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Business Home entertainment Netflix messes up
商业 家庭娱乐 Netflix这回弄巧成拙了
The terror of the film and television business has become a lot less scary
电影和电视业的担忧恐惧都显得微不足道
LAST December Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's boss, sneered that Netflix threatened media about as much as the Albanian army threatened world peace. Few were fooled. Netflix, which hires out DVDs through the post as well as streaming films and television through the internet, had already impoverished Hollywood by training people to rent DVDs instead of buying them. It was starting to lure people away from pay-television. But then the army began marching in the wrong direction, and its general shot himself in the foot.
在去年12月，时代华纳的老板Jeff Bewkes曾嘲笑Netflix就像阿尔巴尼亚军队危害了世界和平一样危害了媒体业。Netflix，一个凭借邮递服务租售DVD光碟和通过互联网租售流媒体电影和电视节目的公司，由于使得人们不再购买DVD光碟而只是租借它们，早已让好莱坞的收入大为缩水。它在开始引诱人们离开付费频道，但上当者人数寥寥。然而，这支军队接下来开始朝着错误的方向进军，这次，这位上将是搬起石头砸了自己的脚。
On September 1st Netflix began imposing new prices on its 25m subscribers. Americans had been able to pay $9.99 a month for DVDs through the post as well as the right to stream some films and programmes. Netflix would henceforth offer them a choice: $7.99 a month for streaming, or the same price for DVDs. People who wanted both would pay $15.98.
自9月1日起，Netflix开始对2500万订阅用户执行新的收费方案。在这之前，美国人每个月只需支付9.99美元，就能享受邮递租借DVD光碟和网络观赏一些流媒体电影、电视节目的服务。现在，Netflix给了他们一个选择：要么每个月为流媒体服务支付7.99美元，要么以同样的价格租借DVD光碟。两种服务都需要的人则需每月支付15.98美元。
Customers don't like it. They have jammed the firm's switchboard and posted 82,000 largely hostile comments on its Facebook page. Netflix told investors to expect a rare loss of subscribers, driving its shares down. The company's reputation for top-notch customer service has been tarnished. So Netflix's founder and chief executive, Reed Hastings, tried to explain himself—and made matters far worse.
用户们并不喜欢这个方案。许多人的投诉电话蜂拥而至以致电话系统瘫痪，并且在Netflix的Facebook主页上留下了多达82000条的恶意评论。Netflix告知投资者们要做好因订阅用户人数大幅下降所带来的股份下滑的准备，这所公司以顶级用户服务著称的名誉已经蒙上了污点。因此，Netflix的创立人兼总裁Reed Hastings尝试为自己的决定辩解——却只是越描越黑。
On September 18th Mr Hastings explained that the company feared being left behind by technological change, like AOL with its dial-up service. It was separating DVDs from streaming because its future lies in streaming. The DVD-by-post service, he said, would move to a new website, with a new billing system, and be renamed Qwikster. It's an odd name (whatever else the US Postal Service is, it isn't qwik) and a big mistake. As The Economist went to press, Netflix shares were trading around $130—a steep decline from their July peak of $299.
在9月18日，Hastings先生解释说到他害怕公司会像还在提供拨号上网业务的美国在线服务公司那样被日新月异的科技变化抛在背后，之所以要把DVD光碟业务从流媒体业务中分离出来是因为这项业务的未来存在于流媒体技术之中。他说到，邮递租借DVD光碟业务将会被移至一个新的网站，拥有新的支付系统，并被重新命名为Qwikster。这真是一个怪名字（不管美国邮政系统该叫什么，都不会叫"qwik"）和一个大错误。在本文交付印刷之时，Netflix的股票成交价大概在130美元左右——与他们在7月份299美元封顶的价格相比下了一个大滑坡。
Netflix has made a tactical error and treated its customers shabbily. It has also jumped too hastily into the future—as if Renault were to declare that electric cars are the future and rename its petrol-car division Qwikmobile.
Netflix不仅犯了策略性错误，而且对待用户们糟糕透顶。另外，它对未来的规划也太过急进——好比说雷诺公司对外宣称电动车是未来发展的方向，然后就把他们的汽车部门改名为Qwikmobile。
Worst of all, Netflix has disregarded a big strategic advantage. DVDs may be old media, but they come with strong legal protections. As soon as a DVD is released by a Hollywood studio, roughly four months after the film appears in cinemas, Netflix can start renting it. To stream a film via the internet, in contrast, Netflix must strike an agreement with the studio or TV firm that owns it. As Netflix has become richer and scarier, negotiations have become harder. The company must wait eight or nine years to stream many studio films. A few media firms refuse to sell any streaming rights at all.
而最糟糕的是，Netflix忽略了一个极其重要的战略优势。DVD光碟或许是老式媒介，但是它们有着强力的法律保护措施。当一张DVD光碟从好莱坞片场发布那刻起，大概只要在电影院上映后四个月，Netflix就可以开始租售。相比之下，如果Netflix要通过互联网来播放流媒体电影，则必须先和持有它的片场或电视公司签订协议。随着Netflix变得越来越有钱，越来越胆小，协商日趋困难。公司必须要等到8到9年才能播放许多片场的流媒体电影，一些媒体公司更是拒绝出售任何播放流媒体的权利。
When Netflix combined DVDs and streaming, it offered both a vast selection of up-to-date content and the prospect of instant gratification. By forcing customers to choose between the two, it has revealed the weaknesses of both of its offerings. Netflix isn't like the Albanian army—it is far more dangerous than that. But it seems to have trained its guns against itself.
在Netflix将DVD光碟与流媒体电影电视两种服务结合在一起时，它不仅提供了大量可选购的最新内容，而且很容易使用户感到满意。然而Netflix强迫用户其二而择一的行为，将两者的弱点都暴露了出来。Netflix其实并不像阿尔巴尼亚军队——毕竟他们危险多了。但是这回，看起来他们是把枪口对准了自己。
