Why HBO's Next Move Is Critical
发布时间 2023-05-09 19:42:29 来源
摘要
More than 50 years ago, HBO revolutionized television when it began to offer uncut movies, live boxing matches, concerts and comedy specials when you couldn’t watch those things anywhere but at a movie theater or in person. And slowly but surely, as video rental companies like Blockbuster began to compete with the network’s value proposition in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the company pivoted to investing in some of the most beloved original content of our time such as “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.” But it didn’t end there, the company has continued to produce award-winning content such a “Game of Thrones,” “Veep,” “The Last Of Us” and “Succession.” Despite establishing itself as the gold standard of storytelling, HBO has never operated as a stand-alone business, and has instead experienced numerous mergers and acquisitions, including the ill-fated AOL-Time Warner deal, known as one of the worst in American corporate history. Today, the company is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery but experts are predicting yet another transition is on the horizon.
Chapters
00:00 — 02:00 Intro
02:01 — 06:13 The rise of HBO
6:14 — 13:40 Original programming
13:41 — 18:20 HBO Max
18:21 — 22:18 Warner Bros. Discovery
Credits
Produced, Shot and Edited by: Darren Geeter
Animation: Jason Reginato
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Additional Reporting: Alexander Sherman
Additional Camera: Shawn Baldwin, Emily Lorsch, Jade Tungal
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Why HBO's Next Move is Critical
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中英文字稿 
It's not TV, it's HBO. That was the slogan that launched in the mid 90s that ushered in some of the most prestigious television shows ever made. With nearly 550 Emmy wins over the last 20 years, and about 80 million global subscribers, HBO has secured its spot as the gold standard of storytelling on television.
这句话的意思是：“这不是电视，这是HBO。”这个口号在90年代中期推出，引领了一些最负盛名的电视节目。在过去20年间，HBO赢得了近550项艾美奖，并拥有了全球约8000万订阅用户。因此，HBO已经确立了作为电视讲故事的黄金标准的地位。
The story of HBO has always been a promise of excellence in quality, and that's what we always tried to deliver on. And I think we did that, and that's why the company, it was and remains as vibrant as it is, and I think attracted so often the attention of the best creative people. Yet HBO has never been its own stand-alone business, surviving merger after merger and acquisition after acquisition, with one of them considered to be the worst deal in modern American corporate history. AOL Time Warner, arguably the most disastrous merger in media history, and the responsible for over $150 billion in gray offs. And your call $160 billion, a catastrophe. It's a big problem. Again, HBO is finding itself in midst of a shake-up, owned by Warner Brothers' discovery since April 2022. Current CEO David Zazloff has looked at deep cost-cutting measures, and announced on April 15, 2023, it's rebranding HBO Max to Max, and some believe that the company is gearing up for yet another sale.
HBO一直以卓越的质量为诺言，我们始终致力于实现这一承诺。我认为我们做到了这一点，这就是为什么公司一直如此充满活力并吸引了最优秀的创意人才的原因。然而，HBO从未是独立的业务，经历了一次次的合并和收购，其中一次被认为是现代美国企业史最糟糕的交易之一。时代华纳（AOL Time Warner），可以说是媒体历史上最灾难性的合并之一，导致了1500亿美元的裁员。你们称之为1600亿美元的灾难。这是一个大问题。再次，HBO发现自己置身于一场动荡之中，自2022年4月起由华纳兄弟发现公司拥有。现任CEO David Zazloff已经考虑了深度的削减成本措施，并于2023年4月15日宣布，将HBO Max重新品牌为Max，有人认为该公司正在为另一次出售做准备。
The expectation is that Warner Brothers' discovery will not stay Warner Brothers' discovery three to four years from now. And I think it's just a matter of managing the company as well as possible before that next transaction. Despite its turbulent business history in every decade of its 50-year existence, HBO has never ceased to change the programming game, from uncensored uninterrupted movies to setting up the template for perceived television, to revolutionizing sports, stand-up comedy, and documentaries, the question now, as competition stiffens, can the network sustain yet another major turn?
预计未来三到四年，华纳兄弟的发展不会仅仅停留在现在。我认为，在下一次交易之前，只要管理公司尽可能好，就可以了。虽然HBO在其50年的存在中的每个十年都经历了动荡的商业历史，但它从未停止改变节目形式：从无删减的连续电影到建立被认为是电视的模板，再到革新了体育、单口喜剧和纪录片。现在，随着竞争日益激烈，这个电视频道能否承受又一个重大转变呢？
When we think of HBO, we typically think of this, the best of the best in television. But big budget award-winning series wasn't where HBO got its start. The birth of HBO coincided with the modernization of TV, and the emergence of cable television in the 1970s. Cable wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today, and in most cases, it was an necessity for those living in rural regions, or cities like New York or San Francisco, where broadcast signals weren't reaching customers. HBO began as one of the only paid TV services on the market in 1972, under parent company Sterling Communications. A year later, it was spun off the time ink. So HBO started out as sort of this add-on cable channel that you would pay whatever amount of money, $10, $15 a month. It wouldn't come with your standard bundle.
当我们想起HBO时，通常会想到这个电视节目中的佼佼者 - 最好的最好的。但HBO并不是从大制作、获奖的影集开始的。HBO的诞生正好 coincidec 了电视的现代化，以及有线电视在20世纪70年代的出现。当时电缆还不像今天那样普及，大多数情况下，它是那些生活在农村地区或像纽约或旧金山这样的城市的人所必需的，因为广播信号无法到达客户那里。HBO于1972年作为Sterling Communications的子公司之一开始，成为市场上唯一的付费电视服务之一。一年后，它作为Time Ink公司的一个分支独立了出来。因此，HBO最初是一种附加的有线频道，你需要支付10、15美元的任意金额，它不会与你的标准套餐一起出现。
In the beginning, it had mostly movies on there. It was the only network that anybody had ever tried to count off the ground. It wasn't supported by advertising. And then the 1970s, it was when the big three network, SUDOS, NBC and BC, they had 95% of the viewing. It's Jeff Buches. He began his 25-year career at HBO in marketing and sales in 1979, and was named CEO in 1995. By 2008, he became CEO of Time Warner, and ended his storied career in 2018. During his time as head of HBO, he spearheaded some of the most successful TV shows of our time, The Sopranos Sex and the City and Curbure Enthusiasm. But that all came later, in the early days. There was virtually no original content on HBO. In the 70s and 80s, we don't have enough money to make actual scripted series yet. The networks each have 30 of them a week. You know, they got big budgets, big stars. We can't afford that. We don't have money for that. So we didn't go into series as long as we could, we basically avoided it.
在最初，HBO主要播放电影，它是第一个成功地启动的电视网络。它并没有依靠广告支持。在20世纪70年代，三大电视网络SUDOS、NBC和BC控制了95%的观众。杰夫·布伊什斯在1979年开始了他在HBO的25年营销和销售的职业生涯，并于1995年被任命为CEO。到2008年，他成功成为时代华纳的CEO，并在2018年结束了他的辉煌职业。在他担任HBO负责人期间，他推出了一些最成功的电视节目，如《黑道家族》、《欲望都市》和《怪人们的幸福生活》。但这全部是后来的事情，在初期，HBO几乎没有原创内容。在20世纪70年代和80年代，我们没有足够的资金来制作真正的编剧系列。电视网络每周会有30个编剧系列，这需要巨额预算和大牌明星。我们负担不起这种成本。因此，在我们能够承担之前，我们基本上避免了进入编剧系列领域。
With about 1 million subscribers in the late 1970s, it was one that only places outside of the movie theater. The customers can watch their favorite films uncut and end free. With access to live boxing matches, concerts and comedy specials, it truly made it a customer's home box office. You know, we're basically doing whatever the big budget networks were an interest to them, or they couldn't do it because they didn't know the more conservative tastes in the Midwest or they'd piss off for motor companies. I don't know like that. We didn't have to worry about that. So we were kind of rolling. But with the popularity of VHS and video rental stores like Blockbuster, HBO was left with no choice but to make some big decisions. At the time where the company had a little in their budget, to fund original content. And then Blockbuster cops. And basically takes our entire selling proposition uncut Hollywood movies and they're on. And they go earlier, they're now available to you six months before HBO. They're also uncut. And here's the next, the key thing, the big big problem. They're on demand. You can watch them whenever you want. We're sitting beside HBO saying to ourselves, we're screwed. Our number one reason why people subscribe to HBO is now being taken by Blockbuster. And what are we going to do?
在1970年代末期，HBO的订阅者数量达到了约100万人，是除电影院以外唯一的一个提供电影观赏的场所。顾客可以欣赏他们最喜爱的电影完整版而且不受干扰。除此之外，HBO还提供现场拳击比赛、音乐会和喜剧特别节目，真正让它成为了顾客的家庭影院。我们基本上在做着大预算电视网络感兴趣的一切，或者他们做不了，因为他们不了解中西部更保守的口味，或者他们会惹毛汽车公司那样。我们不用担心这些。所以我们在不断发展。但随着VHS和像Blockbuster这样的视频租赁店的普及，HBO不得不做出一些大决定。这时，公司的预算很有限，不能支持制作原创内容。然后Blockbuster出现了。并基本上采取了我们全部的销售宣传，发布无删减好莱坞电影的方式。而且这些电影也变得更早地可以在Blockbuster观看，比起HBO提前六个月。而且它们也是无删减的。接下来，最关键的问题是，它们是点播的。你可以随时观看它们。我们坐在HBO旁边，自言自语地说，我们完蛋了。我们订阅HBO的主要原因现在被Blockbuster夺去。那么我们怎么办呢？
In 1989, Time Inc. HBO's parent company made a $14 billion deal to merge at Warner Communications, creating the largest media and entertainment conglomerate of its time.
1989年，时代公司——HBO的母公司，与华纳通信公司达成了一笔价值140亿美元的合并协议，创造出当时最大的媒体和娱乐综合企业。
The Time Warner error ushered into multiplex model, with multiple channels and effort to reduce churn from subscribers and begin launching original offerings, starting with two comedies Dream On and The Larry Sanders Show.
时代华纳出现问题后，推出了多个频道的复合模式，并努力减少用户流失，开始推出原创作品，其中包括两部喜剧《梦想起飞》和《拉里·桑德斯秀》。
We called it the best hour on TV. It literally is almost only one hour because we only had 10. Half hours, a year, 10. Half hours a year. But you got 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, unlike the broadcast network. We've got 10 hours of serious programming, that's it.
我们称它为电视上最好的一个小时。实际上，它几乎只有一个小时，因为我们每年只有10个半小时。但你每年有365天，每天24小时，不像广播网络。我们只有10个小时的严肃节目，仅此而已。
意思：这段话是在说他们的电视节目只有10个半小时，但相较于广播网络，他们一年365天，每天24小时都有节目可看，而且这10个小时都是严肃类型的节目。他们把这10个小时称作电视上最好的一个小时。
We knew we had to be different. It had to be particularly in the early years, simply put worth paying for. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the network made big investments into original content. HBO followed up Dream On and The Larry Sanders Show with bold bets that will turn to critical darlings like the sopranos and sex in the city.
我们知道我们必须与众不同。尤其是在早期，必须简单明了地值得付费。到了1990年代末和2000年代初，这个网络投入大量资金投资原创内容。 HBO追随了 Dream On和The Larry Sanders Show的脚步，大胆地押注了像“黑道家族”和“都市女性”的经典作品。
From there, the network went on a hot streak of original programming. They said to the broader creative community, look over here. There's extraordinary work being done. And that becomes a virtuous circle, right? Writers talk to writers, directors to directors, the creative community to each other, agents to agents, something's happening over there, you know, early 1990s all the way through.
自此，这个网络开始了一场原创节目的热潮。他们向更广泛的创意社区发出了呼吁，说这里有非凡的作品。这形成了一个良性循环，对不对？作家与作家交流，导演与导演交流，创意社区相互交流，代理人与代理人交流，一些事情正在那里发生，你知道的，从90年代初一直到现在。
Now of course, when Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica came with Sex in the City and David Chase came with the sopranos and Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg with band of brothers, the door had been open that these kinds of bets were worth taking, not only because you were going to resonate in pop in the country, but it was a great business.
当然，当迈克尔·帕特里克·金和莎拉·杰西卡创作了《欲望都市》，戴维·蔡斯创作了《黑道家族》，汤姆·汉克斯和史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格创作了《兄弟连》时，这些类型的赌注已经被打开了，不仅因为你将在全国范围内产生共鸣，而且这是一项伟大的生意。
At the peak of the.com era, HBO's parent company Time Warner was on the verge of an event merger with AOL, one at the time would become the largest deal in merger history.
在互联网时代的巅峰时期，HBO的母公司华纳时代公司即将与AOL进行一笔事件性合并交易，这笔交易将成为有史以来最大的合并交易。
But just a few short months after the deal closed in 2002, AOL Time Warner was feeling the effects of the bursting.com bubble. Advertisement revenue for AOL star drying up, all while the world was shifting from dial up internet to cable broadband.
不过，仅仅在合并交易结束后的短短几个月，AOL Time Warner就感受到了2002年互联网泡沫破灭的影响。AOL的广告收入开始枯竭，但与此同时，世界的互联网接入也从拨号上网转向了有线宽带。
AOL Time Warner reported losses of $98 billion that year, the largest corporate net loss in US history. To put that into perspective, in 2001, just a year prior, the company's net loss was just $4.9 billion.
AOL时代华纳公司报告称，当年亏损980亿美元，这是美国历史上最大的企业净亏损。换个角度想，仅仅一年之前的2001年，该公司的净亏损只有49亿美元。
The road to recovery was a tough one for the entertainment segment of AOL Time Warner. It wasn't until 2009 that Time Warner was spun off from AOL and Jeff Buches took over the reign to CEO.
AOL时代华纳娱乐部门的复苏之路十分艰难。直到2009年时代华纳被从AOL中分离出来，Jeff Buches接任CEO，才开始扭转局面。
And ultimately, he made the company a pure content company. I think what Jeff was very adamant about for my colleagues at Turner and Warner Brothers at HBO was, you guys do what it is that you do. Warner Brothers make great television, make great movies, Turner make great television, get your sports rights, CNN continue to be the important brand that you are, and HBO make great programming. And so they did.
最终，他使公司成为一个纯粹的内容公司。我认为杰夫在透纳和华纳兄弟以及HBO的同事中非常坚决地要求大家做自己擅长的事情。华纳兄弟做出了出色的电视剧和电影，透纳制作了优秀的电视节目，获取了体育版权，CNN继续成为重要品牌，而HBO制作了出色的节目。他们都做到了。
Marking its fourth time exchanging hands, the network decided to dive deep into original programming, driving more subscribers to the business than ever.
这个网络已经更换了四次所有者。为了推动更多订户加入，该网络决定深入开发原创节目。
From Time Warner's uncoupling from AOL, leadership shifted. After about 12 years and various leadership positions within the company, Richard Plepler took over at CEO. When I began in 2007 for the team and for myself was, let's make sure that we remember what brought us to the dance in the first place, which was becoming a home where the best people wanted to work.
从时代华纳与AOL的分离开始，领导层发生了变化。在公司担任不同领导职务约12年后，理查德•普莱普勒成为了CEO。当我在2007年加入公司时，我和我的团队的目标是要确保我们记得我们最初成为一个家的原因，那就是成为最优秀的人想要工作的地方。
So look, we didn't overthink it. We knew that the environment was increasingly competitive. We knew that there were other places for people to go if we weren't quick to respond. And I think our mission was to make sure we picked well and we invited the right people to keep coming back. Even if we said no to some things, we made sure that we were respectful of the creative people who were coming to us urging them to come back.
所以，我们并没有过度思考。我们知道环境越来越竞争激烈。我们知道如果我们不迅速响应，人们就会转去其他地方。我认为我们的任务是确保我们做出正确的选择，邀请正确的人不断回来。即使我们拒绝了一些事情，我们也确保对向我们提供创意的人尊重，鼓励他们再次回来。
His shows like Game of Thrones, True Detective, Veepe, and Secure, and many more dominated the zeitgeist and entertainment, breaking in 228 prime time Emmy wins between 2009 and 2017.
从2009年到2017年，他的节目像《权力的游戏》、《真探》、《副总统》、《保持安全》等等，主宰了时代和娱乐界，获得228个黄金时段艾美奖胜利。
While the success of its original programming was exploding on screen, its domestic growth took several more years to get up and running. During the United States, cable TV subscriptions peaked around the year 2012 at about 100 million US households.
在其原创节目的成功爆炸性增长的同时，其在国内的增长还需要几年时间才能起步。在美国，有线电视订阅在2012年左右达到峰值，约为1亿个家庭。
So at this point, there was already evidence that millions of Americans were canceling traditional cable TV. And the main reason why it had gotten too expensive. Year after year after year, these programming companies would push 5 to 10 percent increases. And all of that increases would basically go straight to consumers. Now it was like, well, you're paying $120 a month and you're getting all of this content that you're no longer watching.
这时已经有证据表明，数百万美国人正在取消传统的有线电视服务。主要的原因是价格太高了。每年，这些节目公司都要推高5%到10%的费用，而这些费用都会直接转移到消费者身上。现在的情况是，你每个月要支付120美元，但你却不再看这些内容了。
Between 2009 and 2017, HBO Under Time Warner was the most distributed paid TV service in the US. However, it came at a time where domestic growth was undercut by court cutting and steep competition from other streamers. To combat this, HBO set its sights on two major efforts, international growth and streaming.
在2009年至2017年期间，时代华纳公司旗下的HBO是美国最广泛分布的付费电视服务。然而，这个时期正值美国电视用户数量因线性电视削减和来自其他流媒体平台的激烈竞争而受到影响。为了应对这一情况，HBO将其重心放在了两个主要方面，即国际增长和流媒体服务。
By 2011, HBO had a total of 93 million subscribers. Of those, about 40 million were domestic. HBO launched in 2011. It was a streaming offering only available to those subscribed to HBO through their cable provider. Between 2011 and 2014, global subscriptions increased while domestic growth plateaued.
到2011年，HBO总共拥有9300万订户，其中大约有4000万是国内订户。HBO在2011年推出了流媒体服务，只对通过有线电视提供商订阅HBO的用户开放。在2011年到2014年期间，全球订阅量增加，而国内增长趋于平稳。
The fundamental question for me in 2012, 2013 was, how do we continue to grow in a world where there are more and more broadband-owned homes? And that's how we built our digital product. In 2015, HBO now launched. It was a streaming service that circumvented the need for a cable subscription.
在2012年和2013年对我来说最基本的问题是，我们如何在越来越多家庭拥有宽带网络的世界中继续增长？这就是我们如何建设我们的数字产品的方式。2015年，HBO现在推出了一个流媒体服务，绕过了需要有线电视订阅的需要。
And we decided that HBO that we needed to develop a digital product. I think there were only 3 million homes in the United States that were broadband-owned homes. By the time we introduced HBO now in Cupertino with Apple in March of 2015, I think there were 10 or 11 million. You know, now there are tens of millions of broadband-owned homes. Meaning, if you want to be in the homes of your consumer, you need to have a product which can be delivered through broadband-owned, either direct or consumer or wholesale through another digital distributor. So it was an obvious decision for us. And we evolved to be able to do that. But at the end of the day, it's about the content.
我们决定需要开发数字产品，因为当时在美国仅有300万住户拥有宽带，但到2015年3月在Cupertino和苹果合作推出HBO now时，已经有了1000万或1100万家庭。现在，全美拥有宽带的家庭已达数以千万计。这意味着，如果你想进入消费者的家庭，你需要有一种可以通过宽带直接或经由其他数字分发商以批发或零售方式交付的产品。所以对我们来说，这是一个明显的决定。我们不断进化，目的是为了能够达成这个目标。但归根结底，它关乎到内容。
But the transition to a digital platform was not without outside turmoil. Because another merger was on the way. Rubber Murdoch made an attempt to buy time Warner for $80 billion. But you could stop that deal. Since Murdoch's Fox, it wasn't worth the $85 share Fox said it was worth. So when I was talking privately, the rupert and Chase was telling me, no, we're not doing this.
但转向数字平台并非一帆风顺。因为另一次合并即将到来。鲁伯·默多克试图以800亿美元的价格收购时代华纳。但这笔交易可以被阻止。因为默多克的福克斯认为，它并不值85美元的股价。所以在我私下交谈时，鲁珀特和切斯告诉我，不，我们不会这样做。
First of all, it's not worth $85 share. It's worth $68 share. You know it. And I know it. It's a real price that you can afford that we would accept. Because you don't have, it's literally you're trying to buy a dinner that you don't have money for the dinner. You can't do it.
首先，它不值85美元每股。它值68美元每股。你知道，我知道。这是一个实际的价格，你负担得起，我们会接受。因为你没有足够的资金，这就像你试图买一顿你付不起的饭一样。你做不到。
Time Warner ended up selling to AT&T, a massive merger that potentially changed the brand image of HBO. And one that is viewed as one of the worst mergers in US history, just behind the AOL Time Warner deal. That deal was catastrophic. It was catastrophic as AOL, but it was definitely dollar serious to HBO and Time Warner's health.
时代华纳最终被售给了AT&T公司，这次巨额合并潜在地改变了HBO的品牌形象。而且这也被视为美国历史上最糟糕的一次合并之一，仅次于AOL时代华纳的交易。那笔交易是灾难性的，虽然不及AOL的灾难，但无疑对HBO和时代华纳的健康造成了严重的资金损失。
AT&T agreed to buy Time Warner for roughly $85.4 billion in 2016. A deal that took nearly two years to complete, as it was met by pushback by regulators and the DOJ. We're disappointed that it took 18 months to get here, but we are relieved that it's finally behind us. And we look forward to closing this transaction in the upcoming days.
在2016年，AT＆T同意以约854亿美元的价格收购时代华纳。这笔交易耗时近两年才完成，因为遭到了监管机构和司法部门的反对。我们很失望花了18个月才走到这一步，但我们很欣慰它终于过去了。我们期待着在未来几天完成这笔交易。
While changing hands several times, one thing had remained constant, the quality of HBO's content. In 2018, the network brought home 23 Emmys and continued to grow its audience worldwide, but things were slowly changing under the AT&T leadership.
在多次易手过程中，HBO所提供的内容质量始终保持不变。在2018年，该电视网络斩获了23项艾美奖，并继续扩大其全球观众群，但在AT＆T领导下，一切都在缓慢地发生着变化。
The streaming wars were in full force at that time. Vertical brands HBO, Turner and Warner Brothers slowly began to shift to streaming. After AT&T, Time Warner became Warner Media, and looked to activate HBO's prestigious brand to the wider world of streaming. Instead of using HBO GO and now as standalone products, it looked to make a new streaming service.
当时，流媒体战争正处于全面开展之中。垂直品牌HBO、Turner和Warner Brothers慢慢开始向流媒体方向转型。在AT＆T后，时代华纳成为Warner Media，并试图将HBO的知名品牌推向更广泛的流媒体领域。它不再使用HBO GO，而是将其作为单独的产品，以建立一个新的流媒体服务。
Legacy Media companies like Disney and BC Universal began securing the rights to their iconic shows and films in preparation to launch their own respective platforms, Disney Plus and Peacock. AT&T and its newly rebranded Warner Media had a massive catalog of content and won the capitalize on it.
传统媒体公司，例如迪士尼和BC环球开始确保他们的标志性节目和电影的版权，为推出各自的平台——《迪士尼+》和《孔雀台》做准备。AT＆T及其新品牌Warner Media拥有大量的内容目录，并希望从中获利。
In 2019, just one year after closing the acquisition, Warner Media announces HBO Max. So the thinking with HBO Max was, we'll take this for stage programming. If we want to compete with Netflix, we need to add non-HBO programming to HBO, and that will get us over the hump here where we can start to target these tens of millions of Americans who have never subscribed to HBO.
在收购完成一年后的2019年，华纳媒体宣布推出HBO Max。HBO Max的理念是，我们将使用这个平台进行电视剧节目的播放。如果我们想要与Netflix竞争，我们需要将非HBO的节目添加到HBO中，这将帮助我们吸引那些从未订阅HBO的数百万美国观众。
The buildup of HBO Max's announcement was met with AT&T stock seeing a steady climb leading up to the official unveiling on October 29, 2019. AT&T stock hit over $29 per share. But when HBO Max finally debuted in May 2020, its launch was a bit rocky, and it happened to coincide with the pandemic. Still, AT&T saw someone of a needed boost.
HBO Max的发布公告预告引起了人们的关注，导致AT&T股票在2019年10月29日官方发布之前稳步攀升，达到每股29美元以上。然而，当HBO Max在2020年5月正式推出时，由于疫情的影响，其推广遇到了一些困难。尽管如此，这次推出仍然给AT&T带来了某种所需的提振。
The issue was that there were already streaming service products out there that had HBO in the name that were not HBO Max, but kind of sounded like HBO Max, like HBO GO and HBO NOW.
问题在于已经有一些流媒体服务产品在名称中使用了“HBO”，但它们不是HBO Max，但听起来与HBO Max有点相似，如HBO GO和HBO NOW。
The launch of HBO Max, which was just, I mean, it was malpractice. And it's not just the naming confusion, which was just a trotious and just unnecessary.
HBO Max的推出真的是过失，不仅仅是命名混乱，这也是一种可耻且不必要的做法。
But the actual launch itself was a disaster. The tech was terrible, and they didn't have all their ducks in a row. They weren't on Roku or Fire. Number one and number two for just amount of streaming, or at least dongles in the United States. But I believe at the time those two controlled somewhere around 50% of all streams on CTVs in the United States. How do you launch without half of your ecosystem?
但实际推出的过程是一场灾难。技术非常糟糕，而且他们没有做好所有的准备。他们没有在Roku或Fire上推出。在美国仅有大量流视频或至少有大量对接装置的第一和第二名。但是我相信当时这两个控制了美国所有CTV流量的大约50%。如何在没有一半生态系统的情况下启动？
HBO Max and its plan to compete with rivals was fairly simple. Continue to spend big on content. At the time, the market was very much cheering Netflix on from a spending standpoint. In other words, the more money Netflix spent on content, the more it's stock seemed to rise. And the market was cheering on more and more spending. But they were cheering on more and more spending for Netflix. They weren't cheering on more and more spending for all companies.
HBO Max为了与竞争对手竞争，其计划是非常简单的。继续在内容方面大举投资。当时，市场非常欢呼Netflix在支出方面的表现。换句话说，Netflix在内容方面投入的资金越多，其股票似乎就会上涨。市场越来越欢呼着更多的支出。但他们欢呼的是Netflix的更多支出。他们并不是为所有公司欢呼着更多的支出。
The fact of the matter was that AT&T was a wireless company, and it cost billions and billions of dollars for your capital expenditures to be a wireless company. So AT&T was caught. They were caught in a bind. So now you have to spend billions of dollars in two directions. And by the way, you now have tens of billions of dollars in debt because you just did this large transaction to buy time order.
事实是，AT＆T是一家无线通信公司，成为无线公司需要花费数十亿美元进行资本支出。因此，AT＆T陷入了困境。现在，你必须朝两个方向投入数十亿美元。而且顺便说一句，你现在有数百亿美元的债务，因为你刚刚完成了购买Time Order的大交易。
As the pandemic wreaked havoc on WarnerMedia's brands focused on theatrical releases, then WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kylar announced that all theatrical releases will be released on HBO Max on the same day.
由于全球疫情的影响，导致 WarnerMedia 旗下专注于院线电影发行的品牌受到严重破坏。因此，WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kylar 宣布所有院线电影都会在同一天在 HBO Max 上发行。
The AT&T and WarnerMedia merger never found solid ground in its early days. It was met by an unprecedented pandemic that crippled WarnerMedia's theatrical vertical, and while HBO Max saw revenue growth and subscriptions hitting $73.8 million by 2021, the costly streaming venture mounted $6 billion in operating expenses in 2020 alone.
AT&T和华纳兄弟媒体合并在早期并没有找到坚实的基础。它受到了空前的大流行病的打击，使得华纳兄弟媒体的戏剧业务垂直受到了严重挫折，尽管HBO Max在2021年实现了收入增长，订阅人数达到了73.8万，但这项代价高昂的流媒体业务在仅2020年就累计运营支出达到了60亿美元。
As for its stock, AT&T never regained its pre-pandemic highs. WarnerMedia accumulated more debt, as Wall Street urged AT&T to invest in its technology and communication business, rather than its media. AT&T needed to spin off its expensive and risky merger. In May 2021, just one year after HBO Max officially launched, AT&T announced its spinning off WarnerMedia to Discovery for $43 billion. For Discovery, it took on roughly $55 billion in debt when it deal close in April 2022.
至于AT&T的股票，它从未恢复到疫情前的高点。因为华尔街敦促AT&T投资于其技术和通讯业务，而不是媒体，所以WarnerMedia积累了更多的债务。AT&T需要剥离它昂贵且风险高的合并业务。2021年5月，在HBO Max正式推出仅一年后，AT&T宣布以430亿美元的价格将WarnerMedia剥离给Discovery。对于Discovery，当交易在2022年4月结束时，它承担了大约550亿美元的债务。
HBO's parent company will go through another name change, WarnerBrothers Discovery.
HBO的母公司将再次更名为华纳兄弟探索公司。这意味着公司名称将发生变化。
The newly formed WarnerBrothers Discovery has had one clear direction from current CEO, David Zazlov. Cut costs and generate cash as fast as possible. David Zazlov started to put into place these a variety of different ways to cut costs. Thousands of people were laid off at the company.
新成立的华纳兄弟探索公司当前CEO大卫·扎兹洛夫明确了一条清晰的方向，就是要尽可能快地削减成本并产生现金。大卫·扎兹洛夫开始采取多种不同的方式来削减成本，公司裁员了数千人。
AT&T plus, which was this new streaming service, was immediately rejected, that saved something like $350 million off the top. Many older library programs that were on the HBO Max streaming service were eliminated. With the addition of HBO Max to Discovery's business, its direct-to-consumer segment jumped from $860 million to $7.3 billion in revenue, with a total of 96.1 million subscribers.
AT&T Plus是一种新的流媒体服务，但很快就被拒绝了，从而节省了大约3.5亿美元。HBO Max流媒体服务中许多旧的图书馆节目都被取消了。随着HBO Max加入Discovery的业务，其直接消费者部分的收入从8.6亿美元增加到73亿美元，总共有9610万订阅用户。
Throughout the various mergers and acquisitions, HBO has continued to push forward with critically claim programming. The latest being succession, House of the Dragon, the last of us in White Lotus. With a lot more in the pipeline. Its storied culture has impassed down from one CEO to another.
在各种合并与收购中，HBO 一直致力于推出备受好评的节目。最近包括《王位继承者》、《龙之家》、《最后我们》和《白莲花酒店》。还有更多节目正在计划中。该公司的文化传承自一位CEO到另一位CEO。
Look, there's a wonderful, wonderful creative team at HBO. AC Boys and his team, I mean, they have a really impressive creative team. And if left to their own devices and get enough money, they can continue to do what they've been doing.
看啊，HBO拥有一支非常出色、创意十足的团队。AC Boys和他的团队，他们组成了一支富有创造力的团队。如果他们能够得到足够的资金，让他们自由发挥，他们可以继续做他们一直在做的事情。
But as part of cost-cutting measures in 2022, just a few months after the completion of the merger, there was a wave of cancellations of shows and HBO Max exclusive movies. The company also shipped some of its content to free and supported streaming TV.
但在2022年进行成本削减的措施中，公司在合并完成后仅仅几个月内取消了大量的演出和HBO Max独家电影。此外，公司还将部分内容转移到免费支持的流媒体电视上。
And with the merging of two companies, came another streaming service, Discovery Plus, which launched in 2021, and in efforts to save money on running two separate streaming services, and a streamlined customer's choices as to what to watch, HBO Max is rebranding to simply Max. Part of the reason to rebrand the streaming service Max, it not just call it HBO Max and throw in all the Discovery content, was the executives at HBO and at Warner Brothers Discovery, were very attuned to trying to save the HBO brand. And the fear was, if you call the service HBO Max and you throw in 90 day fiancee and all of these other reality shows that are not HBO quality, that over time, everyone's calling this thing HBO and the brand will be diluted.
两家公司合并后，又推出了一个名为“Discovery Plus”的流媒体服务，于2021年上线。为了节省维护两个服务的成本，并简化用户的选择，HBO Max将更名为“Max”。重新命名流媒体服务的部分原因是为了保护HBO品牌，而不是仅仅称之为HBO Max并加入所有的Discovery内容。HBO和华纳兄弟探索公司的高管非常重视保护HBO品牌的形象。他们担心，如果将服务称为HBO Max并加入90天未婚夫等不符合HBO质量的真人秀，随着时间的推移，每个人都会称此服务为HBO，这会削弱HBO品牌形象。
Last year, Warner Brothers Discovery posted a net income loss of $7.3 billion, mostly from paying down its inherited debt, and its stock performance dropped from the start of the merger to the end of 2022, selling at over $38 per share.
去年，华纳兄弟探索公司因偿还所继承的债务而录得净收入亏损73亿美元，其股票表现也从合并开始到2022年年底下跌，每股售价超过38美元。
The company has made major efforts into bolstering the different media and articles and inherited from Warner Media. The company announced major investments into the legacy IPs like a new Lord of the Rings franchise, a Harry Potter series on Max, and relaunching their superhero studio with DC films.
该公司大力加强不同媒体和文章，并从华纳媒体继承。该公司宣布了对传统知识产权（如新的《魔戒》系列、Max上的《哈利·波特》系列和重新启动他们的超级英雄工作室DC电影）的重大投资。
But some believe these major investments are potentially setting up another sale for the company. Using the 7th time, HBO has seen the change of hands.
但有些人认为，这些重大投资有可能为公司设定了另一次出售的预设条件。HBO已经经历了7次易手。
If you have, forget the individual confidence. If you have an overall industry profit pool that's smaller than what all the legacy, the digital pieces used to live off of, it has to consolidate.
如果你拥有的东西不能带给你个人信心，那就放弃它。如果你所处的整体产业利润池比所有传统和数字业务过去依赖的利润要小，就必须进行整合。
That's it after.
这就是事情的结果了。