????影片《超級戰艦》（Battleship ）遭遇票房滑鐵盧，很大程度上映射了康卡斯特（Comcast）旗下美國國家廣播環球公司（NBC Universal，簡稱NBC環球）所面臨的困境。當然，NBC環球這艘媒體超級戰艦目前并不會沉沒。但它確實腹背受敵，四面楚歌。

????《超級戰艦》這部基于愚蠢假設的電影并非NBC環球近年來唯一的敗筆。《五年之約》（The Five-Year Engagement）的票房也乏善可陳。不過，《超級戰艦》卻帶來了巨額虧損——據電影資訊網站Box Office Mojo稱，該影片的全球票房僅為2.99億美元，在美國國內票房僅為6,312萬美元，但其制作成本卻高達2.09億美元。（電影制作方大約能獲得一半的票房收入。）

????當然，NBC環球也有一些好消息：《老雷斯的故事》（Dr. Seuss' The Lorax）表現出色，《藏身之所》（Safe House）也有不俗的成績。六月初，康卡斯特首席執行官布萊恩?羅伯茨表示，他非常看好將于幾周后上映的《白雪公主與獵人》（Snow White and the Huntsman）一片。羅伯茨的期望沒有落空；《白雪公主與獵人》果然不負眾望。

????但羅伯茨發表上述言論時，他正在告訴與會投資者，他預計NBC環球今年上半年的業績將會下滑。該公司的新聞部門以及USA Network都麻煩纏身——NBC娛樂也是如此，羅伯茨稱后者將“需要數年”才會出現起色。

????NBC環球的新聞部門仍然處于領先地位，但與競爭對手的差距正在縮小。《會見新聞界》（Meet the Press）以及《晚間新聞》（Nightly News）的收視率正在下降。最糟糕的是，《今日秀》（Today）的收視率16年來首次輸給了《早安美國》（Good Morning America）。《紐約時報》（New York Times）的電視記者布賴恩?斯泰爾特公開表示，新聞部門“似乎正隨波逐流”，而且“比過去幾年都更脆弱”。前NBC新聞主管比爾?惠特利曾向斯泰爾特稱：“電視新聞網境況不佳。”

????當然，這些痛苦都是相對的。NBC新聞仍是電視網的領頭羊，即使《今日秀》的情況顯得有些混亂，而且顯然其節目主播安?克莉即將被撤職。（NBC新聞笨拙的公關于事無補。）NBC新聞聲稱，在25歲至54歲的人群中，該節目的收視率依然堅挺，而且仍然在大肆吸金——據報道，該節目每年收入約2億美元——足夠補貼新聞部門的其他節目。

????同時，USA Network的收視率在第二季度下跌了10％，因為其重播節目以及美國職業摔角賽（此外還有一些原創系列節目）都輸給了NBA總決賽。這種情況每年都會發生，但今年的情況比往年更糟糕。盡管如此，該電視網已經連續6年蟬聯基本頻道黃金時段收視冠軍，而且其節目也不是會突然被大批觀眾拋棄的那種。

????NBC環球在戰略上受阻是因為該公司將大筆資金都用來收購通用電氣（General Electric）所持有的NBC環球40%的股份。這一過程將在五年左右的時間內完成，在此之前，NBC環球將不會進行任何大型收購。同時，根據與通用電氣達成的協議，康卡斯特公司可保留自最初銷售時起資產價值升值總額部分的50％，所以該公司很有動力繼續投資于自身擁有的資產。不過，沒人想到這些投資會被拿來拍攝一部根據上世紀70年代棋盤游戲改編的電影。

????譯者：項航

????There are almost too many ways to cast the box-office bomb Battleship as a metaphor for the plight of Comcast-controlled NBC Universal (CMCSA). Nobody's about to sink the media giant, of course. But it is taking heavy fire -- port, starboard, fore and aft.

????The movie with the silly premise isn't the only recent failure at the movie studio. The Five-Year Engagement also showed feeble box office. Battleship, though, is a huge loser -- taking in just $299 million worldwide and a paltry $63.12 million domestically, according toBox Office Mojo. It cost some $209 million to make. (About half of ticket receipts go to studios.)

????There has been some good news at Universal Studios: Dr. Seuss' The Lorax did well, as did Safe House. At the beginning of June, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said he was hopeful about the prospects for Snow White and the Huntsman, which opened a couple of weeks later. His hope was well-placed; the movie has also performed.

????But he was saying so while telling investors at a conference that he expects a down first halffor NBCU. There is trouble in the news division and at USA Network -- as well as at NBC Entertainment, which Roberts said will "take years" to turn around.

????The news division is still on top of the game, but the distance between it and its rivals is narrowing. Ratings are down for Meet the Press, Nightly News, and, worst of all, the Today show, which recently lost to Good Morning America for the first time in 16 years. The division "appears adrift" and is "more vulnerable than it has been in years," declared Brian Stelter, the New York Times TV reporter. Former NBC News chief Bill Wheatley told Stelter that "the network is in bad shape."

????Of course, these travails are relative. NBC News is still the network leader even though things appear chaotic at Today with the apparently imminent ouster of host Ann Curry. (NBC News' PR bungling hasn't helped.) The network asserts that ratings are solid with the 25-to-54 demographic, and the show still brings in so much money -- reportedly about $200 million a year in earnings -- that it effectively subsidizes the rest of the division.

????Meanwhile, USA Network saw its ratings decline by 10% in the second quarter as its schedule of reruns and WWE wrestling (along with some original series) lost out to the NBA finals. That happens every year, but it was worse this year than usual. Still, the network has been No. 1 in primetime basic cable for six years, and its programming isn't the kind that viewers suddenly turn away from en masse.

????NBCU is strategically stymied in that most of the money it throws off is going to pay off General Electric (GE) for the 40% of the company still held by that company. That process will be complete in five years or so, but until then, NBCU won't be making any big acquisitions. At the same time, the deal with GE allows Comcast to keep 50% of all appreciation in asset values from the time of the initial sale, so the company has a big incentive to keep investing in the assets it has. Just don't look for any of those investments to include making a movie out of a board game from the '70s.