电视越做越大，为什么价格反而越来越低呢？专家从电视屏幕制作、电视功能等方面分析这种现象的原因。
全文字数：2306字 / 阅读时间：7分钟
1
电视大减价，
是福还是祸？
2023 年 11 月 24 日"黑色星期五 "当天，美国加利福尼亚州联合城，一个男人在百思买店内选购东芝电视。
Cr. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images
1973 年 3 月，电子产品制造商 RCA 在《纽约时报》上大肆宣传“新款低价彩电”：15 英寸机型的售价为 379.95 美元（约合人民币2712.5元），相当于现在的 2694.32 美元（约合人民币19235.02元）。
These days — in an era of above-average inflation — it can feel like everything from groceries to new cars has gotten more expensive. But one living room staple has managed to defy rising prices and even got less expensive over time: the television. Today, you can snag a 32-inch TV — more than double the size of RCA television from 1973 — for under $100.
在这个通货膨胀率远高于平均水平的时代，我们感受着一切价格的疯涨，无论是食物杂货还是新汽车。但电视价格却反其道而行之，一路下滑。现在，只需不到 100 美元就能买到比上世纪 70 年代的 RCA 大一倍多的电视。
At brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy and Target, and online retailers like Amazon, some 55-inch TVs are retailing for under $250 — at full price.
在百思买和塔吉特等实体店以及亚马逊等网络购物平台，一些 55 英寸电视的全价零售价甚至低于 250 美元。
Did television makers lower the prices out of the kindness of their hearts? Hardly.
是电视制造商良心发现降低让利吗？很难说。
Several factors have contributed to cheaper TVs, some of them manufacturing related and others more about marketing. There’s increased competition, a more efficient production process, plus the proven drawing power of deals.
导致电视价格下降的因素有很多，一部分是制造端因素，更多的和营销相关：竞争加剧、打折力度加大、生产更高效……
But perhaps most importantly, there’s a new lucrative revenue stream for TV manufacturers: selling information about you. Today, most TV makers are data-brokers, profiting off the information they collect from their internet-connected customers.
但也许最重要的是，电视制造商有了一个新的收入来源：出售使用者的相关信息。大多数电视制造商都是数据掮客，他们从联网用户那里收集信息，再进行转卖，从中牟利。
2
为什么电视变大了，
却没有涨价？
索尼展示0.9毫米最薄的电视
Cr.新浪网
电视外观随着用途改变。几十年前，电视是一件笨重的家具，有时还嵌着木雕。而现在，它是一块轻薄光滑的黑色面板，可以放进商场购物车、可以挂在墙上，甚至可以被设计成相框。
As the materials used to build television sets have changed, so too has the manufacturing process. One of the biggest improvements to that process is a scientific development called “mother glass,” which is what has helped to produce ever-larger TV screens.
电视制造技术则是随着制造商使用的材料发生变动。“玻璃母体” 的研究发展帮助制造商生产出越来越大的电视屏幕。
2023 年 3 月 29 日，佛罗里达州迈阿密市，沃尔玛超市内展示的宽屏平板数字电视。
Cr. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Over time, TV manufacturers have figured out how to cut costs by punching multiple screens out of one larger sheet of mother glass rather than individually producing each screen, said Paul Gagnon, consumer technology industry advisor at Circana, a market research company.
市场调研公司 Circana 的消费技术行业顾问，保罗·盖格农说，随着时间的推移，电视制造商已经找到了降低成本的方法——在一块较大的玻璃母片上冲压出多个屏幕，替代逐一制造屏幕的旧方法。
液晶显示器构成
Cr. 网络
电视液晶显示器的制作过程
Cr.网络
液晶显示器生产过程
Cr.网络
“要想降低成本，最简单的方法就是用一块更大的玻璃制造电视。”盖格南说，“这就是电视越做越大，价格却没有真正上涨的原因。”
But this design also has a downside: as modern TVs have gotten narrower and lighter, the risk of them toppling over or breaking has increased.
但这种设计也有缺点，随着现代电视变得越来越窄、越来越轻，其倾倒或破碎的风险也随之增加。
3
互不相让！
过度的市场竞争
Another factor driving prices lower: increased competition. In the last few years, new companies have entered the US market with relatively low-cost offerings, ratcheting up competition for legacy TV makers. Two of the more popular recent additions are Chinese companies — TCL began selling TVs in the United States in 2014, and Hisense entered the market in 2015. Both are growing market share across the globe.
促使电视价格下降的另一个因素是竞争加剧。过去几年，新生公司进入美国市场，推出相对低价的产品，加剧了传统电视制造商的竞争。最近比较受欢迎的两家新公司是中国公司—— TCL 和海信。两家公司在全球的市场份额不断增长。
2017 年 1 月 5 日，美国内华达州拉斯维加斯，一名男子在拉斯维加斯会议中心举行的年度消费电子展上拍摄 TCL 的4K UHD 电视。
Cr. McNew/AFP/Getty Images
“Going back to the olden days of the TV business, about 20 years ago, there were a fewer number of companies selling TVs and they kind of owned their manufacturing technology,” Gagnon said. Advancements made in the manufacturing process have made it easier to compete, driving down prices in the market.
盖格南说：“追溯到 20 年前，电视行业还在缓慢发展，贩卖电视的公司数量少，但都拥有自己的制造技术。但正是制造技术的进步使竞争加剧，降低了市场价格，公司根本无法获利。”
4
当你看着电视，
电视也在看着你
2021 年 11 月 26 日星期五，在印第安纳波利斯的一家商店里，顾客正在看电视。
Cr. Darron Cummings/AP
过去的十年里，电视行业经历了一次重大转变：越来越多的美国人不再依赖传统的有线电视来获取娱乐。他们开始用 Netflix、Max 和 Disney+ 等流媒体替代电视，从中获取快乐。
Just as streaming services disrupted the cable business, smart TVs have shifted how television makers do business.
正如流媒体服务颠覆了有线电视业务一样，智能电视也改变了电视制造商的经营方式。
“As we watch TV, our TVs watch us,” said Sara Geoghegan, a consumer privacy advocate and legal counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center*. “Smart TVs collect tons of information.”
电子隐私信息中心的消费隐私倡导者兼法律顾问，萨拉·乔根说：“我们在看电视的同时，电视也在看我们——智能电视收集了大量的个人信息。”
译注：美国电子隐私信息中心(Electronic Privacy Information Center，简称EPIC）是一个致力于公民自由和隐私事宜的公共兴趣组织。
Geoghegan said the amount of data each TV manufacturer collects can often be opaque, but once a customer sets up their smart TV, viewing habits, location, and potentially more personal data are collected and shared — unless that customer adjusts the device’s security settings.
萨拉·乔根说，制造商能收集到的个人信息量并不稳定。但只要用户完成初始化设置，智能电视就会把他们的观影习惯、地址和其他可能收集到的隐私收集并传输到网络中，除非用户更改电视的默认安全设置。
这种新的商业模式改变了电视制造商计算盈利的方式。
“Every TV maker who either sells a TV using their own proprietary Smart TV operating system, or whether they work with a third-party streaming company like a Roku or Amazon Fire TV, it’s important to sell as many units on your platform so you have more eyeballs for things like advertising or more subscription sign up opportunities,” Gagnon said.
盖格南说：“电视制造商有很多种销售方式——使用独家的智能电视操作系统销售电视，或者与亚马逊等第三方流媒体公司合作，但在自己的平台上卖出去地电视数量才是最重要的，这样，公司就能拥有更多的关注，就获得更多的广告或订阅、签约的机会。”
Geoghegan argued that a spying tool was one of the primary reasons their new flatscreen was on sale for $70.
萨拉·乔根认为，电视变成了一种“偷窥隐私的工具”，这是新上市的平板电脑仅 70 美元的主要原因之一。
“The monetization of our personal information is a problem that we should be concerned about.”
“智能电视发展过程中，我们应该更加关注受众群体的个人信息货币化问题。”她表示。
重点词汇
lucrative
with its many benefits in return adj. 有利可图的，高利益回报的
例：The merger proved to be very lucrative for both companies.
revenue
income received by the government or a company on a regular basis n. 税收；收入
例：The company's annual revenues rose by 30%.
ratchet up
increase gradually v. 逐渐增加、逐步提高或加大
例：The government plans to ratchet up the security measures in response to the increased threat.
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原文链接：
https://us.cnn.com/2023/12/16/business/why-are-tvs-so-cheap/index.html
编译 | 宋姝妍
排版 | 宋姝妍
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