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Tech firms' watchdog; Facebook's CTRL-Labs deal; Google's subscription service

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Next in Tech | Episode 48: The everything that is Industrial IoT


Tech firms' watchdog; Facebook's CTRL-Labs deal; Google's subscription service

Top news

* Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, a global working group created by Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., Google LLC's YouTube LLC and Microsoft Corp., to disrupt terrorist abuse on their respective platforms, will become an independent organization led by an executive director and supported by dedicated technology, counter-terrorism and operations teams, according to a Facebook blog post. The watchdog will look to "prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms" and will establish working groups to engage stakeholders from government and civil society focused on specific projects.

* Facebook agreed to acquire CTRL-Labs Corp., according to the social media giant's augmented and virtual-reality vice president, Andrew Bosworth. CTRL-Labs confirmed that its team will join Bosworth and Facebook's Reality Labs team following the completion of the deal. The deal price is reportedly between $500 million and $1 billion.

* Alphabet Inc.'s Google unveiled a new subscription service that bundles more than 350 games and apps for $4.99 a month. Called Google Play Pass, the new service will offer content free of ads, in-app purchases and up-front payments, Austin Shoemaker, group product manager at Google Play, said in an official blog post.

Television

* Regional sports network NBC Sports Chicago (US) will establish a new programming roster beginning next month as it looks to finalize its distribution lineup. With Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs exiting the network, NBC Sports Chicago revamped its deals with three other area professional clubs: the NHL's Blackhawks, the NBA's Bulls and the MLB's White Sox. The NBCUniversal Media LLC-owned network has signed new affiliate pacts with parent Comcast Corp., as well as RCN Corp., WideOpenWest Inc. and other smaller operators.

* A federal appeals court vacated a 2017 U.S. Federal Communications Commission order that eased media ownership rules and remanded it back to the agency. The Sept. 23 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit overturned an FCC order that revised the agency's local television ownership rule to eliminate a prohibition on any single entity owning more than one top-four-rated station in a single market.

* Braintree, Mass-based BELD Internet, formerly known as BELD Broadband, decided to stop offering cable television services. The company made available its internet service with broadband plans up to 1 gigabit per second and launched a campaign to help residents in Braintree replace their cable service with internet-based streaming services.

Internet & OTT

* Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN Inc. struck a new agreement to bring its exclusive digital shows and content to Facebook's video streaming platform, Facebook Watch. At launch, ESPN's Facebook Watch lineup will include "The People's MMA Show," additional segments from "Always Late with Katie Nolan" and exclusive versions of "Countdown to GameDay" and "Fantasy Focus Live."

* Apple Inc. announced that a new edition of "Oprah's Book Club" will roll out exclusively on Apple TV+ on Nov. 1, TechCrunch reports. Talk show host and producer, Oprah Winfrey, will interview the authors of her book club picks, starting with Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of "The Water Dancer."

* NBCUniversal's 42-station local TV group is introducing "LX," a digital news brand that will produce original content for online distribution and will debut as an over-the-air and streaming network in April 2020, Variety reports. LX's content will target millennials and Generation Z in a bid to connect with audiences that do not watch local linear TV news.

* Twitter is updating its policies to prohibit financial scams on its platform, which, until now, have been handled through the platform's spam reporting tool.

Technology

* Apple's new Mac Pro will be manufactured in Austin, Texas. The latest generation Mac Pro will include parts designed, developed and manufactured by over a dozen American companies, Apple said. Advanced technology for the Mac Pro will be provided by manufacturers and suppliers across Arizona, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont.

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 0.22% to 26,281.00, and the Nikkei 225 lifted 0.09% to 22,098.84.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.12% to 7,317.41, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.24% to 1,091.47.

On the macro front

The Redbook Index for retail sales, the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index, the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index, the consumer confidence report and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index 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: Huawei's Europe meeting; Teamviewer IPO price; Vivendi-Mediaset legal battle: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is meeting with European telecom companies to discuss 5G use cases, Teamviewer AG expects to price its IPO in the upper range of projected range, and Vivendi SA filed lawsuits against Mediaset SpA.

The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Huawei/Oi deal update; government liaisons in Alibaba; Baidu's license: Huawei denied plans to acquire Brazilian operator Oi, Hangzhou will assign officials to act as government liaisons to companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., and Baidu Inc. is one of the companies in China to receive a self-driving commercial license.

The US Week Ahead: FCC to vote on spectrum auction procedures: The Sept. 26 meeting includes a public notice that proposes procedures for a spectrum auction in the 3.5 GHz band, considered important for facilitating the deployment of next-generation 5G wireless networks.

M&A Replay: Nexstar completes Tribune Media deal; Nielsen buys minority stake in OpenSlate: Nexstar Media Group Inc. completed the acquisition of Tribune Media Co. in an accretive transaction valued at about $7.2 billion, while the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. approved Connect Bidco's acquisition of Inmarsat PLC for $3.4 billion.

Featured research

Global Multichannel: Opportunities abound in Malaysia's video sector amid local challenges: Local originals, content partnerships and extensive user knowledge will keep pay TV thriving in Malaysia, say industry experts at this year's Malaysia in View event.

The Best Of: Kagan research and analysis, editor's picks: Presenting the editor's top picks from Kagan's exclusive research and analysis for the week ended Sept. 20.

Economics of Internet: Q2'19 top US video provider rankings: Our second quarter ranking of the largest U.S. subscription video services played a familiar story of a declining traditional multichannel space, but the results varied for many of the online players.

Consumer Insights: Do you view live sports on a mobile device?: About 37% of smartphone/tablet owners viewed live sports on their mobile devices over the past three months in 2019, while only 32% did so in 2017, according to data from Kagan's U.S. Consumer Insights surveys.

Technology: Roku's hardware refresh pumps up average retail price: Roku Inc. has made lower prices a strategic objective, but its new slate of streaming media devices may be a response to falling margins.

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