The streaming gaming and streaming music segments got more competitive last week, with new services announced or launching. Viacom and CBS were closing in on their merger, whereas Vivendi may say goodbye to its Mediaset stake. The Telecompaper Global Media index ended week 47 down 0.4 percent, in line with the S&P 500 (-0.3%). Zee Entertainment (+24%) was the best stock to own. MTG (Modern Times Group) and comScore also did well, both up 10 percent.
Naspers reported its Q3 results.
Content: Alphabet (-3.0%), Spotify (-4.5%)
In the content business Alphabet's Google launched its streaming gaming service Google Stadia, adopting a fereemium model where subscribers either use a free or a premium service, the latter costing USD 10 per month. Swiss mobile operator made a similar move with the launch of its 5G focused cloud-based gaming service (generically called Next-Gen Cloud Gaming Service), priced at CHF 10 per month.
The music segment, controlled mainly by Spotify, Apple, YouTube and Deezer, was rattled by ByteDance (parent of the TikTok service) and Amazon. ByteDance was rumoured to plan a competitor music streaming service and Amazon was expanding the availability of the free tier of its streaming music service.
Broadcast: Discovery (+9.5%), Viacom (+2.6%), CBS (+2.5%)
In the broadcast segment, John Malone was reported to have increased his Discovery stake by investing USD 75 million. Viacom and CBS made more Vice President appointments for the post merger ViacomCBS company. Sony bought out AT&T from the Game Show Networks for USD 500 million. Vivendi reportedly came closer to selling its Mediaset stake.
Publishing: McClatchy (-26%), Roularta (+9.0%)
In the newspaper segment, McClatchy nearing bankruptcy was reported to have consequences for its pension fund. Gannett was effectively taken off the stock exchange, following the takeover by GateHouse. The Belgian publisher Roularta could also be taken private, but the current holder of around 80 percent of the shares doesn't appear to have immediate plans for this.
