Top news
* The House Small Business Committee plans to question Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google LLC over concerns that the tech giants are hurting the competitive environment for small businesses, Bloomberg News reports. Nydia Velazquez, chairwoman of the committee, plans to invite the companies to a hearing in late October or early November.
* TEGNA Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. agreed to a temporary extension as retransmission talks continued, Multichannel News reports. The news came hours after TEGNA warned Charter Spectrum customers in 37 markets that its stations could go dark if the companies failed to reach a new deal.
* Verizon Communications Inc. acquired augmented reality startup Jaunt XR's software, technology and certain other assets for an undisclosed amount. Jaunt Inc. d/b/a Jaunt XR will help Verizon with the transition of select portions of the software and technology for a brief period of time, according to a news release.
* Broadcast industry experts say a decision from a federal appeals court to vacate a 2017 U.S. Federal Communications Commission order that eased media ownership rules and remanded it back to the agency could have an impact on recently completed and ongoing broadcast consolidation efforts. For instance, the ruling could be "problematic" for the Nexstar Media Group Inc.-Tribune Media Co. merger, which the FCC approved on Sept. 16, according to Christopher Terry, assistant professor of media law at the University of Minnesota's Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Internet & OTT
* Google's paid TV streaming service, YouTube TV, is now available on Amazon's Fire TV devices, including Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K and the new Fire TV Cube, according to an official blog post. The YouTube TV app will let users access more than 70 channels from major broadcast and cable networks to the big screen.
* Netflix Inc. renewed hit series "Stranger Things" for a fourth season. The streaming platform also signed series creators and showrunners, The Duffer Brothers, to a multiyear film and series overall deal.
* Warner Media LLC unveiled several operational executive appointments for its upcoming streaming service HBO Max, Variety reports. Andy Forssell, executive vice president and general manager of WarnerMedia Direct-to-Consumer, will lead the HBO Max operations and the new team of executives.
* Twitter Inc. rolled out filter for Direct Messages to help users avoid spam and other unwanted messages. In a tweet, the company said it is rolling out this filter for users on iOS, Android and web.
Technology
* Amazon plans to introduce the technology behind its cashierless Go stores to other retail formats such as stores in airports and movie theaters, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The e-commerce giant is reportedly in talks to bring its Go technology to Cineworld Group PLC-owned Regal theaters and OTG EXP Inc.'s CIBO Express stores at airports.
* Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. countersued its rival chipmaker GlobalFoundries Inc. in the U.S., Germany and Singapore for alleged patent infringement. The Taiwan-based Apple Inc. supplier accused GlobalFoundries of infringing 25 of its patents covering various chip-making technologies. TSMC wants an order for GlobalFoundries to stop making and selling chips that infringe on the patents.
* Alphabet Inc. tapped former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf to lead the health strategy and policy for the company's health subsidiaries, according to an official blog post. Starting in November, Califf will become the full-time head of strategy and policy for its Verily Life Sciences and Google Health divisions. Califf will step down as director of Duke Forge to assume the new role.
Advertising & Publishing
* Discovery Inc. signed a new multiyear agreement with Comcast Corp.'s FreeWheel Media Inc. to use the latter's unified decisioning platform to manage advertising for all of Discovery's cable networks. As part of the partnership, Discovery will use FreeWheel's platform to reaggregate scale, enhance targeting capabilities and simplify the workflow for transactions with advertising buyers across all its screens.
* New Media Investment Group Inc. and USA Today owner Gannett Co. Inc. scheduled special shareholders meeting Nov. 14 to vote on a proposed cash-and-stock transaction between the companies. Under the proposed agreement, Gannett shareholders will receive $6.25 in cash and 0.5427 of a New Media share for each Gannett share they hold.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 lifted 0.59% to 21,885.24.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.40% to 7,378.59, and the Euronext 100 was down 0.15% to 1,097.49.
On the macro front
The Redbook Index for retail sales, the Purchasing Managers' Manufacturing Index, Institute For Supply Management manufacturing index and the construction spending report 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: KPN drops CEO hire; Tencent buying Funcom stake; SoftwareONE bares IPO plans: Dutch operator KPN NV is canceling the appointment of Dominique Leroy as its CEO; China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. is acquiring a stake in Norwegian game developer Funcom Oslo AS; and Swiss IT company SoftwareONE AG unveiled plans to list its shares.
The Week in OTT: Apple TV+ movie release plans; Discovery food streaming service: Apple plans to run its feature-length films in theaters before releasing them on its streaming service, while Discovery is looking to bring multiple revenue streams to the latest addition to its direct-to-consumer menu.
M&A Replay: HP Enterprise completes Cray acquisition; Vox Media to merge with New York Media: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. completed its acquisition of supercomputing solutions provider Cray Inc. in a transaction valued at about $1.4 billion, while media company Vox Media Inc. agreed to merge with publisher New York Media LLC.
M&A Replay: Switzerland approves Sunrise, UPC Schweiz deal; Logitech to acquire Streamlabs: The Swiss Competition Commission approved Sunrise Communications Group AG's proposed acquisition of UPC Schweiz, while Swiss electronics company Logitech International SA agreed to purchase livestreaming software provider Streamlabs Inc.
Featured research
Broadcast Investor: Broadcast Investor: Table of contents for issue No. 649, published September 2019.
Broadcast Investor: Retrans analysis shows what is at stake in Fox, DISH impasse: A looming loss of millions of dollars in monthly retransmission and ad revenue and a threat of subscriber erosion is likely for the TV broadcaster and multichannel provider if a deal is not put in place.
Economics of TV & Film: Consumers continue to turn away from DVD, Blu-ray: Consumer spending on DVDs and Blu-rays fell 14.1% in 2018 as digital home video has become even more dominant in the marketplace.
Global Multichannel: Global markets update — Serbia: Kagan has recently updated Global Multichannel and Broadband analyses for Serbia, as well as analyses for related operators Serbia Broadband and Telekom Srbija ad.
Technology: Hardware, software, IoT platform vendors compete in US smart building market: The U.S. commercial smart building market is growing rapidly as companies look to reduce energy costs and monitor security more effectively. This market reached 1.1 million buildings in the U.S. in 2018, according to Kagan estimates.
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. 27.
Economics of Advertising: Outdoor/out-of-home projections update: Digital to drive growth: Our updated projections show revenue from digital displays segment growing by a 12.0% CAGR from 2019 through 2028 with the sector banking on the digital medium to remain relevant and maintain its share of ad revenue.
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