Digital

New Chinese government restrictions could complicate ByteDance plans to sell TikTok to a U.S. company and avoid a ban threatened by Donald Trump. Late on Friday, Beijing issued new restrictions or bans on tech exports, requiring companies to seek government approval — a process that can take up to 30 days. In mid-August, Trump gave the company 90 days to sell or face a shutdown.

Executives from Nexstar, Newsy, CBS Local Digital and Local Now will assess ad technology’s performance amid the pandemic’s growing streaming audience at TVNewsCheck’s virtual OTT News Summit on Sept. 24. Register here.

The magic behind the app was made in China — and it’s not clear that Microsoft, Walmart or Oracle can recapture it.

Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall raised his outlook on ViacomCBS  Thursday from “Underweight” to “Equal Weight” and increased his 12-month price target on the stock to $30 per share from $19 per share, citing the programmers  aggressive moves in the streaming video space.

In yet another marriage of sports media with the rising tide of legalized sports betting in the U.S, NBCUniversal and PointsBet announced a multi-year partnership by which PointsBet becomes the official sports betting partner of NBC Sports. As part of the agreement, NBC Sports will provide PointsBet with year-round, multi-platform media and marketing opportunities across its portfolio of events. The company’s sports programming includes NBC Olympics, the Golf Channel, NBC Sports Regional Networks, and the Olympic Channel.

Unilever, Target and Coors are among the brands using the streaming service’s interactive feature on Comcast’s Voice Remote-equipped X1 and Xfinity Flex platforms.

Walmart says it’s teaming up with Microsoft in a bid for TikTok. The retail giant confirmed to CNBC that it’s interested in buying the popular short-form video application. Walmart shares are up nearly 5% on the news.

Shares of Roku Inc. surged over 11% on Wednesday after Citi initiated coverage of the streaming video company with a “buy” rating, while Netflix also rallied more than 11%. Roku and Netflix are among several technology-related companies that have benefited as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with people around the world spending more time at home.

NBCUniversal has added a free sports channel to its new Peacock streamer. Called NBC Sports on Peacock, the channel will offer sports talk shows and live sports event coverage. Shows will be available on demand in addition to streaming live.

His resignation follows President Donald Trump’s order to ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells its U.S. operations to an American company within 90 days. Mayer said that his decision to leave comes after the “political environment has sharply changed.”

The company’s CFO proclaims the top OTT platform still plays its ‘traditional’ Switzerland role in the streaming wars. But analysts say it now has too many advertising and subscription agendas.

Netflix is aggressively searching for its own large-scale talent competition and a big-ticket game show as it moves into its next phase of non-scripted originals. The streamer is looking to do more four-quadrant family entertainment shows to build on its recent reality shows such as Too Hot To Handle and Love Is Blind.

Austin Kellerman, Nexstar’s director of digital content: “When talking to newsrooms and journalists about social media, I often urge them to try to find their voice in major stories. Think about the angles no one is talking about and create that content for your timeline. That’s exactly what happened to me during the coronavirus crisis — only I kind of stumbled on it. The result ended up being roughly 8,000 new followers in March and April. How did it happen? Let’s break it down.”

Beneath the headlines and social media commotion about high-profile subscription video on demand (SVOD) titles like Tiger King, Upload and Ozark, a new form of digital streaming is gaining traction: those that are ad-supported.

Apple plans to add bonus augmented reality content to its Apple TV+ streaming video service. The new feature is said to take aspects of scenes in a TV show, such as characters or objects, and display them on the viewer’s iPhone or iPad so they can be seen as if they existed in the user’s surrounding environment.

Neither side wanted a big deal. But what began as talks about a small investment ballooned with interventions from President Trump.

Panelists from NBC, CBS, Graham and Fox will tackle the challenges of launching new content and adapting streaming programming in a year upended by COVID-19 and explosive protests at TVNewsCheck’s virtual event on Sept. 22. Register here.

General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital — two major investors in Chinese company ByteDance, parent company of TikTok — are “maneuvering” to be part of the potential bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations. The group led by the two investment firms includes Oracle, sources say.