Investors seem pleased that Viacom pay-TV channels such as Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and MTV won’t be yanked from Charter Communications Spectrum systems across the U.S.
As of 10:27am Eastern, Viacom shares were up 0.9%, to $26.24, after bottoming out Thursday at $24.57 — the company’s lowest closing price in five years.
Just before 3pm Eastern, Viacom shares slipped into negative territory, dipping 0.3%, to $25.92.
However, the day ended positively for Viacom, which over the weekend agreed to a “short-term” extension of talks with Charter that will hopefully lead to a permanent retransmission fee accord between the two companies.
According to Deadline.com, the lack of a new deal could impact some 16.6 million customers.
At the closing bell, Viacom’s Class B shares finished up 1%, to $26.26
In other activity on Wall Street for media stocks:
- Netflix jumped 1.6%, to $202.68 a share — catapulting the OTT player above the $200 mark. The gains came ahead of stunningly positive Q3 earnings for Netflix, which says it is on track to exceed $11 billion in revenue for FY2017.
- iHeartMedia increased by 10.3%, to $1.50.
- Veritone Inc. shares continued their rollercoaster ride, sliding 13%, to $31.53. There was no immediate reason for the sell-off. However, it is another sign of tremendous volatility for a company that saw its shares at $7.87 on Aug. 18 and at $65.91 on Sept. 26.
For a live glance at media stock activity on Wall Street each trading day, and the day’s closing prices after 4pm Eastern, be sure to visit RBR+TVBR for the Wall Street Report — found on the homepage of RBR.com
