????我們從Boxee過去四年的升級換代中能看到這種變化正在發生。Boxee最初是一種聚合軟件，用戶能將多媒體PC連上電視機，觀看任何格式的節目。隨后，Boxee Box機頂盒發布，軟件也進行了更新，Boxee加入了社交功能，向用戶推薦來自Facebook和Twitter上朋友們的視頻。現在，Boxee發布了最新產品Boxee電視，增加了無線高清視頻信號收發功能，用戶能使用互聯網應用隨時隨地觀看視頻錄像。從文件格式到朋友推薦再到應用程序，Boxee的目標始終沒變，那就是：致力于便捷地搜索和觀看視頻。（非常創新的點子！）Boxee目前與3,000多家沃爾瑪（Walmart）門店合作銷售產品，這款曾經小眾的產品或許總有一天會登上大雅之堂。

????與此同時，Fremantle等內容制作商正依靠社交媒體發展觀眾。FremantleMedia跨平臺部全球負責人克萊爾?塔維尼爾稱：“坦率地說，如何（讓用戶）發現節目已成為我們面對的主要難題。”過去十多年里，隨著有線電視和視頻網站的數量暴增，這個問題變得越來越棘手。塔維尼爾稱：“雖然并不完美，但（社交媒體）已成為最有效的節目推廣渠道。”

????FremantleMedia之所以看好社交媒體，原因之一是該公司是谷歌YouTube原創頻道項目（YouTube Original Channel）的主要發起者。這個項目向節目制作者支付稿酬，鼓勵他們不斷為YouTube創造新節目。Fremantle在YouTube上的專欄《寵物大集合》（The Pet Collective）已擁有超過500段視頻，自今年4月開播以來，長期高居YouTube最受歡迎前30名之列。這檔節目觀眾群體龐大、成本低廉、而且多是“鍵盤上的貓”這樣的情景劇。超過7.5萬的訂閱數、1,600萬瀏覽量，《寵物大集合》甚至借此拉來了寵物食品公司Purina的贊助。

????與此同時，Fremantle知名度最高的節目——《家庭智力搶答》（Family Feud）卻不能在線觀看。該公司專門開設了一個YouTube頻道，用有趣的片段和花絮來吸引觀眾，但卻沒有將這檔大受歡迎的游戲競賽節目的整集內容發布到網上，聲稱原因是因為觀眾對該內容的需求不大。《家庭智力搶答》頻道有7萬訂閱者，其視頻觀看次數達到了6,300萬。“我們有些內容更適合在多個平臺上發布，有些則不然，”FremantleMedia 跨平臺部負責開發和制片的高級副總裁理查德?巴爾加斯說。“《寵物大集合》就沒有上電視，而且它目前的節目形式也不適合在電視上播放。”

????然而，通過聯網的機頂盒以及所謂的智能電視，電視上也可以有《寵物大集合》——至少我家電視上就有。而隨著消費者紛紛拔掉有線電視，轉而在客廳觀看網絡視頻，他們的電視上也將會有《寵物大集合》。但除非內容制作商、網絡分銷商以及設備制造商聯合起來，簡化內容尋找——不論是《梅林傳奇》、《家庭智力搶答》還是《鍵盤上的貓》——的過程，否則觀眾們很可能會不耐煩地關掉電視機。

????譯者：項航

????A look at how Boxee has evolved over the last four years shows this shift taking place. Starting off as an aggregation software, the company wanted to allow users to watch any file format they wanted on their media-PC connected TVs. Next, with the release of the Boxee Box and the maturation of their software, they added social functions that delivered video recommendations from Facebook and Twitter friends. Now, with its newest product, Boxee TV, the company is using over-the-air HD signals to feed a watch-anywhere DVR that pairs with Internet apps. From file formats, to friends, to apps the company's goal has remained the same: to help viewers find and watch content easily. (How novel.) And with 3,000 Walmarts (WMT) stocking their new product, you could argue this once-niche product may have finally gone mainstream.

????Meanwhile, content creators like Fremantle are relying on social media to shepherd viewers. "Discovery has definitely become a major issue, to be honest," says Claire Tavernier, global head of FremantleMedia Cross Platforms. As cable channels and online outlets have multiplied over the last ten years, the problem been growing. "[Social media] has become the most efficient discovery mechanism, which is not ideal," she says.

????One reason they have become so bullish on social media for content discovery is that they are one of the major players in Google's YouTube Original Channel initiative, a program that pays content creators an advance on royalties to produce new content for the streaming video site. With more than 500 videos, Fremantle's YouTube channel The Pet Collective has ranked consistently in the top 30 YouTube channels since its launch in April, airing popular, low-cost, episodic content such as the "Kitten on a Keyboard." With 75,000 subscribers and almost 16 million views, The Pet Collective's success has attracted Purina as a sponsor.

????Meanwhile, one of Fremantle's most high-profile properties, Family Feud, cannot be watched online. The company uses a dedicated YouTube channel to generate living room interest with funny clips and outtakes, but does not post full episodes of the popular game show online, saying there isn't enough demand for the content. The Family Feud channel has 70,000 subscribers and 63 million video views. "Some of our content is more appropriate to be distributed on different platforms than others," says Richard Vargas, senior vice president of development and production, FremantleMedia Cross Platforms. "The Pet Collective isn't on television, and isn't really designed to be on television in its current form."

????But through web-connected set-top boxes and so-called smart TVs, The Pet Collective is on television -- at least it's on mine. And as consumers continue to cut their cable cord and go with internet-fed video in their living rooms, it will be on theirs as well. But until content creators, web distributors, and device manufacturers band together to streamline the process of finding content—whether its Merlin, Family Feud, or Kitten on a Keyboard -- they'll be gambling against viewers pushing the one button everyone understands: Power off.