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Broadcom goes higher with Qualcomm bid; Apple Music may eclipse Spotify in US

Top News

* Broadcom Ltd. is submitting a higher bid for all of the outstanding shares of Qualcomm Inc., Bloomberg News reports. The semiconductor device supplier, which previously offered a per share bid of $60 in cash and $10 in Broadcom shares, will now raise the bid to $82 per Qualcomm share.

* Apple Inc.'s Apple Music could replace Spotify AB as the top music streaming service in the U.S. in terms of paid subscribers this summer, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources with knowledge of the details. Sources said Apple Music has a monthly growth rate of 5% versus Spotify's monthly growth rate of 2%.

* Earnings results, the impact of the new tax law and major product and strategy initiatives shook several large media and tech stocks during the week ended Feb. 2. The immediate effect of U.S. tax reform was mixed, with some companies reporting big gains as the U.S. corporate tax rate fell, while others, most notably technology companies with large overseas cash holdings, reported one-time tax expenses related to bringing money back to the U.S.

Multichannel

* Even as Charter Communications Inc. is investing in new original content through its partnerships with major network owners, the company expects its programming costs to decrease in 2018. Speaking on an earnings conference call, Charter CFO Christopher Winfrey said the company's programming expense increased by $258 million, or 10.8%, in the fourth quarter of 2017 as compared to the year-ago period.

* On the same call, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said the company is on track to launch a mobile offering "in the middle of this year," and to roll out 1 Gbps speeds across all of its markets by year-end. During the fourth quarter of 2017, Charter added roughly 2,000 net residential video subscribers, as compared to a loss of 51,000 subscribers in the prior-year period.

* British telecom giant British Telecom encouraged investors to shift their focus away from quarterly swings and toward a long-term view after costs related to pensions, business rates and its investments lowered profits in the third quarter. BT's weak performance across most of its divisions follows a particularly rocky year that began with a controversy over accounting matters at its Italian business.

Technology

* Sprint Corp. CEO Marcelo Claure believes his company will play a leading role in the deployment of next-generation 5G technology. But he emphasized the company will also remain keenly focused on controlling costs.

* Confirming earlier reports, Dell Technologies Inc. said it is "evaluating potential business opportunities," such as a possible public offering or a business combination with VMware Inc., according to an SEC filing. "The potential business opportunities currently being evaluated by Dell Technologies do not include the sale to a third party of Dell Technologies or [VMware]," the company explained in the filing. Dell said it is also considering maintaining its current status.

* Apple has offered to repair iPhone 7 devices that show "No Service" in the status bar for free. The company said the issue is due to a faulty component on the main logic board. The impacted devices were manufactured between September 2016 and February 2018 and sold in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao and the U.S.

Film & TV

* Time Warner Inc.'s HBO (US) will premiere the second season of western-themed sci-fi series "Westworld" on April 22, Multichannel News reports, citing an official statement. Returning cast members include Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright.

* Sony Corp.'s "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" regained the top spot at the domestic box office for the Feb. 4 weekend with $11.0 million, followed by 20th Century Fox's "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" at No. 2 with $10.2 million and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.'s "Winchester" at No. 3 with $9.2 million, according to comScore Inc. Fox's "The Greatest Showman" took the fourth spot with $7.8 million and Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures' "Hostiles" came in at No. 5 with $5.5 million.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng was down 1.09% to 32,245.22. The Nikkei 225 slid 2.55% to 22,682.08. In Europe as of midday, the FTSE 100 declined 1.19% to 7,354.66, and the Euronext 100 was down 1.27 % to 1,030.28.

On the macro front

The U.S. Services Purchasing Managers' Index and the Institute for Supply Management nonmanufacturing index are due out today.

Featured news

The Daily Dose Europe: Vodafone eyeing Liberty Global assets; Altice to sell global voice business: Vodafone Group Plc is in early-stage talks to acquire some of Liberty Global plc's overlapping assets in continental Europe, while telecom investor Altice NV is in the process of selling its international voice business in various markets.

The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Sony CEO steps down; Tencent-led group to invest US$1.6B in menswear company: Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai will step down on April 1, while Tencent Holdings Ltd. is leading a deal to invest 10 billion yuan in a Chinese menswear group.

Hires and Fires: Meredith names new CEO; Pandora to lay off 5% of workforce: Meredith Corp.'s board elected Steve Lacy executive chairman and Tom Harty president and CEO of the company. Music streaming company Pandora Media Inc. is reducing its employee base by about 5% as part of cost-cutting measures.

OTT service FOX+ debuts in Hungary; Gazprom-Media to launch VOD platform: Fox Networks Group rolled out on-demand streaming service FOX+ in Hungary via Magyar Telekom, while Russia's JSC Gazprom-Media Holding targets to launch its own video-on-demand platform in the spring.

The Best Of: Media & Comm, most read: Leaked memo about 5G; Sky moves online: Stories about a leaked Trump administration proposal for 5G, Sky plc's online move and social media are included in the most read stories for the week ended Feb. 2.

The Best Of: Media & Comm, editor's picks: Winter Olympics plans; FCC auction procedures: Stories about the upcoming Winter Olympics, a rural telecom services FCC auction and Vodafone's India merger are included in the media and communications editor's top five picks for the week ended Feb. 2.

Amazon, HBO strike licensing deal in Japan; iflix to host Discovery content: Amazon Prime Video reached a licensing deal with HBO in Japan, while Discovery Communications Inc. struck a partnership to bring a range of channels and some of its content to Malaysian streaming service iflix Sdn. Bhd.

Featured research

Economics of Networks: YouTube TV enters sports rights fray with local MLS rights acquisition: YouTube TV has been announced as Los Angeles Football Club's exclusive local TV partner, marking the Google-owned company's first deal as a sports rights holder.

Global Multichannel: Global multichannel market up 3.5% in 2017 as Western Europe reaches saturation: The global pay TV market grew by 3.5% in 2017, reaching 1.05 billion subs and 60.5% penetration. Western Europe's multichannel penetration fell below that of Eastern Europe in 2017 and is expected to stagnate in 2018 and start declining in 2019.

Economics of Advertising: FOX grows ratings, delivery in December 2017 while other broadcasters fall short: FOX (US) was the only English-language national broadcast network to grow 24-hour and prime-time ratings and delivery on a year-over-year basis in December 2017 by more than 1%.

Technology: Outlook 2018: The smart home, the internet of things gain traction: 2018 is set to be an important year for the development of both the smart home and of the much-broader internet of things.

Wireless Investor: New Kagan report: The State of LPWANs: Exploring the primary Low Power Wide Area Network technologies, a Kagan PDF and Excel report reviews use cases, histories and prospects for all four, ranging from nearly 10-year-old Sigfox to newly minted LTE-M.

Wireless Investor: Gen Z/Millennial males champion Major League Soccer: Males belonging to the Gen Z/Millennial generational segments — aged 18 to 36 — over indexed as subscribers to MLS Live according to results from our U.S. Consumer Insights Survey from September 2017.

The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.