本文摘要：Consumers should be very happy with the news that Apple could soon sell a streaming-TV service that will offer a number of networks including CBS, ABC, Fox and ESPN.对于苹果(Apple)有可能迅速就不会获取流媒体电视服务的消息，消费者毕竟不会非常高兴。

Consumers should be very happy with the news that Apple could soon sell a streaming-TV service that will offer a number of networks including CBS, ABC, Fox and ESPN.对于苹果(Apple)有可能迅速就不会获取流媒体电视服务的消息，消费者毕竟不会非常高兴。该服务将获取大量广播网的节目，还包括CBS、ABC、Fox及ESPN。Apple’s interest in this area could help provide at least some people with more alternatives to expensive bundles of channels sold by cable-TV companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Several other companies like Dish Network and CBS have already started catering to the demand for smaller TV bundles, and others like HBO are planning to enter the market soon. The editorial board wrote favorably about the development of Internet-based TV services in October.苹果对这个领域的兴趣，有可能有助让最少一部分人，在除康卡斯特(Comcast)和时代华纳有线(Time Warner Cable)等有线电视公司高价销售的绑频道之外，有更加多其他自由选择。另外几家公司，如迪什网络(Dish Network)和CBS，已开始顺应对精简绑套餐的市场需求，还有HBO等其他一些公司正在计划立刻转入这个市场。

去年10月，本报编委会曾撰文探究基于互联网的电视服务的发展，并回应寄予厚望。While it is hard to know just how successful these services will ultimately be, there is clearly an appetite for them. Dish has signed up at least 100,000 customers for its Sling TV service after a little more than a month, ReCode reported in early March. And the top executive of CBS said last week that the company’s streaming service already had more subscribers than Sling.尽管这些服务最后不会有多顺利还很难说，但似乎它们是有市场的。据ReCode在3月初的报导，仅有过了一个多月翻身，就早已有最少10万用户签下出售迪什的Sling TV服务。

CBS的首席执行官则在上周回应，他们的流媒体服务用户早已多达了Sling。Even though we have few details about what Apple is planning, the company’s involvement will surely bolster this new business since so many Americans already use its phones, its tablets and its streaming device, Apple TV.尽管我们对苹果的计划的细节知之甚少，但该公司的参予必定不会推展这项新兴业务，因为美国早已有这么多人在用于苹果的手机、平板和流媒体设备Apple TV了。

While Apple hasn’t said anything publicly about its plans for a TV service, The Times and other news organizations have reported that the new streaming service might not include programming from NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. Apple and Comcast were in talks to start a streaming service together, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal last year, but the two companies were not able to reach a deal.苹果仍未公开发表谈到自己的电视服务计划，但根据时报和其他一些新闻机构的报导，这项新的流媒体服务有可能不还包括康卡斯特旗下的NBC环球公司(NBCUniversal)的节目。从《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)去年的一篇报导来看，苹果和康卡斯特曾就合作正式成立一个流媒体服务平台展开过商讨。不过，双方没能达成协议。The growth of Internet-based TV services could be a competitive threat to big cable companies like Comcast. Executives at Comcast might have reasoned that they would only hurt their own cable business by licensing content to Apple.基于互联网的电视服务的快速增长，可能会对康卡斯特这样的大型有线电视公司包含竞争威胁。

康卡斯特的高管有可能指出，许可苹果用于自己的节目内容只不会伤害他们的有线电视业务。Of course, we don’t know what really happened between Comcast and Apple. But officials at the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, who are reviewing Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable, should ask the company whether it has withheld content from streaming-TV businesses, and if so, why. After all, if Comcast acquires Time Warner Cable it will become both the country’s dominant cable company and the largest provider of broadband service, which customers need if they want to watch their favorite shows over the Internet.当然，我们并不知道康卡斯特和苹果之间究竟再次发生了什么。

但正在审查康卡斯特并购时代华纳有线电视公司一事的联邦通信委员会(Federal Communications Commission)及司法部辖下的反垄断部门的官员，应当告知康卡斯特否拒绝接受向流媒体电视服务获取内容，还有，如果答案是认同的，原因又是什么。却是，如果并购了时代华纳有线，康卡斯特将不仅沦为美国市场上的头号有线电视公司，也将是美国仅次于的宽带服务供应商。说白了，消费者必须有宽带服务，才能通过互联网观赏自己讨厌的节目。

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