阿里巴巴聯手好萊塢推出流媒體服務

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group is teaming up with Lions Gate Entertainment, the US studio that produced The Hunger Games films, to offer Chinese owners of Alibaba’s set-top box a subscription TV service, write Charles Clover and Shannon Bond.

中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴集團(Alibaba Group)與獅門娛樂(Lions Gate Entertainment)達成合作，爲中國的阿里巴巴機頂盒用戶提供獨家訂購類影視娛樂服務。獅門娛樂爲美國電影製片廠，曾出品過《飢餓遊戲》(The Hunger Games)等電影。

The service, expected to launch in August, is the latest in a string of deals and tie-ups that have kept Alibaba in the news since the start of the year. The company plans to launch a New York initial public offering to raise about $20bn, potentially the world’s biggest, later this summer.

這項服務預計將在8月推出，是阿里巴巴繼今年初開始一連串交易及結盟，使其頻頻出現於新聞中的最新一例。該公司計劃於今夏晚些時候在紐交所首次公開發行(IPO)，籌資規模大約爲200億美元，可能會成爲史上規模最大的IPO。

It has spent more than $6bn over the past 12 months on acquisitions, and has stepped up the pace rapidly as the IPO date nears. Alibaba is looking to broaden its business model from being an ecommerce company to a diversified provider of entertainment and other services both online and offline.

最近一年時間裏，阿里巴巴在收購上已經投入了60多億美元，而且隨着IPO日期臨近，其收購步伐還在加速。阿里巴巴希望拓寬業務模式，從一個電子商務公司發展爲線上和線下多元化娛樂提供服務商。

Hollywood studios have been striking deals in China to reach its fast-growing media audience and bypass annual quotas on foreign films.

好萊塢電影公司已在中國達成多筆交易，以接觸到中國快速壯大的媒體受衆羣體，同時繞過外國電影每年引進配額。

Relativity Media has invested in China’s Skyland to make local films, while Legendary Entertainment has a joint venture with China Film Co, the largest producer and distributor of Chinese content. DreamWorks Animation operates a joint venture with two state-owned Chinese media groups to develop film, TV and live stage productions.

相對論傳媒(Relativity Media)已投資中國的Skyland影視文化發展有限公司拍攝本土電影，傳奇娛樂(Legendary Entertainment)也與最大的中文內容生產商和分銷商中國電影合作製片公司(China Film Co)成立合資企業。夢工廠動畫(DreamWorks Animation)與2家中國國有媒體集團合作運營一個合資企業，開發電影、電視及舞臺劇作品。

Alibaba’s new streaming service is part of a push into the entertainment industry that has seen it pay more than $1bn for nearly a fifth of video hosting site Youku Tudou, and about $800m for a 60 per cent stake in ChinaVision Media Group, gaining access to its TV dramas, films and mobile games.

阿里巴巴新的流媒體服務是其進軍娛樂產業的一部分，此前它已斥資十幾億美元收購視頻網站優酷土豆(Youku Tudou)近五分之一股權，還以大約8億美元收購了文化中國傳播(ChinaVision Media Group)60%的股權，以獲得其電視劇、電影和手機遊戲。

It launched the set-top box last year in conjunction with Wasu Media, an internet TV company. In April a fund allied to Alibaba’s leadership took a 20 per cent stake in Wasu for more than $1bn.

去年阿里巴巴與互聯網電視公司華數傳媒(Wasu Media)共同推出機頂盒服務。今年4月一家與阿里巴巴領導人有關的基金以逾10億美元購買了華數傳媒20%的股份。

The streaming service offered jointly with Lions Gate will give users access to the film studio’s content, including several titles from the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises as well as the TV series Mad Men.

阿里巴巴與獅門娛樂聯合提供的流媒體服務將讓用戶欣賞到這家電影公司的影視內容，包括《暮光之城》(Twilight)、《飢餓遊戲》及電視劇《廣告狂人》(Mad Men)。

Alibaba’s rival Tencent has also been working with a group of big US companies on a streaming video service that will deliver films from Warner Bros, Walt Disney, Universal Pictures and others to home viewers two weeks after their US release.

阿里巴巴的競爭對手騰訊(Tencent)也一直在努力與許多美國大公司合作推出流媒體視頻服務，使華納兄弟(Warner Brothers)、華特迪士尼(Walt Disney)、環球影業(Universal Pictures)等影視公司的電影在美國上映2周後，中國國內觀衆就能在該流媒體上欣賞到。