????索契冬季奧運會期間，你觀看了多少場賽事？你是通過什么途徑觀看的？通過電視、平板電腦、臺式機還是智能手機？

????對于美國全國廣播公司(NBC)來說，第二個問題或許更加重要。我們消費體育轉播的方式正在迅速演變，但無論我們在18年后采用什么方式觀看奧運賽事或精彩時刻，“孔雀”公司（孔雀為NBC臺標——譯注）的高管們相信我們依然會收看。事實證明，他們很有信心。就在上周，NBC斥資77.5億美元，將這家廣播電視網擁有的奧運會獨家報道權延長到了2032年。

????是的，2032年距現在還有18年，但許多竭力渲染這筆交易所涉時間長度的新聞報道都沒有指出一個事實：它僅僅是把當前轉播合同往后延續了10年。NBC曾于2011年投資43.8億美元，購買了截至2020年的奧運會獨家轉播權。2011年簽署的轉播權合同涉及4屆奧運會（索契，里約熱內盧，平昌和東京），時長9年，并創下了一項紀錄——奧運會歷史上最昂貴的轉播權交易。這筆新展期合同的涵蓋期限為10年，包括6屆奧運會（3屆夏季，3屆冬季），交易價格也大大超過前者。

????但它是不是有史以來持續時間最長的體育轉播交易呢？答案是否定的，但它已經非常接近。2010年，哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS)與特納體育公司(Turner Sports)咬緊牙關，與全美大學生體育協會(NCAA)簽署了一項為期14年，價值108億美元的男子籃球錦標賽轉播合同。相較于NBC的奧運轉播權交易，這筆合同的時間更長，成本更高。去年，ESPN簽署了一項從2015年開始生效、為期11年的美國網球公開賽(U.S. Open)獨家轉播權合同。這筆交易比NBC新簽署的奧運轉播權展期合同更長，但成本沒有可比性，僅為8.25億美元。（自1968年以來，美網的轉播權一直歸CBS所有；2011年，這家廣播電視網將轉播合同續簽至2014年。）

????當前的全美橄欖球聯盟(NFL)轉播合同只比NBC的奧運轉播權展期合同短一點點。2011年，NBC、福克斯電視網(Fox)和CBS相繼把各自的NFL轉播權合同延長了9年，延續至2022年。它們此前擁有截止2013年的轉播權。NFL現在每年能夠從這三家電視網身上獲取合計20億美元的轉播權銷售收入，新一輪合同進一步推升了轉播費用。這些新展期合同是電視史上持續時間最長的NFL轉播權交易，CBS, Fox和美國廣播公司(ABC)此前曾簽署過一項為期8年（1998年至2005年）的轉播權合同。

????事實上，比NBC的奧運會之戀更為持久的轉播合作關系一直存在。比如，自1970年以來，CBS一直是職業高爾夫巡回賽(PGA Tour)的主要轉播機構。從1956年開始，這家電視網每年都在轉播美國名人賽(The Masters）——CBS經常重復一個神圣的口號：“這是一項無可比擬的傳統賽事”。但美國名人賽每次只給予轉播方一年的合同。而自從1988年（夏季奧運會）和2002年（冬季奧運會）以來，NBC一直在轉播奧運賽事。

????NBC一舉拿下直至2032年的奧運會獨家轉播權，的確是勇氣可嘉的大手筆，但我們完全沒必要大驚小怪。此舉在很大程度上是出于品牌和聲譽的考慮；NBC深知作為奧運會獨家轉播機構的價值，就算它往往是一筆虧損的生意：轉播2010年溫哥華冬奧會讓這家電視網虧損了2.23億美元，到了2012年倫敦奧運會，它也只是收支相抵。去年冬天的索契奧運會終于開始盈利，但《商業周刊》(Businessweek )的一則頭條新聞以戲謔的口吻寫道，那點利潤“充其量也只是個銅牌”。

????How much of the Winter Olympics in Sochi did you watch? And how -- on a television, tablet, desktop computer, or phone -- did you watch them?

????It's the second question that may prove more important to NBC (CMCSA). The way we consume broadcast sports is evolving rapidly, but regardless of how we'll tune in to Olympic events or highlights in 18 years, executives at "the Peacock" are confident that we will still tune in. So confident, in fact, that they spent $7.75 billion this week to extend the network's exclusive coverage of the event until 2032.

????Yes, that's 18 years from now -- though many news stories playing up the length of the deal fail to acknowledge that it's really just a 10-year extension of NBC's $4.38 billion contract, inked in 2011, to cover the Olympic Games through 2020. That was a four-event (Sochi, Rio, Pyeongchang, Tokyo), nine-year deal, and a record one at that -- the most expensive rights deal in the history of the Olympics. The new extension, at 10 years and including six Games (three in the summer, three in the winter) and at higher cost, tops that.

????But is it the longest duration sports-broadcast deal ever? The answer is no -- but it's close. In 2010, CBS and Turner Sports coughed up for a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with NCAA to broadcast the NCAA men's basketball tournament. That's more years, and more money, than this NBC gambit. Last year, ESPN (DIS) signed an 11-year deal to show U.S. Open tennis exclusively, starting in 2015. That deal is longer than NBC's new Olympic extension, but the cost isn't comparable: $825 million. (Previously, CBS (CBS) had shown the U.S. Open since 1968; in 2011, it renewed its contract through 2014.)

????Today's NFL broadcast contracts are just barely shorter than NBC's Olympic extension. In 2011, NBC, Fox, and CBS all signed nine-year extensions of their NFL broadcast packages. Each network had rights through 2013 and extended those rights to 2022. The NFL was making nearly $2 billion a year, in total, from its deals with those three networks, and those fees went up with the new round of contracts. Those renewals were the longest agreements for NFL rights in television history, besting the eight-year deals that CBS, Fox, and ABC had signed for 1998 to 2005.

????And there have been longer-lasting relationships than the one between NBC and the Olympic Games. CBS, for example, has been the primary broadcaster of PGA Tour events since 1970. It has shown The Masters ("A tradition like no other" is the network's oft-repeated, hallowed slogan) every single year since 1956. (But The Masters operates only on one-year contracts.) NBC has only been the home of the Olympics since 1988 (for the Summer Games) and 2002 (for the Winter Games).

????The fact that NBC was so game to own coverage of the Games until 2032 shouldn't be a shock. Much of this is about branding and reputation; NBC sees value in being the sole network associated with them, even though it has often been a losing business proposition: The network lost $223 million on the 2010 Vancouver Games, and only broke even on the 2012 London Games. (The Sochi Games this past winter turned a profit, though a Businessweek headline jokingly called the profit "bronze at best.")