Top News
* Executives from U.S. tech giants, including Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella, Alphabet Inc. CEO Larry Page, Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook and Facebook Inc. COO Sheryl Sandberg, will be attending a summit with President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 14, Recode reports, citing sources. Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos, who has famously been at odds with Trump, is also likely to attend the event, which will take place at Trump Tower in Manhattan, N.Y.
* 21st Century Fox Inc. confirmed it reached an agreement in principle in relation to a possible offer to acquire the remaining shares of European pay TV group Sky plc that it does not already own. The £10.75 per-share proposal by Fox, which already owns more than 39% of Sky, would be payable in cash less the value of any dividends subsequently paid by Sky.
Multichannel
* Comcast Corp. confirmed that it is increasing its Internet and video prices by about 3.8% nationally in 2017, TVPredictions.com reports. The company has already started notifying customers and city officials about the upcoming price hikes, which will kick off as early as Jan. 1, 2017, in some markets.
Technology
* Nielsen Holdings is holding talks to buy Tribune Media Co. unit Gracenote, Variety reported Dec. 8, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the matter. With talks at an advanced stage, a potential deal is reportedly expected to be announced as early as this month and could range between $450 million and $500 million.
* Google Inc. reached an agreement with the Cuban government to provide the Caribbean island nation with faster access to the company's content, The Associated Press reports, citing two people familiar with the agreement. The deal is set to be officially signed by Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google and parent Alphabet, on Dec. 12 in Havana.
* Samsung Electronics is set to deploy a software update for its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in mid-December that will effectively disable the devices, which were recalled for safety reasons, Reuters reports. Verizon Communications, however, declined to take part in the update, because of the added risk this could pose to the phone's users that do not have an alternative device available.
Film & TV Programming
* Walt Disney Co.'s "Moana" topped the domestic box office for the Dec. 11 weekend with $18.8 million, followed by Paramount's "Office Christmas Party" at No. 2 with $17.5 million, according to comScore Inc. Warner Bros.' "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them" was at No. 3 with $10.8 million, while Paramount's "Arrival" was No. 4 with $5.6 million and Disney's "Doctor Strange" was No. 5 with $4.6 million.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 1.44% to 22,433.02, while the Nikkei 225 increased 0.84% to 19,155.03. In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.32% to 6,931.70, but the Euronext 100 was up by 0.05% to 913.56.
On the macro front
The U.S. Treasury's budget data for November is due out today.
Featured News
MarketWeek: The time of Time Inc.'s life: Time Inc. may have recently spurned an $18-per-share takeover bid, but various reports indicate that sweeter offers could soon be forthcoming.
Briefing Room: NFL's CBS All Access deal could pave way for Sunday Ticket play on DIRECTV Now: CBS All Access deal may set the stage for the NFL's out-of-market package to wind up on AT&T Inc.'s new over-the-top service next season.
Best of SNL: Media & Comm, editor's picks: Take a look at the media and communications editor's top five picks for the week ended Dec. 2.
Best of SNL: Media & Comm, most read: S&P Global Market Intelligence presents the five most read media and communications articles for the week ended Dec. 2.
Political ad sales returns: Broadcast stations down, local cable up during 2016: Despite a spending upturn by Donald Trump in the final weeks, TV stations saw a decrease in political ad spending during this presidential cycle, while local cable is projected to ring up a sizable advance.
The Daily Dose Europe: Apollo Global withdraws TDC bid; European lawmakers back EU-US data pact: U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global withdrew its offer for Danish operator TDC, while European Parliament members voted in favor of an EU-U.S. agreement on protecting data transfers for law enforcement purposes.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Wanda chairman sends warning to Trump; Chinese deal for Aixtron axed: Dalian Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin said any move to curb Chinese investment in the U.S. could put the company's American jobs at stake, while Fujian Grand Chip Investment canceled its planned acquisition of German tech firm Aixtron SE.
Featured research
Multichannel Trends: DVR base jumps in Q3 but gains drawn from short list of contributors: The tally of U.S. households with a DVR resurged, but with gains largely isolated to the aggressive expansion from DIRECTV.
Economics of Networks: Sub losses may cost ESPN $190.4M in revenue: ESPN (US) lost 2.2 million subs year over year in October, according to Nielsen estimates, which means it's on track to miss out on $190.4 million in affiliate revenue in 2016.
Technology: Wired backhaul growth making MoCA a must for cable operators: The growing need for an in-home wired backbone to guarantee whole-home Wi-Fi will drive shipments of DOCSIS customer-premises equipment with embedded Multimedia over Coax technologies to 35.7 million units worldwide by 2021.
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