Top News
* Bob Iger is expected to extend his tenure as chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Co. if the company strikes a deal to buy 21st Century Fox Inc. assets, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. Some of the sources said representatives of Fox and its Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch requested Iger to continue as CEO past his planned July 2019 retirement to help with the integration of assets.
* Nexstar Media Group Inc. agreed to buy LKQD Technologies, an independent video advertising infrastructure company, for about $90 million cash, subject to working capital and other adjustments, and a contingent earnout payment based on LKQD's performance at the end of two years under Nexstar's ownership. The transaction is expected to close late in 2017 or the first quarter of 2018 and is subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino approval and other customary closing conditions, the company said.
* Comcast Corp. is eyeing Fox's international assets, including its 39% stake in Sky plc, Bloomberg News reports, citing a source with knowledge of the matter. The source said Comcast believes Sky has superior technology than other pay TV providers in Europe and the ownership of Sky is one of the reasons Comcast is interested in striking a deal with Fox.
* Dwayne Benefield, head of Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Vue, told investors that advertisers can now target different household members with distinct messaging on select networks on the virtual provider. Benefield said the offering is beneficial to advertisers looking to connect with more targeted viewers and to users, who may be more receptive to messaging around certain types of products or services.
Technology
* Uber Technologies Inc. paid off a 20-year-old Florida man to keep the data breach at the company secret, Reuters reports, citing three sources familiar with the events. The ride-hailing service reportedly paid the person responsible for the cyberattack through a "bug bounty" program used to reward researchers for finding flaws in its software.
* San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary Wiss dismissed a class-action lawsuit that accused Alphabet Inc. unit Google Inc. of paying women less than its male employees, Bloomberg News reports. While dismissing the suit, the judge noted that the class proposed by the plaintiffs was too broad and allowed them to amend the filing.
Film & TV
* Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s EPIX (US) placed a third-season order for spy drama "Berlin Station." The premium network aired the season finale of the second season on Dec. 3, according to a news release.
* Disney's ABC Owned Television Stations Group named Wendy McMahon president, effective Jan. 1, 2018, Broadcasting & Cable reports. McMahon, who previously served the group as senior vice president of digital, succeeded Rebecca Campbell who was appointed president of the Walt Disney Co. EMEA.
Internet & OTT
* Netflix Inc. is leading the Critics' Choice Awards nominations in the television category with 20 nominations, followed by Time Warner Inc.'s HBO (US) with 15 nominations and FX Network (US) with 13 nominations. ABC (US) was third with 12 nominations, according to a news release.
* Netflix and Shawn Levy's 21 Laps Television struck a multiyear exclusive deal for television series, the company said. Netflix and 21 Laps have previously teamed up on the "Stranger Things" series.
* Netflix is in talks to secure international streaming rights to the movie "Annihilation," Deadline.com reports. An agreement would allow Netflix to stream the movie overseas 17 days after its theatrical release by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount in the U.S. on Feb. 23, 2018.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a mixed opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 0.28% to 28,303.19, and the Nikkei 225 was up 1.45% to 22,498.03.
In Europe, as of midday, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.12% to 7,356.88, and the Euronext 100 rose 0.04% to 1,040.58.
On the macro front
The jobless claims 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: UK delays Fox-Sky decision to 2018; ProSiebenSat.1 announces restructure: The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority will publish its decision on the proposed Fox-Sky deal on January 2018, instead of this December, while ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE announced a restructure of its business areas.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: Toshiba completes ¥600B share sale; Apple assures return of apps in China: Toshiba Corp. announced it finalized the sale of new shares worth ¥600 billion to foreign investment funds and others, while Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook said that many removed apps will likely return to the company's China app store.
HBO Go expands in CEE; Nat Geo VOD set for European debut: Time Warner's HBO Europe launched subscription service HBO Go in seven more central and eastern European countries, while Fox Networks Group is prepping the launch of a National Geographic+ on-demand service in Europe.
Hires and Fires Asia-Pacific: Infosys names new CEO; Discovery's Asia-Pacific head quits: Infosys Ltd. named its new CEO and managing director, while Arthur Bastings, managing director and president of Discovery Networks Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., resigned from his position.
Featured research
Global Multichannel: Video woes continue to weigh on Canadian multichannel revenue growth in Q3'17: Much like their U.S. counterparts, IP-based services lifted Canadian multichannel video programming distributors amid ongoing transition in the operating landscape in the third quarter.
Technology: All in on the cloud: Prior to the start of the AWS re:Invent 2017 conference held in Las Vegas from Nov. 27 through Dec. 1, AWS Elemental announced five cloud video services that are now accessible via the AWS console.
Economics of Advertising: Prime-time delivery slides for broadcast networks in October: Negative ratings trends continued in October, with all big four broadcasters experiencing year-over-year declines in prime-time C3 TV household delivery.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.