Top news
* Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is mulling spinning off its premium cable channel Starz (US) into a separate company as the studio looks to reduce its debt, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the knowledge of the matter. The studio is looking at a number of ways to separate the two entities but no final decisions have been made so far, the report added.
* Sony Corp. will launch its latest gaming console PlayStation 5 in time for the holiday season in 2020, according to an official blog post. The company disclosed that PlayStation 5's new controller will adopt haptic feedback to replace the "rumble" technology and will be equipped with adaptive triggers.
* Twitter Inc. disclosed that the phone numbers and email addresses provided by users for safety or security purposes were "inadvertently" used for targeted advertising. Twitter apologized for the practice and said it is taking steps to ensure this does not happen again. The company did not know how many people were affected by the practice.
Multichannel
* Bill Archer will join Charter Communications Inc. as executive vice president and president of Spectrum Enterprise later this month. Archer replaces Phil Meeks, who will retire in January 2020. In this role, Archer will oversee product, marketing, sales, operations and strategy for Spectrum Enterprise, the company said.
Internet & OTT
* Netflix Inc. confirmed it entered in an agreement with Mediaset SpA to jointly produce Italian films, Reuters reports. The films are expected to be on Netflix in 2020 and will be available for Netflix members worldwide. Mediaset will also air them on its free-to-air channels in Italy 12 months after their premiere on Netflix.
* Netflix original series "The End of the F***ing World" will return to the streaming platform Nov. 5 for a second season, according to an official tweet.
* Apple Inc. is in final stages of talks to pick up Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds' musical reimagining of the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol" for its upcoming streaming service Apple TV+, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter. Sean Anders and John Morris will write and direct the musical.
* ESPN (US) will create a daily sports show for Quibi's upcoming mobile video service, Engadget reports. The show, which will recap the "biggest moments" and deliver breaking news, will be the exclusive U.S. multisports provider for Quibi's curated news programming.
* Facebook Inc.'s communication and collaboration service for companies, Workplace, will now work with Portal devices, CNBC.com reports. People who own a Portal device can now use Workplace in the office to make video calls to colleagues.
Film & TV
* Doretha Lea will become executive vice president of global public policy and government relations at ViacomCBS, effective upon completion of the Viacom Inc./CBS Corp. merger. In her new role, Lea will be in charge of all government affairs and public policy matters for ViacomCBS.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 0.81% to 25,682.81, and the Nikkei 225 declined 0.61% to 21,456.38.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.45% to 7,175.70, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.63% to 1,066.43.
On the macro front
The job openings and labor turnover survey report, the wholesale trade report, the EIA Petroleum Status Report and the FOMC minutes are due out today.
Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.
Featured news
The Daily Dose Europe: Cellnex/Arqiva deal; US on Huawei's European rivals; Netflix in Italy: Cellnex Telecom SA agreed to acquire Arqiva Ltd.'s telecom division for £2 billion, the U.S. government is looking to offer funding to Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.'s European rivals Nokia Corp. and Ericsson, and Netflix is planning to invest €200 million in Italian films.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Takedown strategies against Huawei; blacklist dispute; impact of new US ban: The U.S. considers ways to hamper Huawei in the telecom equipment space, new Chinese entities were added to the U.S. trade blacklist, and analysts weigh in on the impact of the recent U.S. ban on Chinese tech companies.
US ban to impact Megvii IPO, force Hikvision to swap suppliers: The U.S. government's addition of eight Chinese artificial intelligence and camera surveillance companies to its entity list will have little impact on their revenues, but will affect supply chains and add to listing concerns.
5G Focus: Launch in Saudi Arabia; Huawei, Maxis deal; SK Telecom, Rakuten tie-up: 5G Focus is a weekly global roundup of notable 5G trials, launches, use cases and major equipment supply contracts. It will also feature in-depth analysis of strategies, expansion plans, business models and other related initiatives.
Hires and Fires Asia-Pacific: SoftBank appointments; WarnerMedia APAC shakeup; Seven West Media restructuring: SoftBank Group Corp. named the CEO of its Latin American Tech Hub, Warner Media LLC reshuffled its top management in Asia-Pacific, and Australia's Seven West Media Ltd. made a new appointment to streamline its management team.
Data Dispatch Asia-Pacific: China's summer 'blackout period' box office revenue lowest in 4 years: Revenue from China's film box office during what would be the summer blackout period in 2019 dropped to US$1.16 billion.
Featured research
Wireless Investor: Small cell growth slows on FCC backlash: After a period of rapid small cell deployment, activity in the sector now faces headwinds in the form of lawsuits and public outcry.
Technology: 5G, cloud, sustainability: 3 takeaways from DCAC: Emerging technologies and what they mean for data centers was the center of discussion at the Data Center Austin Conference held in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 24-25.
Global Multichannel: IBC 2019: European broadcasters turn to SVOD, original production: Traditional linear broadcasters came together at the International Broadcasting Convention this year to discuss how the environment has changed and what they need to do to survive.
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