The Disney protests were a wake-up call about the risks of streaming mergers
The Disney protests were a wake-up call about the risks of streaming mergers
迪士尼抗议事件：流媒体并购风险的警钟
There was a call to boycott Disney last fall. The owner of the ABC network had taken Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air over comments Kimmel made about responses to Charlie Kirk’s murder, sending free speech proponents into a frenzy. Those free speech proponents include me, who, as a reporter, has clear stakes in protecting that right. Although I was on board with halting support for a company I felt had acted wrongfully, truly boycotting Disney proved harder than I expected.
去年秋天，曾有人呼吁抵制迪士尼。ABC电视网的所有者因吉米·坎摩尔（Jimmy Kimmel）对查理·柯克（Charlie Kirk）遇刺事件相关回应的评论，将其节目《吉米·坎摩尔直播秀》（Jimmy Kimmel Live!）停播，这引发了言论自由倡导者的强烈不满。我也是这些倡导者中的一员，作为一名记者，保护这一权利与我有着直接的利害关系。尽管我支持停止对一家我认为行为不当的公司提供支持，但真正抵制迪士尼的过程比我预想的要困难得多。
Disney’s ubiquity
迪士尼的无处不在
Canceling Disney+ was simple but threw a hefty wrench into my evening routine. I tend to end many weekdays laughing at comforting sitcom reruns and adult animation. I usually associate Disney with princesses, kids’ movies, and, more recently, comic heroes. But Disney also owns Hulu, which exclusively streamed many of my favorite shows for unwinding at the time, like American Dad, Futurama, Living Single, Fresh Off the Boat, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
取消 Disney+ 很简单，但却彻底打乱了我的晚间作息。我习惯在许多工作日的晚上观看令人放松的情景喜剧重播和成人动画。我通常将迪士尼与公主、儿童电影以及近期的漫画英雄联系在一起。但迪士尼还拥有 Hulu，当时我许多用于放松的最爱剧集都在该平台独家播出，例如《美国老爸》（American Dad）、《飞出个未来》（Futurama）、《单身生活》（Living Single）、《初来乍到》（Fresh Off the Boat）和《费城永远阳光灿烂》（It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia）。
Completely boycotting Disney also meant I couldn’t watch the broadcast channels where some of these shows originated, like ABC and FX. It also limited my guilty-pleasure options, since A&E, History, and Lifetime were all partially owned by Disney (Disney has since sold its stake in those networks to Hearst), as were some video games. I had to miss some sporting events, too, since Disney owns all ESPN channels and streaming services. Weekends often involve streaming a science-fiction or action movie my partner picked out. Due to the protests, though, I had to veto streaming content from some of his favorite franchises, including Avatar, Alien, Predator, and Die Hard.
彻底抵制迪士尼也意味着我无法观看这些剧集最初播出的广播频道，如 ABC 和 FX。这也限制了我那些“罪恶的快乐”选择，因为 A&E、History 和 Lifetime 频道当时都由迪士尼部分持股（迪士尼后来已将这些网络的股份出售给赫斯特集团），一些电子游戏也是如此。我还不得不错过一些体育赛事，因为迪士尼拥有所有的 ESPN 频道和流媒体服务。周末我常会观看伴侣挑选的科幻或动作电影。然而，由于抗议活动，我不得不否决他最喜欢的一些系列电影，包括《阿凡达》（Avatar）、《异形》（Alien）、《铁血战士》（Predator）和《虎胆龙威》（Die Hard）。
This was all probably a reminder that I should take a break from the TV and go outside. For argument’s sake, though, I must point out that if I had wanted to spend my time outdoors at a theme park, my options would also have been limited somewhat. A year later, as Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs its 25th season, the difficulties I faced trying to avoid Disney still perturb me. There was a time when protesting ABC’s decision would have simply meant not watching ABC. After years of media conglomeration, however, protesting ABC can now mean boycotting a massive entity controlling many of my most prominent forms of entertainment—streaming, broadcast TV, comedies, science fiction, and video games—and even children’s programming.
这一切或许是在提醒我，应该放下电视去户外走走。但为了论证起见，我必须指出，如果我想去主题公园度过户外时光，我的选择也会受到一定限制。一年过去了，当《吉米·坎摩尔直播秀》播出第 25 季时，我当初试图避开迪士尼所面临的困难依然让我感到困扰。曾几何时，抗议 ABC 的决定仅仅意味着不看 ABC。然而，经过多年的媒体整合，现在抗议 ABC 可能意味着要抵制一个庞大的实体，它控制着我生活中最主要的娱乐形式——流媒体、广播电视、喜剧、科幻、电子游戏，甚至儿童节目。
It has been reported that the boycott financially impacted Disney and put pressure on the company to get Kimmel back on. But mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are intensifying in the streaming age and consolidating power under fewer owners. And, as we’ve seen before, when there are fewer streaming owners, it can be even harder to end your business with a streaming provider you no longer want to support and for smaller voices to speak up.
据报道，此次抵制活动在经济上影响了迪士尼，并向该公司施压，促使其让坎摩尔回归。但在流媒体时代，并购（M&A）活动日益频繁，权力正集中在少数所有者手中。正如我们之前所见，当流媒体所有者减少时，想要终止与不再支持的流媒体提供商的业务往来会变得更加困难，弱势群体的声音也更难被听到。
Disney settled an antitrust lawsuit through acquisition
迪士尼通过收购解决了反垄断诉讼
Fubo’s previous row with Disney illustrates how a bigger company can summarily silence protests. The sports-centric streaming service sued Disney, Fox Corporation, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in February 2024 over the companies’ plans to launch a sports streaming app together. Fubo accused the companies of “antitrust” behavior. Fubo alleged that Disney forced it to spend millions annually on unwanted, non-sports content to get the sports programming that Fubo wanted. Disney and Fox, the complaint said, had “monopoly power in the sports programming market.” Fubo’s CEO, David Gandler, said at the time that the companies “create higher pricing for subscribers and cheat consumers from deserved choice.”
Fubo 此前与迪士尼的争端说明了大公司如何能迅速平息抗议。这家以体育为中心的流媒体服务商在 2024 年 2 月起诉了迪士尼、福克斯公司（Fox Corporation）和华纳兄弟探索公司（WBD），原因是这几家公司计划联合推出一款体育流媒体应用。Fubo 指控这些公司存在“反垄断”行为。Fubo 声称，迪士尼强迫其每年花费数百万美元购买其不需要的非体育内容，才能获得 Fubo 想要的体育节目。诉状称，迪士尼和福克斯在“体育节目市场拥有垄断力量”。Fubo 首席执行官大卫·甘德勒（David Gandler）当时表示，这些公司“为订阅用户制造了更高的价格，并剥夺了消费者应有的选择权”。
Disney declined to answer the questions I sent it at the time. In January 2025, Disney effectively made the antitrust suit go away by buying Fubo. I asked Fubo about the surprising settlement at the time and received a statement arguing that the merger would bring customers “more choice” by enabling “Fubo to create a new Sports and Broadcast service and other genre-based content packages.” The statement noted that Fubo was now perfectly fine with Disney, Fox, and WBD launching a sports app (the app was still canceled in January 2025). A smaller company that was previously rearing up to fight consolidation in sports streaming merged with one of the companies it accused of stifling competition and driving up prices.
迪士尼当时拒绝回答我提出的问题。2025 年 1 月，迪士尼通过收购 Fubo，有效地化解了这场反垄断诉讼。我当时询问了 Fubo 关于这一令人惊讶的和解方案，得到的声明称，此次合并将通过使“Fubo 能够创建新的体育和广播服务以及其他基于类型的套餐”，为客户带来“更多选择”。声明指出，Fubo 现在完全支持迪士尼、福克斯和 WBD 推出体育应用（该应用已于 2025 年 1 月取消）。一家此前准备对抗体育流媒体整合的小公司，最终与它所指控的扼杀竞争、推高价格的公司合并了。
Fubo’s price hike
Fubo 的价格上涨
Extensive media conglomeration plays a role in Fubo’s latest price hike, too. In July, Fubo increased monthly subscription prices by $15 after it restored some of the channels it lost during a contract dispute with NBCUniversal. During the dispute, Fubo lowered its prices. After Fubo reached a deal with NBCUniversal, it ended up charging more for subscriptions than it did before the dispute, while including fewer NBCU channels than before.
广泛的媒体整合也在 Fubo 最近的价格上涨中发挥了作用。7 月份，在恢复了与 NBCUniversal 合同纠纷期间失去的一些频道后，Fubo 将月度订阅价格提高了 15 美元。在纠纷期间，Fubo 曾降低了价格。而在与 NBCUniversal 达成协议后，其订阅费用最终比纠纷前更高，但包含的 NBCU 频道却比以前更少。
As a sports-focused streaming service, the most relevant channels that Fubo got back were NBC affiliates, regional sports channels, NBC News NOW, NBC Sports Network, Telemundo, and Universo. However, the higher prices are also representative of the non-sports channels that Fubo restored: Brazo, Cozi, and True CRMZ. “The rising cost of bringing you the programming you enjoy means that, unfortunately, we need to pass some of these increases on to you,” Fubo said in an email to subscribers about the price hikes.
作为一家专注于体育的流媒体服务，Fubo 恢复的最相关频道包括 NBC 附属台、区域体育频道、NBC News NOW、NBC Sports Network、Telemundo 和 Universo。然而，价格上涨也反映了 Fubo 恢复的其他非体育频道：Brazo、Cozi 和 True CRMZ。“为您提供您喜爱的节目成本不断上升，这意味着我们不得不将部分成本转嫁给您，”Fubo 在一封关于价格上涨的邮件中对订阅用户说道。
Streaming’s merger-heavy future
流媒体并购频发的未来
Experts that I’ve spoken with over the past couple of years have consistently predicted more streaming mergers. Streaming services launched at unsustainably low prices aimed at growing subscriptions. Years later, streaming companies face increasing pressure to reach profitability and, subsequently, grow streaming profits. This isn’t easy for many services, and some will opt for mergers to stay in business or become more financially successful. Mergers also help streaming companies manage content costs and build larger libraries that can attract more…
过去几年我采访过的专家一致预测，未来会有更多的流媒体并购。流媒体服务最初以不可持续的低价推出，旨在增加订阅量。多年后，流媒体公司面临着实现盈利以及随后增加流媒体利润的巨大压力。这对许多服务商来说并不容易，一些公司会选择通过合并来维持运营或获得更大的财务成功。合并还有助于流媒体公司管理内容成本，并建立能够吸引更多用户的庞大内容库……