Top news
* House lawmakers investigating U.S. tech giants' growing market power asked Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. to provide documents, including internal communications, about their business practices. A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee on Sept. 13 sent letters to the CEOs of the four companies and asked them to provide information such as executive communications, financial statements, information about competitors, market share, mergers and key business decisions by Oct. 14.
* AT&T Inc.'s HBO (US) swept the 2019 Creative Arts Emmy with 25 awards, followed by Netflix Inc. at the second place with 23 awards. Prime Video bagged eight awards, while YouTube LLC and Hulu LLC ended with four and three awards, respectively.
* Charter Communications Inc. is "widely expected" to begin constructing a wireless network in certain locations that are part of its cable footprint in an effort to expand its influence in the mobile industry, according to a report from Light Reading. Charter is planning to build 4G LTE coverage areas using spectrum from the 3.5 GHz band in locations with a high volume of customers in its wireless offering, known as Spectrum Mobile. Charter launched Spectrum Mobile across all Charter markets in September 2018.
Film & TV
* Nexstar Media Group Inc. and Fox Corp. unit Fox Broadcasting Co. LLC reached an agreement to renew FOX (US) network affiliations. The multiyear deal covers FOX network affiliations for stations that Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides services to, in 31 markets.
* There are signs of progress in the AT&T and Walt Disney Co. carriage dispute as the parties have remained in discussions throughout the weekend. The negotiations have occurred without any disruption in service for the programmer's owned TV stations and cable properties. Despite a series of warnings that AT&T subscribers could potentially miss college football action on ESPN Inc. networks, the Sept. 14 slate of games appeared without incident.
* Warner Bros.' "IT Chapter Two" pulled in $40.7 million to top the domestic box office for the Sept. 13 weekend, followed by STX Entertainment's "Hustlers" at No. 2 with $33.2 million and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.'s "Angel Has Fallen" at the third spot with $4.4 million, according to Comscore Inc. Universal's "Good Boys" was No. 4 with $4.3 million, while Disney's "The Lion King" took the fifth spot with $3.6 million.
Internet & OTT
* Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger resigned from the Apple board, effective Sept. 10, the same day that Apple disclosed the launch date and pricing of its Apple TV+ streaming service. Iger joined Apple's board as an independent director in 2011.
* Movie ticket subscription service MoviePass Inc. shut down Sept. 14. MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. said the company closed down the service because its "efforts to recapitalize MoviePass have not been successful to date." Helios said it will continue its efforts to seek funding to bring MoviePass back, but it is "unable to predict if or when the MoviePass service will continue.
* Apple disputed a Goldman Sachs analyst report claiming a potentially "material negative impact" on the company's earnings resulting from Apple's plans to give away one year free trial of its upcoming Apple TV+ streaming service. While maintaining a "neutral" rating on Apple shares, Goldman Sachs' Rod Hall reduced his price target to $165 from $187, noting he believes that "Apple plans to account for its 1-year trial for TV+ as a ~$60 discount to a combined hardware and services bundle."
* Apple TV+ premiered its first show "Dickinson" at the Tribeca TV Festival on Sept. 14, Reuters reports. The series talks about the life of an iconic American poet, Emily Dickinson, played by Hailee Steinfeld.
Technology
* Comcast Corp. acquired the Netherlands-based app developer Metrological Group BV for an undisclosed sum, Broadband TV News reports. While the companies have not released an official statement, both companies reportedly confirmed that a deal has been signed. Metrological is a developer of apps that integrate over-the-top channels and on-demand services into traditional pay TV platforms.
* Facebook is looking to roll out a TV streaming device ahead of the upcoming holiday season, Variety reports, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. The device will be part of the social media giant's portal of family of devices, featuring a camera, and combining video chatting with TV viewing and augmented reality.
* TiVo Corp. announced during the IBC Show in Amsterdam that Vodafone Group PLC is deploying TiVo's personalized content discovery technology as part of its Vodafone TV service in Portugal, Multichannel News reports. The company also disclosed that Liberty Latin America Ltd. will use its Next-Gen platform, starting in Puerto Rico.
* Managed service provider of video collaboration and network applications Glowpoint Inc. and collaboration technology company Oblong Industries Inc. struck an agreement to merge the two businesses. The merger is expected to close before Oct. 15.
Regulation
* The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved a grant of more than $112.2 million to expand broadband to around 48,000 unserved rural homes and businesses, Multichannel News reports. The grant, which is the fifth round of funding from the Connect America Fund Phase II Auction, will be used to fund 16 projects in nine states. The selected broadband providers will begin receiving funding within the next few weeks.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, Hang Seng slipped 0.83% to 27,124.55, while the Nikkei 225 rose 1.05% to 21,988.29.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 shed 0.24% to 7,349.78, and the Euronext 100 dropped 0.59% to 1,087.19.
On the macro front
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey is due out today.
Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.
Featured news
The Daily Dose Europe: France, Germany on Libra; Apple in EU court; plans for BritBox: France and Germany criticized digital currencies such as Facebook's Libra; Apple will face the EU General Court in Luxembourg this week; and BritBox will not use an ad-supported model to operate its subscription streaming service.
The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: WeWork parent IPO update; SoftBank/Banco Inter deal; Guardant Health stake sale: SoftBank aims to buy at least US$750 million of the shares in WeWork parent's IPO, SoftBank agreed to hike its stake in a Brazilian digital lender, and Vision Fund off-loaded some of its shares in a cancer testing company.
MarketWeek: Apple briefly rejoins $1 trillion club after product release: It momentarily reclaimed the title of a $1 trillion company only to fall below the threshold at the end of the week, following the announcement of a fresh slate of new iPhones and services at its annual fall product event.
Q&A: Sports streamer fuboTV takes original plunge, expands to other platforms: The ad-supported Fubo Sports Network is available on the streaming company's live TV platform, as well as third-party connected devices.
The Best Of: Editor's picks: Roku's UK expansion; HUYA's stake in MTG esports unit: Stories about Roku's plan to add its software to TVs in the U.K. and HUYA's stake in MTG esports unit are featured in the editor's technology, media and telecommunications top picks for the week ended Sept. 13.
The Best Of: Most read: WarnerMedia signs up Bad Robot; Shopify to buy 6 River Systems: Articles about Bad Robot Productions' content deal with WarnerMedia and Shopify's deal to buy warehouse technology provider 6 River Systems were among the most read in technology, media and telecommunications news for the week ended Sept. 13.
Data Dispatch: 'Hustlers' could tease a small breakout for STX, Jennifer Lopez: STX Entertainment and Jennifer Lopez could rack up career bests with stripper comedy-thriller "Hustlers."
Featured research
Global Multichannel: Major TV groups in Malaysia look to coproduction, OTT: New partnerships are emerging in Malaysia to drive the production of higher quality content, which promotes viewership on new digital platforms as well as on traditional linear TV.
Economics of Networks: Adjusted EBITDA up for iMedia Brands while sales decline in Q2: After three negative preceding quarters, adjusted EBITDA for iMedia Brands Inc. was positive in the second quarter, although the company continued to see shrinking sales dynamics.
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