The eyes are the prize
眼球即奖赏
Pierre de Coubertin, the idealistic Frenchman who founded the modern Olympics in 1896, did not approve of betting. Heaven knows what he would have made of the bets that broadcasters make on the games. For 2009-12, they have stumped up $3.91 billion for television rights, up from $2.57 billion for 2005-08.
理想主义法国人 Pierre de Coubertin 于1896年开创现代奥运会先河，他并不赞成奥运赌博行为。天知道他用电视台的奥运赌博盈利所得做了些什么。在2009至2012年间，各电视台付了39.1亿美元购买电视转播权，相比2005至2008年间的25.7亿美元有所上升。
Such huge fees make bidding for the rings highly risky. NBC Universal, an American TV company, lost $223m broadcasting the Vancouver winter Olympics, and expects to lose money in London, too. Having paid $1.18 billion for the right to broadcast the London Olympics in America it has so far booked only $950m in advertising. It will sell more ads at the last moment. But it will also spend a fortune on cameras, servers and breathless commentary, leaving it $100m-200m in the red, by one estimate.
如此高额的费用让奥运投标行为极具风险。一家美国电视公司 NBC Universal 在转播温哥华冬奥会时损失了2.23亿美元，预计在伦敦奥运会也将入不敷出。该公司为伦敦奥运会在美国的转播权支付了11.8亿美元，但迄今为止在广告方面仅仅入账9.5亿美元。在闭幕之际该公司将出售更多广告机会，但它也将投入大笔资金进行摄制、架设服务器并进行马不停蹄的报导评论。有人估计该公司将面临一亿到两亿美元的财政赤字。
Comcast, the cable firm that owns NBC, is confident that the bet will eventually pay off. NBC will pay $4.38 billion to broadcast the games from 2014 to 2020. NBC hopes the Olympics will boost adverts on its free channels, hook more subscribers for NBC Sports (a pay channel) and popularise its digital offerings.
NBC 的母公司——有线系统公司康卡斯特（Comcast）坚信这块资金空缺终将被填满。在2014至2020年间，NBC 将花费43.8亿美元来转播奥运赛事。NBC 希望奥运会能带动其免费频道上的广告，为收费频道 NBC Sports 吸引更多订阅用户并推广其数字业务。
NBC wants the Olympics to help it take on Disney's ESPN, the giant of American sports broadcasting. This will be hard. The games are usually in an un-American time zone, and involve dozens of sports, many of which make Americans shrug. It is hard for broadcast highlights on a network to make the most of it all. Technology may be coming to NBC's aid. It plans to offer 3,500 hours of live coverage via 40 online streams, allowing people to watch on their computers and mobile phones while waiting for the bus or pretending to work. When people are desperate for distraction even dressage has its place.
NBC 想要借奥运来对抗美国运动广播业巨头——迪斯尼（Disney）的 ESPN。这并非易事。奥运会往往在非美国时区举办；而且包含几十种运动，美国人对其中很多种都只能望洋兴叹。很难通过网络上转播的精彩片段来对奥运会进行全面展现。技术或许能帮得上忙。NBC 计划通过40种在线流媒体来提供3500小时的直播覆盖，允许人们在等公交车或是上班时间开小差的时候通过电脑或手机观看。当人们急需娱乐消遣时，即使是花式骑术比赛都有会观众去看。
Some worry that digital streaming will hurt the prime-time broadcasts that command the highest advertising rates. After all, who will bother to watch a race when the result is already online? But Michael Payne, a former Olympic official and the author of "Olympic Turnaround", a book about the games' commercial revival, downplays such concerns. He thinks that all those digital offerings will create buzz. "With 26 sports, there's enough news to keep people interested. They'll watch the games on multiple platforms and then go into the office and talk about it," he predicts. He may be right. Olympic organisers once fretted that the first radio broadcasts would depress ticket sales. They didn't.
有人担忧数字流媒体将使带来最高广告费用的黄金时段转播深受其害。毕竟，当比赛结果已经在网络上线后，谁还会花时间去看比赛过程呢？但奥运会商业复兴之书《奥运转机》的作者、前奥运会官员 Michael Payne 对这种担忧不以为然。他认为所有的数字业务都将为人们带来乐趣。他预测道："26项运动中总有足够的新闻能让人们感兴趣。他们将在多种平台上观看比赛，并在办公室里对此评头论足。"他的话可能有道理。奥运会组织者曾担忧首轮电台广播将使门票销量不景气，但事实并非如此。