Walt Disney closed its takeover of 21st Century Fox assets and the latter continued as Fox Corp. Alphabet's Google unveiled its streaming video games platform Stadia, and Comcast launched an AVOD annex video aggregation service, Flex. Alphabet was further confronted with a third fine from the EU, of EUR 1.49 billion over unfair competition with the Google AdSense platform. The Telecompaper Stock Index Global Consumer Media ended week 12 with a loss of 1.6 percent. The Dow Jones Industrials index lost 1.3 percent.
Disney/Fox, Netflix, Comcast
Walt Disney (-5.9%) formally absorbed the 21st Century Fox assets it acquired. What remains of the latter is now listed as the stand-alone Fox Corp (-28%). Disney was quick to launch a round of lay-offs and is getting ready to compete in the direct-to-consumer market.
Netflix (-0.1%) stated that it will not be part of the aggregation service that Apple is developing and which is to be launched shortly. Netflix's pricing tests spread to India, where it is trialing a mobile-only subscription.
Comcast (-2.5%) introduced a new service, both an aggregator and an AVOD service named Xfinity Flex, aimed exclusively at the company's broadband base. Comcast also announced a global video advertising platform, based in part on its takeover of Sky.
Facebook, Alphabet, Pinterest
More negative news came out in relation to Facebook (-1.0%), this time around privacy. Apparently, hundreds of millions of user passwords have been exposed internally to Facebook employees. Further, the company launched a new Oculus Rift headset for VR and gaming.
Alphabet's (+1.8%) Google introduced its long awaited streaming video gaming platform, Stadia. Details around content and pricing will follow as the commercial launch, later this year, approaches. Meanwhile, the company received a new (third) EU fine of EUR 1.49 billion for unfair competition of its advertising platform AdSense. Google also presented a follow-up to an earlier fine, for market abuse with the Android platform. It will now offer Android users a choice of browser and search engine.
In the internet segment, Pinterest filed for an IPO, after which it is set to become part of our index.
Broadcast, publishing, music
In the broadcast segment, Nexstar (-1.3%) was a seller and Tegna (-4.4%) and EW Scripps (-3.4%) were buyers of stations. In the publishing segment, the situation around Gannett (-5.7%) remained unclear, even though Digital First was reported to be able to fund its hostile bid. Axel Springer (-1.5%) was rumoured to be a bidder for eBay's Classifieds Group. The music segment saw Tencent Music (-7.1%) report on Q4 and Spotify, according to reports, kicked off a new round of licensing talks with the industry's majors, Vivendi's (-1.5%) Universal Music, Sony's (-9.1%) Sony Music and unlisted Warner Music.
YTD
Year-to-date, our index is up 13.4 percent, ahead of the Dow Jones Industrials (+9.3%). We currently have 74 constituents, 34 of which are up double digits. They are led by Snap (+95%), almost doubling its share price since the end of 2017. The New York Times (+46%), ComScore (+45%) and Sinclair Broadcast (+44%) are also doing particularly well. There are three double-digit losers: McClatchy (-36%), Fox Corp (-22%) and Sony (-14%). The heavyweights, Alphabet (+16%) and Facebook (+25%), are outperforming our index.
