Raphael Stevens

Disney and DirecTV reached an agreement to end a blackout in time for college football on Saturday.
Disney’s networks have been dark for DirecTV’s customers for roughly two weeks, leaving them without college football, the U.S. Open and “Monday Night Football.”
The dispute underscores how valuable live sports is both for the media companies that own rights to air the games and the pay-TV providers who want to show them.

A Clemson Tigers helmet on the field of last season’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Clemson is among the NCAA Division I major conference programs to recently have football players test positive for Covid-19, adding more uncertainty to the planned start of college football season.
Alika Jenner | Getty Images

DirecTV and Disney have reached a deal that brings Disney’s ESPN and other channels back to the pay-tv provider’s customers after a roughly two week blackout.
The deal comes in time for college football this Saturday, which airs on ABC, ESPN, as well as the SEC Network and ACC Network, as well as the Emmy Awards which air on ABC. CNBC earlier reported a deal could be made as early as Saturday.

Disney’s networks went dark on Sept. 1 after the two sides could not agree to terms on fees and bundle structures. The dispute left DirecTV’s more than 11 million customers without access to the U.S. Open, college football and this season’s opening “Monday Night Football” game.
DirecTV executives began calling for the ability to offer skinnier, genre-specific bundles to customers in the weeks leading up to the dispute, and again when the Disney networks went dark. Disney had said that DirecTV’s offers did not reflect the value that its networks provide. 
On Saturday, DirecTV and Disney said they reached a deal that called for “market based terms” on pricing.
The deal also gives DirecTV the opportunity to offer multiple genre-specific options, such as sports, entertainment and kids and family, inclusive of Disney’s traditional TV networks, along with its streaming services, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.
DirecTV will be able to offer Disney’s streaming services in its packages and a la carte, the company said in a release Saturday. DirecTV also won the rights to distribute Disney’s upcoming ESPN flagship direct-to-consumer streaming service — expected to launch in fall 2025 — at no additional cost to its subscribers.

The inclusion of Disney’s streaming services and ESPN’s future flagship service echoes the carriage agreement reached between Charter Communications and Disney last year after a similar blackout. Charter and Disney had reached a deal in time for the first week of “Monday Night Football.”
In a joint statement, DirecTV and Disney called this a “first-of-its-kind collaboration” as it gives “customers the ability to tailor their video experience through more flexible options.”
The blackout had underscored how valuable live sports is both for the media companies that own rights to air the games and the pay-TV providers who want to show them.
Since Sept. 1, both sides accused the other of holding up an agreement. DirecTV called Disney anti-consumer, and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro called the responses DirecTV made to Disney’s package offers “basically hypotheticals.”
Through the blackout the companies, their customers and other business owners appear to have lost out.
“We never want to black out. It’s not good for either side. It’s not good for the customer, of course. We did everything we could,” ESPN’s Pitaro said on CNBC last week.
The amount of customers DirecTV lost during the dispute was not “immaterial,” said DirecTV Chief Marketing Officer Vince Torres at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia & Technology Conference on Thursday.
DirecTV offered its customers a $30 credit, financed by stopping payments to Disney as soon as the blackout began, Torres said.
During the dispute, many small business owners were also unable to offer the full slate of sports that they usually do. Many bars and restaurants rely on DirecTV as a commercial distributor of the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” package of out of market games — which was unaffected by the blackout — and therein use the pay TV provider for the rest of its TV content, including ESPN.
Beyond sports, the blackout also occurred during the presidential debate on Tuesday, leaving customers in certain markets without access to Disney’s ABC broadcast network.
Disney had sought to temporarily allow DirecTV to offer ABC to its customers for that night, but the pay TV provider refused. DirecTV called it a public relations play and said it did not believe it was necessary to open ABC since the debate was also being broadcast on several other news networks.
Antitrust in media has been closely watched in recent weeks after Venu, the joint streaming venture between Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox Corp. and Disney, was temporarily blocked by a judge on antitrust concerns. Fubo TV initially brought the suit and DirecTV and EchoStar’s Dish have since supported it. 
DirectTV last week said it filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission that said Disney did not negotiate in good faith. The FCC has rules that require broadcast owners to do so. The release on Saturday didn’t state the status of the complaint, but sources tell CNBC it “remains active.”
The entire pay-tv bundle has been upended in recent years as customers have turned to streaming services and other forms of entertainment in place of the traditional structure. The shift has fragmented the media ecosystem, and live sports — especially Disney’s ESPN — is considered the linchpin holding the bundle together due to its high viewership.
DirecTV is in the midst of an ad campaign to remind consumers that it is more than a satellite TV company — it has a streaming bundle, too. More

Pfizer said its experimental drug for a common, life-threatening condition that causes cancer patients to lose their appetite and weight showed positive results in a midstage trial.
Patients with the condition, called cancer cachexia, who took Pfizer’s treatment saw improvements in body weight, muscle mass, quality of life and physical function.
The results could pave the way for the drug, a monoclonal antibody called ponsegromab, to become the first treatment approved specifically for cancer cachexia. 

Kena Betancur | Corbis News | Getty Images

Pfizer’s experimental drug for a common, life-threatening condition that causes cancer patients to lose their appetite and weight showed positive results in a midstage trial, the drugmaker said Saturday. 
Patients with the condition, called cancer cachexia, who took Pfizer’s treatment saw improvements in body weight, muscle mass, quality of life and physical function, according to the drugmaker. The results could pave the way for the drug, a monoclonal antibody called ponsegromab, to become the first treatment approved in the U.S. specifically for cancer cachexia. 

The condition affects about 9 million people worldwide, and 80% of cancer patients suffering from it are expected to die within one year of diagnosis, according to the company.
Patients with cancer cachexia don’t eat enough food to meet their body’s energy needs, causing significant fat and muscle loss and leaving them weak, fatigued and, in some cases, unable to perform daily activities. Cancer cachexia is currently defined as a loss of 5% or more body weight over the past six months in cancer patients, along with symptoms such as fatigue, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The symptoms of the condition can make cancer treatments less effective and contribute to lower survival rates, Pfizer said. 
“We would see ponsegromab fitting into the treatment of cancer patients, really addressing that unmet need in cachexia, and through that, improving their wellness, their ability to care for themselves, and we would also hope their ability to tolerate more treatment,” Charlotte Allerton, Pfizer’s head of discovery and early development, told CNBC in an interview. 
Pfizer has not disclosed the estimated revenue opportunity of the drug, which could potentially be approved for different uses.

The company presented the data Saturday at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2024 Congress, a cancer research conference held in Barcelona, Spain. The results were also published in The New England Journal of Medicine. 
The phase two trial followed 187 people with non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer or colorectal cancer and high levels of a key driver of cachexia called growth differentiation factor 15, or GDF-15. It is a protein that binds to a certain receptor in the brain and has an impact on appetite, according to Allerton. 
After 12 weeks, patients who took the highest dose of ponsegromab — 400 milligrams — saw a 5.6% increase in weight compared with those who received a placebo. Patients who took a 200-milligram or 100-milligram dose of the drug saw a roughly 3.5% and 2% increase in body weight, respectively, compared with the placebo group. 
Allerton said a work group of experts defines a weight gain of greater than 5% as a “clinically meaningful difference in cancer patients with cachexia.” She added that the drug’s effect on other measures of wellness, such as increased appetite and physical activity, is “really what offers us the encouragement.” 
Pfizer said it did not observe any significant side effects with the drug. Treatment-related side effects occurred in 8.9% of people taking a placebo and 7.7% of those who took Pfizer’s treatment, the company said. 
The company said it is discussing late-stage development plans for the drug with regulators, and aims to start studies in 2025 that can be used to file for approval. Pfizer is also studying ponsegromab in a phase two trial in patients with heart failure, who can also suffer from cachexia.
Pfizer’s drug works by reducing the levels of GDF-15. Pfizer believes this can improve appetite and enable patients to maintain and gain weight. 
“For most of us, we have low levels of GDF-15 in our tissues when we’re healthy, but we really do see this up regulation of GDF-15 in more of these chronic conditions, and in this case, cancer,” Allerton said. More

Prices on Shein and Temu could rise by as much as 20% if the Biden administration successfully closes the so-called “de minimis loophole.”
The loophole allows packages valued under $800 to avoid import duties and scrutiny at the border.
Shein and Temu have said their low prices aren’t related to the de minimis exemption and instead, their innovative business models.

A man walking past a logo of fast fashion e-commerce company Shein outside its office in Guangzhou in southern China’s Guangdong province. 
Jade Gao | Afp | Getty Images

The bottom of the barrel prices that have made Chinese-linked e-tailers Shein and Temu so popular with American consumers could soon rise if the Biden administration curtails their use of a trade law loophole.
The companies, known for their $5 T-shirts and $10 sweaters, could see prices rise by at least 20% if the so-called de minimis provision is changed, a spokesperson for the Republican majority of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party told CNBC. The committee made the estimate after launching investigations into Shein and Temu more than a year ago.

Neil Saunders, a retail analyst and the managing director of GlobalData, agreed the policy change would likely increase prices, but couldn’t say by how much. 
“If the de minimis exemption is removed, then the cost of products from marketplaces like Shein and Temu will rise. They will still be cheap marketplaces but they won’t have quite the competitive edge on price that they do now,” Saunders told CNBC in an email. “That may lose them some market share or slow their growth, but they will likely respond by pushing into some higher-priced items to balance out their propositions.”
On Friday morning, the Biden administration announced plans to bar overseas shipments of products that are subject to U.S.-China tariffs from being eligible for the de minimis exemption. 
An obscure tariff law loophole that’s been around since the 1930s, the exemption allows packages with a value of less than $800 to enter the United States without the shippers paying import duties and with less scrutiny than larger containers. 
The announcement comes after more than a year of scrutiny into the companies from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and in particular, the House Select Committee on the CCP. 

Both Shein and Temu declined to tell CNBC if they will raise prices due the proposed changes. The companies also disputed that their low prices are driven by the de minimis exemption and said their business models allow them to offer their ultra-affordable rates.
A spokesperson for Shein noted that the company supports de minimis reform and was recently accepted into a voluntary, pilot program with U.S. Customs and Border Protection where it agreed to provide additional data about packages and shipments.

A risk to their competitive edge 

Over the last couple of years, the two companies have taken U.S. consumers by storm with their ultra-low prices and their ability to rapidly churn out trending styles far faster than competitors can. Shein is estimated to take in more than $30 billion in revenue annually, but it’s unclear what Temu’s sales are. Its parent company, PDD Holdings, saw $34.9 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023 — a 90% increase from the year ago period.
As the companies have become go-to shopping destinations, they’ve taken market share from rivals that cater to similar consumer segments, such as H&M, Zara, Target, Walmart and Amazon.
If Shein’s prices were to rise by 20%, it would put its assortment closer in line with those competitors, which could make it harder for it to compete.
For example, the average price of a dress on Shein was $28.51 as of June 1, according to data from Edited, a London-based research firm that analyzed the company’s pricing strategy and shared metrics with Reuters.
At the time, that price was well below the average cost for dresses at H&M and Zara, which were $40.97 and $79.69, respectively, according to Edited’s data. However, if costs were to rise by 20%, that would make the average dress price on Shein $34.21 – far closer to H&M’s average price.
There’s no guarantee prices would rise 20% if the Biden administration’s proposal takes effect. Still, taken together with the company’s long shipping times, a smaller discount relative to Shein’s rivals may lead some consumers to opt for retailers that are closer to home. 
“Ultimately, while reforming the de minimis rules makes for a fairer and more level playing field, like any tariff it will end up costing consumers more,” said Saunders. 

Scrutiny of a digital darling

Last year, the committee began investigating Shein and Temu for slave labor in their supply chains and zeroed in on their use of the de minimis exemption, claiming in a June 2023 report that both companies didn’t pay any import duties in 2022. Shein disputed that claim and said the company paid millions of import duties in 2022 and 2023. It has, however, acknowledged that cotton from banned regions has been found in its supply chain and said it’s working to rectify the issue. Temu didn’t respond to inquiries about slave labor in its supply chain.
“As the Select Committee’s investigation into Shein and Temu revealed, the majority of products from Shein and Temu fall under the de minimis exception. This allows them to dodge U.S. Customs and evade the scrutiny other retailers face. The U.S. must urgently curb these shipments and force these companies to correct their anemic compliance practices,” a spokesperson for the committee told CNBC.
The spokesperson added that “Congress must urgently make de minimis reform law.”
As scrutiny of Shein intensified, its hopes of pulling off a long awaited U.S. public offering dwindled. 
Lawmakers, eager to curtail the influence that Chinese-linked retailers were having on the U.S. economy and take steps they said would level the playing field for American companies, were unlikely to propose an outright ban of Shein and Temu, similar to what was done with social media company TikTok. 
Instead, numerous lawmakers called for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to block Shein’s IPO and targeted the de minimis exemption as the best way to curtail the company’s growth. 
Now, more than a year into those efforts and Shein’s own sputtering charm offensive, its plans for a New York IPO are all but dead and it has turned to London in hopes of finding a friendlier reception. 
In June, CNBC reported that Shein had confidentially filed for a public listing in London as it faced backlash in the U.S. 
It’s unclear what impact the proposed de minimis changes will have on Shein’s IPO plans. More

Chief Financial Officer Brian West said the financial impact of the strike will depend on how long it lasts, but noted it will affect the company’s production of its bestselling planes.
Boeing workers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative labor agreement and walked off the job after midnight on Friday.
The potential production disruption comes as the plane maker has been facing a slew of issues.

Union members hold picket signs during a news conference following a vote count on the union contract at the IAM District 751 Main Union Hall in Seattle, Washington, US, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. 
M. Scott Brauer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Boeing CFO Brian West said the labor strike that began just after midnight Friday will hurt aircraft deliveries and “jeopardize” the company’s recovery, hours after factory workers overwhelmingly rejected a new labor contract and walked off the job.
West said the financial impact of the strike will depend on how long it lasts, but that it will affect the company’s production of its bestselling planes, including its cash cow bestseller, the 737 Max, which is produced in Renton, Washington.

“The strike will impact production and deliveries and our operations and will jeopardize our recovery,” West said at a Morgan Stanley conference on Friday. “So our immediate focus is to the laser-like focus on actions to conserve cash, and we will.”

Boeing factory workers gather on a picket line during the first day of a strike near the entrance of a production facility in Renton, Washington, U.S., September 13, 2024. 
Matt Mills Mcknight | Reuters

He said Boeing’s priority is to get back to the bargaining table and “reach an agreement that’s good for our people, their families, our community.”
Boeing shares fell sharply on Friday after Moody’s put all of Boeing’s credit ratings on review for a downgrade and Fitch Ratings said a prolonged strike could put Boeing at risk of a downgrade, actions that could drive up the borrowing costs of a manufacturer that already has mounting debt.
Boeing shares closed nearly 4% lower Friday.
West declined to say whether the company could meet a rate of producing 38 737 Max planes per month by the end of the year.

Jefferies aerospace analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu had previously estimated that a 30-day strike could be a $1.5 billion hit for Boeing.
West said Boeing’s immediate focus would be “on actions to conserve cash” and added that new CEO Kelly Ortberg would be working to restore relationships with the union.
Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers had unveiled a tentative labor agreement on Sunday that included 25% wage increases over four years and other improvements to health-care and retirement benefits. But workers had been looking for raises of 40% and argued that it didn’t cover the increased cost of living.

Read more CNBC airline news

Workers in the Seattle area and in Oregon voted 94.6% to reject the proposal, and 96% voted in favor of a strike.
They walked off the job after midnight on Friday.
Boeing machinists last went on strike in 2008, a work stoppage that lasted nearly two months.
The potential production disruption comes as the manufacturer has been facing a slew of issues. It’s struggled to ramp up production and restore its reputation following safety crises.
A door plug blowout on a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 in January led the Federal Aviation Administration to bar Boeing from increasing output of its Max planes and the FAA to boost inspections at production plants, until the regulator is satisfied with its safety and quality procedures there.
An FAA spokeswoman told CNBC on Friday that the agency will keep its inspectors at Boeing facilities during the strike.

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Two U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill to address sports betting at the federal level.
The proposed legislation would focus on affordability, advertising and artificial intelligence.
Operators, meanwhile, say the sports betting industry has brought benefits, such as tax contributions, and state regulations are adequate.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) (L) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) hold a news conference to introduce online gambling legislation outside the U.S. Capitol on September 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. 
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

Sports gambling has exploded across the United States over the past six years and, in response, two lawmakers have introduced legislation that would implement federal regulations on the practice.
Rep. Paul Tonko D-N.Y. and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Thursday introduced the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet, or the SAFE Bet Act, which seeks to ensure sports betting operators comply with minimum federal standards and tries to address the public health implications resulting from the legalization of sports betting.

“This relationship between the gambling industry and sports has reached intolerably dangerous levels, and it’s well past time for Congress to just to step up and make a difference,” Tonko said in a press conference on Thursday.
The Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting in 2018. Six years later, sports betting has exploded across the United States, as 38 states have legalized it. The industry posted a record $11 billion in 2023, marking a 44% increase over the previous year, according to the American Gaming Association.
It’s also brought billions in new revenue to states as they take a cut of the pie through taxes.
The rapid growth has led to operators fronting big money to acquire customers through advertisements, promotions and enticements.
“Now every single solitary moment of every sporting event across the globe has become a betting opportunity, whether you’re scrolling on social media, driving down the highway past billboards, or listening to your favorite podcast or radio station, sports betting ads are there to prompt you with an endless cascade of flashy promotions,” Tonko said.

Gordon Douglas joined the lawmakers at the press conference and said he’s seen the challenges of gambling addiction firsthand with his son, 28-year-old Andrew Douglas. Gordon Douglas says his son, an athlete and coach, signed up with a gambling company and was then inundated with promotions and ads from at least six others.
“He became a different person that would say anything to get money to gamble,” he said. “He reached a point of wanting to end his life because he saw no way out.”
The Douglas family is not alone — an estimated 7 million people in the U.S. have a gambling problem, with one in five problem gamblers having attempted suicide, according to the National Institutes of Health and National Council on Problem Gambling.
A July report found that the odds of bankruptcy filing in states with legal betting increased by as much as 25% to 30%.
The lawmakers say they are not trying to ban gambling on sports — they are just trying to make it safe for the public to enjoy as a recreational activity by pushing for a national standard.
“State regulation is faint-hearted and half-baked. That’s why we need a national standard — not to ban gambling — but simply to take back control over an industry that is out of bounds,” Blumenthal said Thursday.
The bill addresses three key areas tied to sports betting: advertising, affordability and artificial intelligence.
“This industry is exploiting the most advanced technology to make the most money,” Blumenthal said about AI.
He said he wants to prohibit the use of AI to track player’s gambling habits and individual promotions.
The bill is also pushing for changes to advertising, which includes prohibiting sportsbooks from advertising during live sporting events that are intended to induce gambling with “no sweat,” or “bonus” type bets.
Finally, the legislation would limit customer deposits to five in a 24-hour period. It would mandate gambling operators ensure customers who wager more than $1,000 can afford to do so.
“The gambling industry is following a playbook developed by the tobacco industry and this is a direct threat to public health,” said Richard Daynard, a law professor and president of the Public Health Advocacy Group at Northwestern.
The sports betting operators, meanwhile, are fighting back and saying the industry has brought benefits.
Chris Cylke, the American Gaming Association’s senior vice president of government relations, said the bill is “a slap in the face” to state regulators and gaming operators that have dedicated significant time and resources to developing the framework as the market evolves.
“Today’s regulated sports wagering operators are contributing billions in state taxes across the U.S., protecting consumers from dangerous neighborhood bookies and illegal offshore websites, and working diligently with over 5,000 state and tribal regulators and other stakeholders to ensure a commitment to responsibility and positive play,” Clyke said.
The bill has also received public opposition from Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who called the SAFE Bet Act “outdated” and “unwarranted.”
Douglas said his family has been able to get help for his son, but he wants to ensure that others don’t fall down a similar path.
“We as a country should not allow him and others like him to be exploited,” he said. “We should do what is right to limit access to this type of gambling.”
If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor.
— CNBC’s Contessa Brewer contributed to this report. More