Singapore online platform YuuZoo is buying 33.3 percent of movie studio/entertainment group Relativity Media, with an option to buy a majority over the next 24 months, YuuZoo said in a news release Sunday. The deal marries its distribution platform -- which covers 69 nations and includes such partners as Alibaba subsidiary Alisports and African TV network NTA -- to Relativity Media's library of content, it said.

With AT&T's planned DirecTV Now service a driver of its buy of Time Warner (see 1610240011), NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke questioned the likelihood it and other over-the-top entrants will siphon off significant numbers of traditional pay-TV subscribers. "Most people find tremendous value in their cable or satellite subscription and are not going to change," he said during the cable operator company's Q3 earnings call Wednesday. He also said it's unlikely such services would materially benefit NBCU at least in the first couple of years by delivering major numbers of cord-cutters and cord-nevers. Comcast executives said they wouldn't comment on the AT&T/TW deal itself. CEO Brian Roberts said Comcast is targeting mid-2017 for rolling out a wireless service as part of a multiproduct bundle. For the quarter, revenue was $21.3 billion, up 14.2 percent year over year, and it added 432,000 video customers vs. a 48,000 decline the same quarter a year earlier. The cable ISP said it added 330,000 broadband customers in the quarter, for the company's best Q3 result in seven years. Programming costs were up 11.4 percent in the quarter due to contract renewals, higher retransmission consent fees and sports programing costs. Comcast expects programming cost to be up more than 10 percent this year and similarly higher than normal in 2017, but further out they should increase more along the traditional 7-8 percent a year, Chief Financial Officer Michael Cavanagh said. Comcast closed Wednesday at $62.56, down 3 percent. Roberts was sanguine about the possible threat of streaming cannibalizing NFL and Olympics TV viewership, with the streaming portion of the Rio Olympics being 1 to 2 percent of what TV viewership was. Similar numbers apply to the NFL, he said, saying the ratings drops might reflect that the current NFL season isn't as strong as others. NFL and Olympics coverage is profitable, Roberts said, and the modest ratings decline "doesn't cause us too much discomfort." The company meanwhile just started the launch of its Xi5 all-Wi-Fi set-top box, Roberts said. Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit said the company should be moving to IP-based delivery of content "over the next couple years."

AMC Networks is lending $65 million to content distribution company RLJ Entertainment, the parent of the Acorn TV and UMC streaming services, with the money -- and support from AMC -- to help in developing and distributing RLJ content for various platforms, the two said in a news release Monday. AMC got warrants giving it the right to buy at least 50.1 percent of RLJ common stock, they said. They said with alignment of Acorn TV and UMC with AMC's cable channels and film business, the streaming services will be able to cross-promote, distribute and develop content. RLJ's founder and chairman is Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television who ran it for several years after Viacom acquired it.

Verizon General Counsel Craig Silliman indicated the 2014 data breach of Yahoo's 500 million users (see 1609220046 and 1609230026) revealed last month might imperil the acquisition of the technology company. "I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material and we're looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact," Silliman said in a statement Thursday, provided by Verizon. "If they believe that it's not, then they'll need to show us that." A Verizon spokesman said the company is about 50 percent to 60 percent complete in its investigation into that matter. In response, a Yahoo spokeswoman emailed, "we are confident in Yahoo’s value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon." Meanwhile, 31 Republican and 17 Democratic representatives on Friday wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, asking for a briefing on Yahoo's scanning its customers' emails to comply with a secret U.S. government order (see 1610050038). "There is significant confusion regarding the existence and nature of the program described by these [media] reports and legal questions implicated by the accuracy of specific details," wrote the coalition, led by Reps. Justin Amash, R-Mich., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif. In a news release, Amash said Congress has a responsibility to ensure surveillance practices comply with the Constitution and federal law.

Discovery Communications is buying a $100 million minority stake in just-formed media holding company Group Nine Media, made up of Thrillist Media Group, NowThis Media, Discovery's digital network Seeker and production studio SourceFed Studios, Discovery said in a news release Thursday. Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer will become Group Nine CEO. Discovery said it's trying to broaden its millennial-targeting digital offerings. It said it has an option to later buy a controlling stake in Group Nine. Discovery said the investment will be used for expansion of Group Nine's sales team and branded content video.

A CBS/Viacom combination isn't a fait accompli because the two "do not go together naturally," said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker in a note to investors Thursday as it upgraded its rating of Viacom to "market perform." Ryvicker said a CBS/Viacom doesn't appear imminent and could end up not happening since CBS CEO Les Moonves and National Amusements, the majority shareholder of both companies, "have some corporate governance issues to get through" that would give him free rein to make executive decisions. Exacerbating the issue are the different strategies of CBS and Viacom: "You can't just slap [Viacom] and CBS content together -- that would be like eating pickles and ice cream while not being pregnant." But Viacom is trading at close to its potential floor price of roughly $33 per share, and that should provide some stability to the stock for now, Ryvicker said. Any CBS/Viacom likely wouldn't face big regulatory hurdles, experts have said (see 1610050039).

DTS acquired broadcast radio technology company Arctic Palm Technology, it said in a Thursday announcement. DTS cited Arctic Palm’s experience in broadcast studio operations and services, and knowledge in broadcast metadata and platform integration. More than 2,700 stations have licensed Arctic Palm software, including those associated with NPR, Entercom, Townsquare, Saga, Cumulus, Bell Media, CBC and Corus, DTS said. Ontario-based Arctic Palm developed solutions to support HD Radio Advanced Services and is a partner in the Public Radio Satellite Services (PRSS) MetaPub initiative designed to enhance national and local public radio broadcasts with a real-time flow of metadata from PRSS producers. “As the automotive industry works to enrich the digital dash, broadcast radio around the world will need to enhance its service offerings with platforms such as Arctic Palm,” said DTS CEO Jon Kirchner.

Viacom board members Thomas May, Eversource Energy chairman, and Nicole Seligman, former president of Sony Entertainment, will head a special committee to evaluate the request by shareholder National Amusements that Viacom explore a transaction with CBS (see 1609290077), Viacom said in a news release Friday. The committee hired Debevoise & Plimpton as independent legal adviser, the company said.

National Amusements, the majority shareholder of CBS and of Viacom, is urging a combination of the two, Viacom said in a news release Thursday. Viacom said it expects its board to form a special committee of independent directors to consider the request. In the letter to Viacom, National Amusements said such a deal "might offer substantial synergies that would allow the combined company to respond even more aggressively and effectively to the challenges of the changing entertainment and media landscape." In a note to investors Thursday, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said, "CBS (and particularly CEO Les Moonves) is in the driver's seat here."

The FTC cleared the way for Oracle’s $9.3 billion acquisition of NetSuite, and the $1.8 billion deal joining Citrix's GoTo product line with rival LogMeIn, said early termination notices ending the transactions’ Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting periods. Oracle/NetSuite “will proceed as planned assuming the minimum required number of shares are tendered,” the buyer said in a Monday news release.