Top News
* Walt Disney Co. is back at the negotiating table to buy some of 21st Century Fox Inc.'s assets, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. The assets involved in the sale reportedly include the Twentieth Century Fox movie and TV studio; the company's stake in Sky plc and India's Star TV; and some U.S. cable networks.
* Three members of Uber Technologies Inc.'s security team resigned following confirmation of a data breach in October 2016, the Journal reports, citing a statement from an Uber spokeswoman. Mat Henley, Uber's manager for global threat operations, meanwhile, is going on medical leave for an unspecified period.
* Even as political news sent the broader markets into the red Dec. 1, U.S. media investors found some things to celebrate during the week after Thanksgiving. A series of deal announcements boosted shares of several media and entertainment companies.
Internet & OTT
* Hulu LLC's Viewer Experience Operations headquarters in San Antonio is now open, Multichannel News reports. The new facility occupies 45,000 square feet of space across two floors and has a staff of more than 300 people.
* Netflix Inc. placed a third-season order for "Stranger Things," the company said. The series is based in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., where a secret government lab accidentally opens a door to another dimension referred to as the "Upside Down."
* Netflix also placed a 20-episode order for an untitled "Sabrina" series based on the Archie comics graphic novel "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," the company said. The drama series will follow Sabrina as she struggles to reconcile her dual nature — half-witch, half-mortal — while standing against evil forces.
* In more Netflix news, the streaming giant ended its "Haters Back Off" scripted series following the life of YouTube star Miranda Sings after two seasons, Variety reports, citing a company confirmation.
Technology
* Uber has joined the International Association of Public Transportation. The ride-hailing service, along with Door2Door, Citymapper, Moovel, Via, Grab, Ola, Yandex, 99 and Upstream, will be part of the association's Digital Platforms subsection, according to a news release.
Film
* Disney's "Coco" continued to lead the domestic box office with $26.1 million for the Dec. 3 weekend, followed by Warner Bros.' "Justice League" at No. 2 with $16.6 million and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.'s "Wonder" at the third spot with $12.5 million, according to comScore Inc. data. Disney's "Thor: Ragnarok" took the fourth spot with $9.7 million, while Paramount's "Daddy's Home 2" was No. 5 with $7.5 million.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng was up 0.22% to 29,138.28. The Nikkei 225 slid 0.49% to 22,707.16. In Europe as of midday, the FTSE 100 added 0.53% to 7,338.92, and the Euronext 100 was up 1.04% to 1,041.13.
On the macro front
The factory orders report and the TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index are due out today.
Featured news
The Daily Dose Europe: Talpa to sell TMG stake; Spotify, Tencent in stakes swap talks: Talpa Holding N.V. agreed to sell stake in Telegraaf Media Groep N.V, while Spotify AB and Tencent Music Entertainment Group are discussing a potential swap of up to 10% stakes.
China advances 5G trials; Google opening cloud region in Hong Kong: China will be conducting 5G trials in selected cities, just as Chinese telcos are planning 5G commercialization by 2019 to 2020, while Google Inc. announced that it will open a Google Cloud Platform region in Hong Kong in 2018.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Spotify, Tencent Music to swap stakes; Apple, Google woo China: Spotify and Tencent Music are in talks to swap stakes of up to 10% in each other, ahead of their expected public flotations in 2018, while Apple Inc.'s Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai attended the China-backed World Internet Conference in Wuzhen.
The Best Of: Media & Comm, editor's picks: Comcast's net neutrality page; NBC host fired: Stories about changes to Comcast Corp.'s corporate net neutrality page and the firing of "Today" show host Matt Lauer are among the media and communications editor's top five picks for the week ended Dec. 1.
The Best Of: Media & Comm, most read: AT&T, DOJ lock horns; Meredith buying Time Inc.: Stories about AT&T Inc. and the DOJ's lawsuit to block the telecom giant's merger with Time Warner Inc. and Meredith Corp.'s deal to buy Time Inc. in an all-cash transaction are included in the most read stories for the week ended Dec. 1.
The Pay Check: Straight Path CEO's fiscal 2017 compensation jumps YOY: Fiscal 2017 compensation of Straight Path Communications Inc. executives and pay package of Globalstar Inc.'s newly appointed President and COO David Kagan are among included in the latest installment of The Pay Check.
Alibaba planning US$7B bond sale; Xiaomi to invest US$1B in Indian startups: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. priced its senior unsecured notes offering to raise up to US$7 billion in five tranches, while Xiaomi Inc. will invest up to US$1 billion in 100 startups in India over the next five years.
Featured research
Economics of Networks: DOJ lays out its attack plan to stop AT&T merger with Time Warner: The U.S. Department of Justice laid out its attack plan to stop the AT&T and Time Warner merger. The argument looks much like the one used in an effort to stop Comcast from buying NBCUniversal Media LLC, which was eventually settled out of court with conditions.
Multichannel Trends: Programming costs soar for Comcast, Charter in Q3'17: A core group of traditional multichannel operators logged another high-single-digit percentage increase in programming expenses in the third quarter.
Economics of TV & Film: Budget battles for 1-hour drama series continue: Scripted one-hour dramas in our analysis range from $2.1 million to $15.0 million per episode.
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