Spotify's acquisition; EC's Open Fiber deal approval; Telefónica's job cut plans

TOP NEWS IN TMT

* Spotify Technology SA, the parent company of Spotify AB, agreed to acquire digital audiobook distributor Findaway World LLC for an undisclosed price, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

* The European Commission approved CDP Equity and Macquarie Group Ltd.'s acquisition of joint control of Italy's Open Fiber Spa. The EU regulator did not find horizontal overlaps or vertical relationships between the activities of Macquarie and Open Fiber and did not find anticompetitive concerns related to the proposed transaction.

* Spanish operator Telefónica SA plans to cut between 2,000 and 4,000 jobs via voluntary redundancy in the first half of 2022, Reuters reported, citing a source.

➤ M&A Replay: IT consulting, service firms top European dealmaking in October

Existing shareholders were behind two of the top three deals in the region's IT sector, data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows.

➤ Economics of Advertising: NFL dominates prime-time viewership in September

The start of the 2021-22 National Football League, or NFL, regular season attracted millions of viewers, making the top 11 prime-time telecasts of the month's NFL-related content, according to Comscore data.

TECHNOLOGY

* Sberbank of Russia unveiled its second supercomputer and artificial intelligence upgrades as part of its digital services offerings, which include cloud computing and virtual assistant software, Chief Technology Officer David Rafalovsky told Reuters.

INTERNET & OTT

* Vodafone Group PLC became a nationwide anchor customer of CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. and has increased its commitment to 285 cities, towns and villages by 2025.

* Nordic Entertainment Group AB (publ) will start the production of its first Norwegian original film, which will be available on the Viaplay streaming service later this year.

* German media company Leonine Studios launched subscription video-on-demand channels Filmlegenden and Cinema of Hearts on Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video Channels, DWDL reported. Both channels can be tested for free for 14 days, after which they will cost €3.99 per month.

* German sports streaming provider Sport1 Medien AG acquired the rights to Major League Baseball in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for five seasons until 2026.

* Rakuten Group Inc.'s Rakuten TV added channels CNN, Rakuten Stories, Comedy Movies, Action Movies and Drama Movies to LG Electronics Inc.'s free streaming service, LG Channels, in the U.K., Digital TV Europe reported.

MEDIA

* Pierre Chappaz is stepping down as executive chairman of Altice Europe's advertising unit Teads BV. Co-founder Bertrand Quesada will remain as CEO, while Jeremy Arditi was promoted to the role of co-CEO.

* TV3 Group's TV3 Sport and Go3 channels will carry live broadcasts from the National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball season and March Madness season in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, under an exclusive multiyear broadcast deal with Espn Sports Media Ltd., Broadband TV News reported.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

* Luxembourg-based operator Millicom International Cellular SA agreed to fully acquire its joint venture businesses in Guatemala by purchasing the remaining 45% equity interest from its local partner for $2.2 billion in cash.

* Telecom Italia SpA's board agreed to prepare a new strategic plan, following top investor Vivendi SE's call for a meeting amid profit warnings, Reuters reported, citing sources. The strategic plan will be due February 2022.

* A Dutch court ruled that KPN NV can shut off its copper-based telecom network on Jan. 1, 2023, and does not have to give network user T-Mobile Netherlands BV more time to switch to a new fiber network, Financieele Dagblad reported. The Deutsche Telekom AG unit went to court on the matter, alleging that KPN's shutdown of the old network could disadvantage competitors.

* U.K. regulator Ofcom made changes to its universal broadband service rules that will require British Telecom to inform customers of excess costs for broadband service connections when applicable and acquire consent before delivering the connection.

* Vodafone Deutschland GmbH and Sky Deutschland GmbH teamed up to offer an app that allows visitors to switch between different cameras during a soccer stadium visit through the use of 5G technologies.

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Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Koen Pijnappels and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.

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