By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. proved to be a rare
gainer in the tech sector Monday following reports that the
consumer-electronics gains has had talks about a new streaming TV
service involving a partnership with Comcast Corp.
Apple (AAPL) rose 1.2% to close at $539.19 a share after The
Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday that Apple is discussing
with Comcast (CMCSA) the development of a streaming TV service that
would use an Apple set-top box and receive special carriage
treatment on Comcast's broadband network. The gist of the
partnership, if it comes to pass, would allow Apple's service to
receive better delivery to consumers using the Apple set-top
box.
The Journal said Apple wants to offer the ability to stream both
live and on-demand TV programs as well as shows that have been
stored in a cloud environment. The talks are said to be far from
reaching a conclusion or agreement.
Apple currently offers its Apple TV set-top box, which lets
users buy or rent movies, and purchase TV show episodes via iTunes.
It also allows access to streaming services such as Hulu, Major
League Baseball, HBO and Netflix.
For its part, Netflix (NFLX) saw its shares fall 6.7% to close
Monday at $378.90 in the wake of the Journal report on Apple and
Comcast. Netflix recently reached a deal with Comcast that allows
Netflix to connect its service directly to Comcast's broadband
network in order to provide a better viewing experience for its
subscribers.
Last week, Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings released a blog
post in which he called for a revamp of the so-called
"net-neutrality" rules that would allow content providers like
Netflix to be able to connect to broadband networks for free. On
Friday, AT&T Inc. senior executive vice president Jim Cicconi
countered Hastings' argument by saying "As we all know, there is no
free lunch, and there's also no cost-free delivery of streaming
movies. Someone has to pay that cost."
Another notable decliner Monday was Internet radio company
Pandora Media Inc. (P), which fell almost 8% to $31.39 a share. The
music publication Billboard reported that Apple is considering
launching an iTunes app that would work with Google's Android-based
mobile devices.
Nearly every other tech-sector leader was in the red. Losses
came from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), eBay Inc.
(EBAY), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) pulled back from its
session-low point, but still closed with a loss of 50 points at
4,226.
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