a reliable base of about 2 million subscribers.

NFL周日賽套餐，播放的是觀眾居住地電視台無法放映的NFL周日賽事。這個套餐能供人爭取，是因為DirecTV選擇不再競標。DirecTV每年因為這個套餐損失多達5億美元，即使能從大約200萬名可靠訂戶獲利。

Apple is considered the front-runner, according to a dozen people in the sports, media and tech industries. But a final deal has been delayed by negotiations over a concurrent sale of NFL media assets, including the NFL Network, RedZone channel and NFL+, a new subscription service that provides access to live games on mobile devices.

根據體育、媒體與科技業12名消息人士說法，蘋果被認為取得領先。不過，最終協議因為NFL同時出售媒體資產的談判而延後，媒體資產包括NFL電視網、紅區體育頻道和在行動裝置上直播賽事的新訂閱服務NFL+。

Apple has made winning the package a priority. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has met with league officials and influential team owners, according to three people familiar with the process. Apple declined to comment.

蘋果把贏得套餐視為優先要務。根據三名知情人士說法，蘋果執行長庫克已跟NFL高層和具影響力的球隊老闆見過面。蘋果拒絕對此置評。

Still, Amazon, ESPN+ and YouTube, which explored a bid for the rights in 2014, remain in the hunt, some of these people said. Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s chief media and business officer, said in a statement that the league expects to finalize a deal in the coming months.

不過，部分知情人士說，亞馬遜、迪士尼旗下體育串流平台ESPN+和曾在2014年企圖買下NFL周日賽事轉播權的YouTube仍在爭取。NFL媒體與業務長羅拉普發表聲明說，NFL預計在未來數月內敲定協議。

Fans will still be able to access all the games on Sundays, regardless of who wins the rights, but they will probably pay a premium to add the service to their Apple, Amazon, ESPN+ or YouTube service, some of the dozen people said. It is not yet clear if that premium would be more or less than the $294 that DirecTV charges for a year, they added.

這12人中有幾人說，不論是誰贏得轉播權，觀眾都能看到周日所有比賽，但可能要加價，才能把這個服務加到自己的蘋果、亞馬遜、ESPN+或YouTube平台。他們說，還不清楚加價部分會比DirecTV年費294美元高或低。

文／Tripp Mickle, Kevin Draper and Benjamin Mullin 譯／李京倫