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Facebook confirms data sharing with Chinese firms; UK conditionally OKs Fox/Sky

Top News

* Facebook Inc. confirmed data-sharing deals with at least four Chinese companies, according to a Reuters report. The social networking giant said Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Lenovo Group Ltd., and smartphone-makers OPPO and TCL Corp. were among nearly 60 companies across the globe that were given access to some user data to re-create Facebook-like experiences for their users. The company has said it is in the process of phasing out these partnerships.

* The British government conditionally approved 21st Century Fox Inc.'s proposed £11.7 billion takeover of Sky PLC, while it said it will not intervene in Comcast Corp.'s rival bid for the British pay TV giant. Matt Hancock, U.K. secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, said Fox's proposal to divest news service Sky News (UK) to Walt Disney Co. or to "an alternative suitable buyer" is the most effective remedy, even though there are still issues about Sky News' funding in the long term.

* A new broadcast standard, known as Next Gen TV, is expected to bring a bevy of benefits to local TV station owners, though the timing of the rollout and expected uptake remain uncertain. To read S&P Global Market Intelligence's second part of a series on Next Gen TV, click here.

Technology

* Verizon Communications Inc. is launching a new subscription service aimed at helping businesses identify and prevent breaches. The new offering, called the Threat Intelligence Platform Service, combines information Verizon has from 11 years of annual data breach investigations as well as from analyzing traffic across Verizon's global IP backbone. Verizon's Threat Intelligence Platform Service will be generally available to global customers in fall 2018, the company said.

* The fifth Oculus Connect developer conference will run from Sept. 26 through Sept. 27 in San Jose, Calif., according to an official blog post. While details were not disclosed, Oculus VR LLC plans to highlight "five years of VR breakthroughs and offer a sneak peek at what to expect in the next five years to come" at the event.

Regulatory and Legal

* Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., allowed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct to continue against Weinstein Co. LLC, The Wall Street Journal reports. The suit, filed by six women, accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct and accused his studio of covering up the film mogul's actions.

* Comcast agreed to pay $155 million to local governments to settle a property tax dispute in Oregon. The settlement, which ended a long-running lawsuit over property taxes, calls for Comcast to pay "significantly higher taxes," Oregon Governor Kate Brown said in a press release.

Internet & OTT

* Apple Inc.'s Apple Podcasts are now hosting more than 550,000 active shows, up from 525,000 in April, TechCrunch.com reports. The new numbers include 18.5 million individual episodes representing 155 countries, in more than 100 languages.

* Amazon.com Inc.'s Amazon Studios struck a first-look television deal with Jordan Peele and his production company Monkeypaw Productions, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Peele is currently working with Amazon on "The Hunt," a series about a group seeking out Nazis living in New York, and a documentary series about Lorena Bobbitt.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng was up 0.53% to 31,259.10, while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.38% to 22,625.73.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 rose 0.37% to 7,716.06, and the Euronext 100 shed 0.14% to 1,061.64.

On the macro front

The bank reserve settlement report, the MBA mortgage applications report, the international trade report, the productivity and costs report, the EIA petroleum status report and Treasury STRIPS are due out today.

Featured news

The Daily Dose Europe: UK conditionally approves Fox-Sky deal; Channel 4, VICE ink content tie-up: The U.K. government has conditionally approved 21st Century Fox's proposed deal to acquire Sky, while Channel 4 (UK) has entered into a content partnership with VICE Media LLC, which includes the launch of a VICE branded hub later in 2018.

The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: SoftBank's ARM cedes control of China unit; Sharp to buy Toshiba's PC business: SoftBank Group Corp.'s ARM Holdings PLC is ceding control of its Chinese business, while Toshiba Corp. will sell 80.1% of its personal computer business to Sharp Corp. for ¥4 billion.

Featured research

Consumer Insights: European consumers embrace smart speaker/home hub devices: Survey results reveal that Google Home is the most popular smart speaker in the majority of countries surveyed, with 14% of internet households in Italy and 11% in Poland at the upper end of the ownership range.

Economics of Internet: State of Italian Online Video: Subscription: Italy, Europe's fourth-largest economy by GDP, is still behind its Western European peers in both multichannel and broadband uptake.

Multichannel Trends: Q1 programming costs confirm flattening inflationary curve: Programming costs for a core group of multichannel providers increased 4.3% year over year in the first quarter.

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