Top News
* Cineworld Group plc completed its acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group. Cineworld paid about $3.6 billion, excluding related transaction fees and expenses and repayment of certain company debt. Each share of Regal's class A common stock and class B common stock was automatically converted into the right to receive $23 in cash, according to an SEC filing.
* NBCUniversal Media LLC plans to reduce the number of advertisements it airs within commercial pods by 20%, which would result in a 10% decline in ad time across its original prime-time portfolio. In turn, Comcast Corp.'s programming arm will deploy various new ad formats, including a new 60-second contextually programmed "Prime Pod," positioned in the first or last break of show. The company also will tap artificial intelligence to match messaging that is more relevant to the respective programming's audiences.
* As expected, Spotify AB filed for an initial public offering of up to $1 billion of its ordinary shares. The company, which applied to list its ordinary shares on the NYSE under the symbol SPOT, will be offering a direct listing.
* Viacom Inc. CEO Bob Bakish unveiled plans to launch a direct-to-consumer service that will let customers access more than 10,000 hours of library content. Speaking at an event in San Francisco, Bakish said the new service will not only leverage "our library assets, but also our ad sales capabilities and is complementary to what we're doing in the MVPD space."
Technology
* The Mobile Authentication Taskforce, comprised of AT&T Inc., Sprint Corp., T-Mobile US Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., unveiled the details of the next-generation mobile authentication platform. The taskforce was setup in 2017 to develop a mobile authentication service to help protect enterprises and consumers from identity theft, bank fraud, fraudulent purchases and data theft, according to a news release.
* Microsoft Corp. agreed to purchase solar power in Singapore under a deal with solar energy system operator Sunseap Group, the companies said. Microsoft will buy 100% of the renewable output generated from Sunseap's new 60-megawatt rooftop solar project over a 20-year period. The tech giant will use the energy output to power its data centers in Singapore, which support cloud services such as Microsoft Azure and the Office 365 suite.
Internet & OTT
* Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video will let users watch pay-per-view events from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Multichannel News reports. Starting March 3 with the "UFC 222: Cyborg vs Kunitskaya" event, users can preorder the PPV events on Prime Video and buy up to four hours after the start of the live program.
* Sky plc struck a deal to offer access to Netflix Inc.'s streaming service as part of its Sky TV subscription pack. The deal will allow Sky customers to watch Netflix through the Sky Q platform, according to a news release.
* Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. will offer access to DIRECTV NOW streaming service to customers throughout its entire service area. Packages start with a lineup of more than 60 channels of news, entertainment and cable programming for $35 a month, the company said.
* Google Inc.'s YouTube TV picked up exclusive streaming rights to the Seattle Sounders FC's Major League Soccer matches, Deadline.com reports. The multiyear deal includes the club's 20 regionally televised matches on a dedicated Sounders FC YouTube TV channel.
* Facebook Inc.'s Facebook Watch will live stream "The Oscars: All Access" March 4, TechCrunch.com reports. The livestream will include red carpet coverage from the Oscars ceremony, behind-the-scenes footage and live "look-ins," among other things.
* Facebook members can now apply for jobs directly from the social networking website in more than 40 countries. According to an official blog post, users can find jobs in the Jobs dashboard or the "jobs" option in "Explore" section on mobile.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng was up 0.65% to 31,044.25, and the Nikkei 225 fell 1.56% to 21,724.47.
In Europe as of midday, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.68% to 7,182.46, and the Euronext 100 slid 0.85% to 1,019.63.
On the macro front
The jobless claims report, the purchasing managers' manufacturing index, the ISM manufacturing index, the construction spending report, the EIA natural gas report, the Fed balance sheet and the money supply report are due out today.
Featured news
The Daily Dose Europe: Cineworld completes Regal deal; Spotify files for US IPO: British cinema operator Cineworld completed its $3.6 billion acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group, while Spotify filed for an initial public offering of up to $1 billion of its ordinary shares with the New York Stock Exchange.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Aircel files for bankruptcy; Amazon Prime Music launches in India: Aircel Ltd., along with its two units, filed for bankruptcy at India's National Company Law Tribunal, while Amazon launched its Prime Music streaming service in India.
TEGNA elects new chairman; T-Mobile adds COO to board: TEGNA Inc. elected Howard Elias as nonexecutive chairman of the board. T-Mobile added COO Mike Sievert to the company's board, increasing the number of directors to 12 from 11.
Featured research
Broadcast Investor: Broadcast Investor: Table of contents for issue No. 630, February 2018.
Wireless Investor: Millimeter wave spectrum auctions come into view, with a congressional caveat: There is a growing volume of millimeter wave wireless spectrum bands lined up by the FCC to support the rollout of 5G in the U.S., and now it may start getting auctioned off in 2018.
Global Multichannel: EPL auction: Sports subscriber slowdown driving rights value decline: Final valuations for the new English Premier League TV deal looks likely to fall due to a slowdown in premium U.K. sports subscriptions, a spike in the number of available live games and irresolute tech giants during the auction.
Economics of TV & Film: Cineworld completes acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group: U.K.-based Cineworld completed its acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group, the second-largest exhibitor in the U.S., offering up $23.00 per share for Regal's 157.7 million fully diluted shares.
Wireless Investor: Mobile World Congress: 5G moves from concept to deployment, US and Asia leading: This year at Mobile World Congress, Kagan finds the talk is all about the actual deployment and technical systems to support 5G.
Broadcast Investor: Broker ranking 2017 – Another tough year: For the third year in a row, Kagan recorded a decline in U.S. brokered deal volumes. With $444.0 million, 2017 registered the lowest volume and the fewest brokered deals since 2010.
Technology: Comcast and Sky share similar technology goals: Yesterday, Comcast announced an offer of £22 billion for pay TV provider and programmer Sky of the U.K., which is also being courted by both Disney and Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.
Global Multichannel: Steady broadband ARPU growth expected despite fierce competition in East Asia: Steady broadband ARPU growth is expected in the coming 10 years in East Asia, which covers some of the world's largest and most well-developed fixed broadband markets including China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.
