richard desmond reportedly looking to sell his channel five to viacom.deal may be worth up to $60 million. viacom will announce its agreement when they report quarterly numbers. they are coming out before the open this morning. >>> now, markets fed by yellen, we had the dow's first record close of 2014. we'll cross the cme for analysis and where we head now as we get into may. >>> first day of trading for may. just to remind you, stocks closed out in the u.s. with a bit of a divergence between tech and the blue chips. the nasdaq declining in april by around 2%. in fact, down for two straight negative months. the first time since may 2012. a different story, of course, for the dow jones industrial average. we close at a record high at the end of the session yesterday. and up three-quarter percent for the month. up for three straight months in a row. seven out of eight months we've been up for the blue chip index as well. so where does that leave us with futures this morning? they are calling a little bit higher. not by much, 6 points for the dow, the s&p,

and you have news that viacom is potentially going to be buying channel 5.adcaster but nevertheless, upping the ante. new programming over from the states driving that further forward. lights going to get difficult. house guy is trying to handle this, broadening their product range. trying to monetize content. previously it was only a 20 pound basic pay-tv subscription. now you can get now tv, on-demand. by introducing different products at different price levels, they are trying to address a larger base of customers. will that be successful? it might be successful, sky is the dominant pay-tv operator and they also hold significantly content rights when it comes to non-sport programming, such as major programming. as long as they can hold on, they might retain competitive adventure and stave off competition. >> it is content that is critical. do they need to spend more and more on content? is that going to be the battle? they're going to have to spend more and more. >> the trend looks like that, especially in the sports arena. we see inflation with sports ri

it could be that viacom wants another route for its content.ght be that viacom thinks the retransmission revenues will be allowed for the mainstream channels. if that happens, you can see the u.s. get a big boost for broadcast revenues. if you look at all three media, it is a major u.k. production house. i think the reason is u.k. format and u.k. programs were extremely well in the u.s. market. if you think about the successes on the format side, even going back to things like who wants to be a millionaire. they have been mastech successes -- massive successes in the u.s. market. they look at the u.k. and say these are big hits that can be transported across. >> we look for to those hours of the top -- those numbers of the top of the hour. >> up next, we will take a look at the downton abbey broadcaster itv with the uk's biggest commercial broadcaster the world cup winner. >> we will take a look inside during the cane spam festival -- during the cannes film festival. ♪ >> time for some news. france's largest cable operator said it is on target

>> another discretionary type company, viacom moving higher.pany is increasing the quarterly dividend by 10% to 33 cents a share. you can see viacom class-b shares up about a percent, just off of its session highs, scott. back over to you. >> dom, thanks. anybody own this name? >> i don't. i wish i did because of this. but the dividend boost is going to be good for them. obviously, content owners, scott, we talk about it all the time, are very much in demand right now, and this is them giving a little back to shareholders. >> yeah, i agree. content is still king, queen, and jack, man. it's the place you want to be. it's a well-run company. giving money back to shareholders, i like it. >> and in this environment, that's what people are looking for, right? they want some of the money coming back in. that's part of the problem for some of the small-cap stocks that don't give that kind of return. >>> back to your brother jon, buying an advertising stock. based on unusual options activity. doc, what is it? >> that's right, judge. interpublic group,

like viacom and cbs and news corp and 21st century fox. >> it puts them back in a place where the dynamicsno film production and distribution and television production and television distribution are much more interesting to investors. much less capital intensive in many cases. and certainly investors have responded very favorably in each of these companies to these different dynamics. >> the question now will be whether timing can stand on its own and attract investors because the publishing industry continues to struggle as more people abandon hard copy in favor of the web where they can access the same content for free. for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan. >>> harsh words from russian president vladimir putin and president obama at the annual forum in st. petersburg, russia. putin admitted that the encroachment into the ukraine is already affecting the economy. >> an apparent softening of the russian president saw the ruble spike to a high. but the president had harsh words for mr. obama in the white house effectively criticizing mr. obama's comments saying that the russia

media company viacom plans to acquire u.k. broadcaster channel five.iacom owns mtv and nickelodeon. they will announce the deal with earnings before the u.s. market opens today. channel five would further their expansionnternational with an english speaking outlet for the u.s. programming. step closer after they stepped away from the deal because it became too expensive. a heated contest means merck and meme more than $14 million on a sale off of the unit. gabbana have been sentenced to a year-and-a-half in jail. the italian designers have been convicted of failing to pay 40 million euros in taxes between 2003-2004. welcome back to "countdown." >> i'm mark barton. it 6:14 a.m. in london. they are anticipating a pickup in the economy. the central bank says they have continued to trim the base of bond -- pace of bond purchases. patrick, good morning. it seems as if market participants have gotten used to the idea that tapering will probably cease come the end of this year. is there a consensus around when the first interest rate hike will actually happen

japan buys are made homeless when the garden i man and viacom and again over where how about 5 loss of all over to an inland dollars a year. to help him almost 19 year-old law was signed in and settle into a much and a summer vacation and not to mit undergraduates it is and as a trump hopes of becoming the oldest person to fly solo are on the world's three dismisses it was inspired by the current wheat in his world record holder will complete the trip last year carried off the suit says this trend should take off for the days of our hot hundred and 60 hours of flying time courses will end up in his dad is also show me all along level will ithe part of us that a littwants to play,on. wants to be mischievous, wants to run free, all you have to do is let it out. find your inner minion only at the despicable me minion mayhem ride at universal studios hollywood. i'm for the kron4 tech report with gabe slate. >>: good morning the bay area now has a five-star luxury resort for pets. i just have a tour of this dog and cat hotel and the media and amazing. when teasing the amenities they offer.

if you take a step back, disney and viacom get paid by comcast.ix in their deal with comcast, netflix pays comcast. of course they will complain about it. companies like disney and fox will be quieter about it because they're getting paid. then the perspective, to take a step back. it is important concepts you have. -- context to have. at the same time, netflix brings up a good point. you have a company that is only -- that is owning 38% of connections to subscribers. there are higher rates going into the future. >> i wonder if that is about culture. youold businesses no that don't criticize the people you do business with in public. netflix is a newer company. they are brave enough to do a deal with comcast and have favorite access, but also say that they do not want these in the future. >> i would put netflix in the savvy bucket. they played this game very well. when they decided to make a real push in hollywood, they did it the hollywood way. they were very friendly with the various content creators. you have seen their willingness to pay a lot

but if you take a step back, disney, viacom, 20th century fox , they get paid by comcast, who picks up content. whereas netflix pays comcast for these interconnection fees. of course netflix is going to complain about it. and companies like disney and cbs and foxx will be quieter since they are being paid by these guys. it is important to understand the context and why publicly one --e has said one thing and one side has said one thing and the other side is complaining. but netflix brings up a good point. when you have a company that has 30% of connections to all u.s. subscribers -- 38% of connections to all u.s. subscribers, that's a lot of power. i also wonder about culture. the old businesses in hollywood know that you don't criticize the people you do this with in public. but netflix is a newer, younger, silicon valley company that is brave enough to do a deal on the one hand, but they also want to have access and do not want to have to do these deals in the future. but i would put netflix in the fatty bucket. -- >> i would put netflix in the saavy bucket. they placed a team here a

we saw this country that viacom are buying channel five.ll put a lot more pressure on channel four and itv. it isn't just going to be that bt -- that bskyb is the giant. everyone is going to get pushed. will the ultimate winner, they have to provide original content? i'm thinking of netflix. >> my own view is that original content is key to this. this battle started by buying moving rights and it moved into buying sports rights. now it is getting into buying drama rights. you were playing kevin spacey's trailer for the interview tonight. you think about just what a seismic shift it is that netflix, accompany you never heard of a few years ago, is making something that has 100 episodes. that is a tremendous investment. it's working. people are signing up to netflix all over the world. >> that is going to be the real game changer. is there anything we are not real the -- realizing at the moment? when we look at the way we consume media. if anyone predicting the amount we would be using? >> i think people certainly thought that there would be

on the entertainment front, viacom has been one we've always liked along with discovery and i think both i can't tell what. okay? at some point we'll see more activity on a content companies as opposed to a distribution company. >> thanks for calling in. >> we love love-making in the corporate world. take care. >> mario gabelli. pete you saw unusual activity if not suspicious around mill shire? >> in april, averaged 500 contracts a day. 537 a day, exact number. go to may. last wednesday over 5,000 call contracts. thursday, 10500. friday, over 43,000 call contracts. it definitely stands out especially when you see this kind of a deal. thursday, our guys were good enough to write this up. the october 39 calls, $1.30 when purchased. today able to get out $6. a little bit of idea of leverage and what's going on in the markets. >> yeah. all right. still ahead, it's hillshire brands today. but who could it be tomorrow? out with its lists of ten takeover targets. what names do they have to add to that list? straight ahead. josh brown is pounding the table about one stock he says is on verge of

aba province of what has been gone he could've avoided the takeover of food you want over mighty by viacom of you to the oven. iraqi state of islamic state of iraq and chomp on recently in january this could've been avoided by being a little smarter and not being green the population of those two towns which are you're really feeling that they are trapped that they have no future in iraq and are no they don't belong on a tutu on to the un to that country anymore so this could have been gone a lot smarter up molly she choose the hard way and eventually destroyed chas all these people may turn against him and now we have a situation where actually when you talk about syria out of the costs to consider coming over to iraq. you have that up an entire area. it goes from the outskirts of the late col directly to anbar which is basically control a jihadist between now and this is a worry. this is a worry for everyone because it's a magnet for jackie's although the world it's there and didn't tell if that is already there and molly keep liam good fortune that i think the idea of selling eggs you a

and facebook, for example, directv and dish networks, as another example, and here in new york x.th viacomd tw these are all in play. of us is i have never seen a macro deal, and this is a big deal, contingent on an action involving a third party outside of their control, which is the nfl. i would've thought that if it was so integral to their strategy, to what they were trying to get done, they would've initiated discussions with the nfl and locked adela before. >> -- locked the deal of before. >> why didn't they do that? >> i am not sure they were advised. at&t, and directv, because it is contingent on their side. the package started in 1994 and $25 million a year. it is now $1 billion a year and what you have said to roger goodell at the nfl is what number do we get it again? why not $1.4 billion, $2 billion? it is a deal contingent on an uncontrollable third party, a commercial third-party. >> it seems risky. >> is good for good health. -- four roger goodell. monday because the negotiations fell into his hands. >> leo hindery is staying with us. coming up up, why the koch brothers are

let's assume for a second that they can buy programming from disney and viacom on directv's contractsfive or 6 for the million customers that at&t has on its universe platform, it will save some money. million aobably $400 year. outside of that, it is really hard to see any real synergies in this deal. you so much.nk i want everybody to remember this conversation 24 months from now. that will be a dumb conversation. it is about easy money, it is just mergers to do mergers. grisanti is making out like a bandit. >> you are right. .> let's get to a data check we have retail sales coming out at 8:30 a.m.. >> good morning, everyone. media.r a digital bloomberg video, bloomberg radio plus, been a huge success. we are honored by your attendance there. i am tom keene. with me, adam johnson and scarlet fu. saidve christopher guice -- grisanti for perspective. theht now, news across a pond pond. >> hans nichols joins us from london. hans, we knew that the stakes were high and that lawmakers are not happy. they're worried about jobs and guarantees. what happened when mr. reid actually went into

also out today, t-mobile, viacom, dominos pizza, beazer homes and generac. this came out of nowhere, didn't it? cinderella story with as many times as people have lost power, quite a little system they have. someday if you ever are in the burbs. >> i may have to get generac. >> unless you want to go to a hotel for three weeks when the power goes out. >>. >>> "the wall street journal" is reporting that coke is responding to warren buffett's decision to abstain from the shareholder vote, a topic he talked about with becky quick on april 23rd. >> we abstained because we didn't agree with the plan. we thought it was excessive. and i love coke. i love the management. i love the directors. but -- so i didn't want to vote no. kind of unamerican to vote no at a coke meeting. i didn't want to express any disapproval of management but we did disapprove of the plan. >> here's where it gets interesting this morning. we've obtained exclusively a new letter that activist investor david winters sent to coke's board of directors. he's cc'd is to warren buffett. this letter

>> cable networks like viacom, they just bought a u.k. free to air channel.ust bought a production company which produces a reality shows over there. even the u.s. content companies are saying we need more content for distribution over there. >> thank you so much for joining us. rough earnings report from hp and the announcement of up to 16,000 additional pink slips at the company. the challenges facing hewlett-packard. yft is hit with regulations. we are just getting started here on "in the loop." ♪ yesterday,e bell hewlett-packard reported earnings and profits that met most read expectations but sales dropped for the 11th quarter in a row. additionally, meg whitman announced 16,000 pink slips on top of the 34,000 already announced. are these the right steps to turn the company around as computer sales slump and competition arises? everyone is trying to get in on the cloud. joining me now is brian marshall, the head of isi's tech research team. are you impressed by these moves by hewlett-packard? >> obviously, they are in a tough position. one of the world's

which is this is the hill and saw i heard crackling actually thought it was some light rain by at viacom went and looked out the window and saw the fire. >> : there's a series of arson fires >> : this as another crime scene police say tried to extinguish a fire set in his crotch he suffered smoke inhalation rushed to hospital his car was taken away as evidence take a look at this front door. some police say their dispatching or controls to it before it gets worse >> : when fire in the rush another front door another 10 fires in this piece of undeveloped land emetine the two houses dozen fires in close proximity between $1 causing investigators it to expect our sentries >> : i support my girlfriend i loved my school and i want to make as good as it can be for people like us a battle at sacred heart high school and san francisco creating a huge campus controversy high school senior wore a tuxedo and her graduation picture apparently and school rules. and explain how long that became a call to action today. >> : many students of sicker heart cathedral prep in sentences totaling a female stu

america" disney's got "guardians of the galaxy" and "ma live sant" a new take on "sleeping beauty" and viacomransformers" expected to post big numbers here and china where it shot certain scenes and the last one pulled in $1 billion worldwide. my personal favorite -- >> oh, no, no. whoa. chill. just a mask. >> okay. that's "teenage mutant ninja turtles" one of the most li lucrative franchises. sold more alsoed toys last year than "star wars." back to you. >> okay. >> all right. thank you very much. i guess we're done. we got to go. the director of "godzilla" protecting the planet against global warming. >> we got to run. have a great weekend. join us on monday. "squawk on the street" begins right now. >> did you know that? ♪ >>> good friday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer, david faber at the new york stock exchange. looking for some relief from yesterday's tumble. worst day for the dow in five weeks, futures are stable on the back of a good beat in housing starts. consumer confidence this morning. ten-year is right around that 2.5 level. a leve

. >> sumner redstone likes to line his own pocket so he has paid the ceos of viacom and cbs which heod of time action even when the stock wasn't going up 70%, because that way he could pay himself more. i think les moonves is great but i'm not sure $65 million a year is the right number for any ceo. >> gene, it looks like donny will still be invited to les's parties. what about you, do you want to comment about les moonves and whether he deserves his money or not. >> i personally do, but i'm not commenting, though. >> i've always loved les moonves. i did, i loved him. >> and how much does he make again? i just forgot the number. >> not enough. >> ken, while they suck up to les moonves, can i ask you about n nabors industries? how low with the lowest wage earners there? given what it does, i would think it goes to the bottom of the barrel and has people paid the minimum wage or close to it. >> the company is based in the bahamas, an oil field services in it. they have engineers who are probably paid pretty well but it's mostly a foreign company that, you know, implies foreign workers.

we have seen is the explosion of all of the corporations, these fortune 500 companies, microsoft, viacom lobbying that you see. >> buying reporters and politicians drinks and hoping maybe down the road, better covera coverage? >> t t no necessarily they're going to be -- >> access. >> access. not necessarily in terms of creating a deal attempts but much more of that soft kind of brand embellishment. >> nothing sacred, john. the next thing you're going to tell me a white house selfie was sponsored bay cellphone company or something crazy like that. >> thanks for coming in. back to chris and michaela and kate in new york. there are some people who say reporters are supposed to stay way on the other line, not minkle and mix like this. others say, come on, it's a drink and a little music. that debate will not end this weekend. >> i think we all agree. we all have good enough split personality that we can have fun, we can yuck it up and still be as mean to the politicians the next day as we need to be. right? >> i personally think the process has been put on steroids too much but that's just

this film is philip viacom saying this is a movie that's going to break records in china. >> men who with the car tunes. >> imagine how plotted line. >> story was good it would be even better. >> do you know how to train your dragon? what is this again? >> how to train your dragon 2. this is another film well positioned this summer there are not a lot of animated films. if you have a family you want to take your kids to the movie, this is going to be your movie. >> first one was great. >> fantastic. >> "fault in our stars," do you think that will be a big hit? >> yeah, i think it is. it's a film about -- sounds really depressing but a young girl, she has terminal cancer, she falls in love but it's a social media phenomenon. bidly from divergent. it's a little sleeper that could. >> more fun to talk about moses that stink. give me a couple. >> well, you know, it's early, you don't want to -- i have got to have that caveat, but jupiter ascending has some very bad buzz on it. >> what is this? >> it's a film the folks who did the matrix movies had some bumpy roads there though with speed