Top News
* A U.S. jury ruled that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. should pay Apple Inc. $539 million for copying patented smartphone features, Reuters reports, citing court documents. The South Korean electronics giant previously paid Apple $399 million for the alleged infringement of some of the iPhone maker's patents. Samsung said it "will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers."
* Harvey Weinstein surrendered to police in Manhattan today on sex assault charges, the New York Post reports, citing sources close to the situation. According to the report, the film producer is facing charges of first-degree rape and third-degree rape in addition to a criminal sex act charge.
* While Comcast Corp. could buttress its holdings in the U.S. and around the globe, its bid for myriad 21st Century Fox Inc. assets would likely draw significant regulatory review, analysts said. Comcast, having already been spurned by Fox's board last fall, is in advanced stages of preparing an all-cash offer for Fox assets that could approach $60 billion, representing a premium to the $52.4 billion all-stock offer Walt Disney Co. made in December 2017 — despite indications from Fox executives that they remain committed to the Disney deal.
Film & TV
* Debra Lee is leaving Viacom Inc.'s BET Networks as chairman and CEO on May 28, Multichannel News reports, citing a statement by Viacom President and CEO Bob Bakish. Lee joined BET Networks in 1986 and became CEO in 2005.
* Universal Pictures secured international and home entertainment distribution rights for "James Bond 25," Deadline.com reports, citing sources. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Annapurna will oversee the domestic distribution of the movie through a joint-venture partnership. The 25th installment of "James Bond" franchise will be released in the U.K. on Oct. 25, 2019, and in the U.S. on Nov. 8, 2019.
Internet & OTT
* FloSports, a subscription-based over-the-top service dedicated to sports such as wrestling, swimming, volleyball and cycling, acquired The Rugby Channel from Rugby International Marketing LLC. As a result, FloSports will now be able to stream all matches previously under The Rugby Channel, bringing 51 new competitions annually to FloRugby.com, according to a news release.
* Twitter Inc. unveiled a new policy governing political campaigns on the microblogging service. According to a post on Twitter's website, the policy applies to the company's paid advertising products, which are Tweets, trends and accounts.
* Netflix Inc. picked up rights to original family drama series "Northern Rescue." The series, featuring 10 episodes, is a CBC and Netflix production, according to a news release.
Technology
* Apple Inc. blocked Steam, an online store for downloaded games played on PCs, from releasing an app for iPhones, Reuters reports, citing a statement by Steam's parent company, Valve Corp. Apple cited "business conflicts with app guidelines" as a reason for not releasing the app in its App Store, Steam said.
* As cloud computing technology is gradually gaining trust among businesses and financial institutions, industry experts expect the number of private clouds to drop, mainly as a result of more regulation and the role of established, public players. Findings have shown that more companies globally are shifting toward hybrid and public clouds, and they are gradually gravitating away from private clouds in light of rising cybersecurity investments.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng declined 0.56% to 30,588.04, while the Nikkei 225 increased 0.6% to 22,450.79.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.24% to 7,736.44, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.46% to 1,077.21.
On the macro front
The durable goods orders report, two-year FRN note settlement report and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count report are due out today.
Featured news
PCCW Media launches Now E streaming platform; iQiyi opens 1st on-demand cinema: Hong Kong's PCCW Media Ltd. introduced a new over-the-top platform, while Baidu Inc.'s streaming service iQIYI Inc. opened its first on-demand movie theater in China.
The Daily Dose Europe: Starz taps Amazon for Germany, UK launch; Telefónica, Netflix ink streaming deal: Starz launched its STARZPLAY-branded channels in the U.K. and Germany through Amazon Prime Video, while Telefónica SA will integrate Netflix into its TV and video platforms.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Go-Jek to fill Uber's void in Asia; India approves Idea Cellular tower sale: Indonesia's PT Go-Jek Indonesia will enter Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines within the next few months, while India approved the sale of about 9,000 stand-alone towers of Idea Cellular Ltd. to a local unit of American Tower Corp.
Hires and Fires: FOX News, FOX Business Network get new CEO; Sony unit TV, film shake-up persists: Sony Corp. unit Sony Pictures Entertainment continues to undergo job cuts and reshuffling across its television and film divisions, while 21st Century Fox named Suzanne Scott as CEO for both FOX News Channel (US) and FOX Business Network (US).
Featured research
Multichannel Trends: Q1 cable revenues and EBITDA show sector off to strong start: Kagan's latest cable financial datasets, including revenues, EBITDA, segment revenues and ARPUs, are now available.
Economics of Networks: Big rights pacts signed for UFC, WWE: Two mammoth $1 billion-plus sports rights deals that were recently reported indicate there is little hope for near-term cost curbing.
Multichannel Trends: Cable shares log near double-digit drop in May: May private market valuation for a core group of five public MSOs.
Economics of Advertising: Ratings at children's networks slide in April: Networks with programming aimed at children struggle to attract large linear audiences as digital distribution platforms gain popularity.
Multichannel Trends: Q1'18 DVR levels decline: DVRs integrated with traditional cable, direct broadcast satellite and telco video services declined by more than 400,000 units in the first three months of the year to 53.2 million, according to Kagan estimates.
Multichannel Trends: Kagan report: U.S. Cable Industry Overview: The current cable industry essentials are covered in Kagan's 2018 "U.S. Cable Industry Overview," now in PowerPoint format.
Multichannel Trends: Kagan MediaTalk Podcast: Episode 1: Kagan is introducing MediaTalk, a podcast on our coverage of the quickly evolving media landscape.
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