Top News
* Apple Inc. has struck a $600 million deal with Dialog Semiconductor PLC to acquire some of the British chipmaker's power management technologies, as well as several of its assets and more than 300 employees. The U.S. tech giant will pay $300 million in cash for the deal and prepay another $300 million for the supply of Dialog chips over the next three years, according to a news release.
* Apple is planning to introduce a new digital video service that will offer free original content via a preinstalled TV app on the company's devices, CNBC reports, citing sources. The app, which Apple plans to launch in early 2019 for devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, will also allow customers to sign up for subscription services from legacy media companies.
* AT&T Inc. will launch a new direct-to-consumer streaming service in the fourth quarter of 2019. AT&T said in an SEC filing that the new streaming service will feature unit WarnerMedia's collection of films, television series, libraries, documentaries and animation.
* Charter Communications Inc. Executive Vice President and Spectrum Reach President David Kline in a recent interview discussed data's impact on the distributor's ad sales, the strength of the political category and the debut of an addressable offering in Los Angeles.
Technology
* In more Apple news, the tech giant has acquired Spektral, a Danish computer vision startup, for more than $30 million, TechCrunch.com reports, citing a company confirmation. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," the iPhone maker said.
* RingCentral Inc. agreed to buy Dimelo SA, a cloud-based digital customer engagement platform, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter and is not estimated to have a material financial impact for the year ending Dec. 31, the company said.
* Other game developers have shown interest in acquiring Zynga Inc., Bloomberg News reports, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. The sources, however, said formal talks have yet to take place. The names of the companies that have reached out to Zynga were not disclosed.
TV Networks
* The PGA of America, CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN Inc. have struck an 11-year multimedia agreement for the television, digital and over-the-top rights to the PGA. The deal will provide live full-field 72-hole coverage of the championship, beginning in 2020, according to a news release. CBS (US), ESPN (US) and ESPN+ will deliver more than 175 cumulative hours of live coverage across broadcast, cable and digital platforms.
Internet
* Sen. Richard Blumenthal will ask the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC over a data breach that was confirmed by the company Oct. 8. In a blog post regarding the breach, the company said it discovered in March a bug that shared some users' profile data from the seldom-used Google+ social network, which it is subsequently shuttering.
* Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp service has fixed a bug that allowed hackers to take control of the app when a user answered an incoming video call, Reuters reports. A WhatsApp employee said the issue was resolved before it could be exploited by hackers.
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.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng slipped 3.54% to 25,266.37, and the Nikkei 225 declined 3.89% to 22,590.86.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 1.65% to 7,027.61, and the Euronext 100 fell 1.70% to 991.57.
On the macro front
The consumer price index, the jobless claims report, the Energy Information Administration natural gas report, the Energy Information Administration petroleum status report, the Treasury Budget report, the fed balance sheet and the money supply report are due out today.
Featured news
The Daily Dose Europe: Apple, Dialog Semiconductor ink $600M deal; Nasdaq approves Com Hem's delisting: Apple has struck a deal with Dialog Semiconductor to acquire several of the latter's assets and licenses, while Nasdaq Stockholm approved Com Hem's delisting application.
Tencent investing in Bilibili; India's Jio, ZEEL strike new content deal: Tencent Holdings Ltd. will invest in Chinese online entertainment platform Bilibili Inc., while Indian telco Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. struck a new content deal with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. after a disagreement over pricing earlier.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: SoftBank in talks to buy majority stake in WeWork; China pulls Douyu: SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks to acquire a majority stake in WeWork Cos., while Tencent-backed streaming platform Wuhan Douyu Network Technology Co. Ltd. has been removed from a number of app stores in China.
Hires and Fires: Fox, Disney appoint more executives for post-deal structure: 21st Century Fox Inc. and Walt Disney Co. both announced executive appointments set to become effective after Disney closes on its acquisition of much of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets.
Data Dispatch: Deutsche Bank Securities ranks as top telecommunications debt adviser YTD: Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. ranked as the top financial adviser on debt offerings for the telecommunications industry year-to-date, with about $4.35 billion in aggregate deal credit from six offerings as of Sept. 30.
Data Dispatch: Goldman Sachs leads media debt advisers YTD: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC was the top adviser on debt offerings in the media sector for the first nine months of the year, with a total of about $2.91 billion in deal credit from eight offerings.
Data Dispatch: Pandora sale announcement shakes up media M&A adviser ranking in Q3: While Wells Fargo Securities LLC maintained its position as the top-ranked media M&A adviser year-to-date through the third quarter, Sirius XM Holdings Inc.' pending acquisition of Pandora Media Inc. propelled Allen & Co. to a relatively close second place.
Featured research
Consumer Insights: Daily media use by hour: GenZ/Millennials are watching more video than other generations, just not on TV, according to our first report on consumers' daily media use by hour.
Wireless Investor: Spectrum-starved Pakistan stifles mobile industry: Pakistan has among the lowest total spectrum inventories and industrywide mobile average revenues per user globally. The industry is hindered by price wars as consumers continue to favor budget over innovation.
Global Multichannel: Global markets update — El Salvador, Panama, Uruguay: Kagan has published updated Global Multichannel & Broadband analysis for three markets.
Multichannel Trends: Verizon's 5G Home broadband priced competitively in launch markets: Verizon Communications Inc.'s 5G Home cuts a new path for fixed wireless by offering urban neighborhoods typical network speeds of around 300 Mbps with no data caps.
Data privacy advocates defend EU, Calif. laws, say not antibusiness: Data privacy advocates from California and the European Union on Oct. 10 defended new legislation designed to protect consumer data in those jurisdictions against critiques that the laws are harmful to technology companies.
ESPN drives PGA Championship pact, boosting linear, streaming portfolios: With the 11-year deal teeing off in 2020, ESPN supplants TNT (US) as the cable home to the major golf tournament and will team with CBS to provide multimedia coverage, including action on streaming service ESPN+.
Economics of Networks: NBC Sports launches 'Philly Pass' for out-of-market Philadelphia sports fans: NBC Sports Regional Networks launched "Philly Pass" as a way for Philadelphia sports fans living outside of the reach of NBC Sports Philadelphia to stay connected with the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles and 76ers.
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