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Microsoft ups investment in game development; Uber eyeing bike-sharing company

Top News

* Microsoft Corp. acquired Playground Games, and signed letters of intent to buy three other game studios: Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games. Also, the company said that it is setting up a new studio in Santa Monica, Calif., called The Initiative, as part of the company's efforts to bolster original content.

* Uber Technologies Inc. is considering plans to buy bike-sharing company Motivate, Axios reports. Motivate is the company behind Ford GoBike in the San Francisco Bay area and Citi Bike on the East Coast.

* Snap Inc.'s shares soared for the week ended June 8 over renewed optimism about the company's user growth. Elsewhere in the new media sector, Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. shares slid as lawmakers raised questions about the companies' dealings with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

Film & TV

* Charter Communications Inc. and Northwest Broadcasting Inc. resolved their retransmission consent dispute, Multichannel News reports, citing statements by the companies. The retrans dispute affected about 11 FOX (US), NBC (US) and CBS (US) affiliated stations in the Northwest and Northeast regions of the U.S.

* A prequel series to "Game of Thrones" has won a pilot order from Time Warner Inc.'s HBO (US), Variety reports. The project from Jane Goldman, which takes place thousands of years before the events of "Game of Thrones," chronicles the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour.

* Warner Bros.' "Ocean's 8" topped the domestic box office for the June 10 weekend with $41.5 million, followed by Walt Disney Co.'s "Solo: A Star Wars Story" at No. 2 with $15.2 million and 20th Century Fox's "Deadpool 2" at the third spot with $13.7 million, according to comScore Inc. A24's "Hereditary" was No. 4 with $13 million, while Disney's "Avengers: Infinity War" took the fifth spot with $6.8 million. Meanwhile, Universal's "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" raked in $151.1 million to lead the worldwide box office for the weekend.

* Television Bureau of Advertising chief Steve Lanzano says a number of factors, notably Democrats seeking to regain control of the House and 36 gubernatorial races, could drive this year's midterm ad sales.

Technology

* Pearl TV consortium managing director Anne Schelle sees a wide range of new content monetization opportunities available to broadcasters under ATSC 3.0, including streaming video-on-demand library options, enhanced audio and addressable advertising.

Internet & OTT

* Facebook struck special data-sharing deals with certain advertisers and preferred partners that included some information about users' friends, such as phone numbers, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The social-networking giant has faced questions about its partnerships with device manufacturers, particularly Chinese manufacturers that some U.S. legislators believe could be susceptible to Chinese government influence.

* Netflix Inc. placed a 10-episode order for drama series "Away." "Loosely" inspired by Chris Jones' Esquire article of the same name, the series is a love story and a tale of survival amid humanity's first human mission to Mars, the company said.

* In more Netflix news, the company placed a 10-episode order for new series "Kaos." The series is a darkly comedic and contemporary reimagining of Greek mythology, exploring themes of gender politics, power, and life in the underworld, according to a news release.

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng was up 0.34% to 31,063.70. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.48% to 22,804.04. In Europe as of midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.91% to 7,750.65, and the Euronext 100 rose 0.43% to 1,062.12.

On the macro front

No notable reports due out today.

Featured news

The Daily Dose Europe: EC nears Comcast/ Sky deal approval; Facebook faces EU privacy crackdown: The European Commission is close to approving Comcast Corp.'s bid for British pay TV giant Sky PLC, while Facebook and other social media companies are facing a potential crackdown in the European Union over private user messages.

The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Xiaomi secures HK IPO nod; Alibaba's Ant Financial raises US$14B: Xiaomi Corp. won Hong Kong stock exchange approval for its US$10 billion IPO, while Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Ant Financial Services Group raised about US$14 billion in its latest funding round.

The Best Of: Media & Comm, editor's picks: Discovery-PGA deal; FCC high-band spectrum for 5G: Stories about Discovery Inc.'s PGA Tour golf rights deal, new broadcast standard, known as Next Gen TV and the FCC's steps to open up high-band spectrum for 5G uses are all among the editor's top five story picks for the week ended June 8.

The Best Of: Media & Comm, most read: Next Gen TV technology; Apple iOS 12 features: Stories about new broadcast standard, known as Next Gen TV, Philo OTT streaming service and Apple Inc.'s next-generation mobile operating system iOS 12 are included in the most-read stories for the week ended June 8.

Featured research

Broadcast Investor: Retrans database update: Sinclair/Cox ink deal, DISH/SagamoreHill lock horns: Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. struck an agreement with Cox Communications Inc. involving more than 1.7 million estimated subscribers. Six ongoing signal disruptions carried on, affecting programming viewership of 852,909 subs.

Consumer Insights: Multichannel TV subs still tend to bundle: Most multichannel TV subscribers still get broadband from their TV operator.

Economics of TV & Film: 'I Can Only Imagine' pegged as top June video release: Several notable spring films are landing on DVD and Blu-ray in June and we expect the Christian drama film "I Can Only Imagine" to barely edge out "A Wrinkle in Time" to become the top home video release of the month.

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