TelevisaUnivision, fuboTV renew carriage deal; TELUS to invest C$23B in Ontario

TOP NEWS IN TMT

* Virtual provider fuboTV Inc. and TelevisaUnivision Inc. reached a new agreement for fuboTV's continued carriage of broadcast networks Univision (US) and UniMás (US), cable network Galavision (US) and sports service TUDN (US). Additionally, TelevisaUnivision announced that it will launch the premium version of streaming service ViX in the U.S., Mexico and most of Spanish-speaking Latin America on July 21.

* TELUS Corp. plans to invest C$23 billion in network infrastructure, operations and spectrum across Ontario, Canada, through 2026. The telecommunications company will also invest C$430 million in the city of Calgary in Alberta this year as part of its planned C$17 billion investment across the province through 2026.

➤ Data Dispatch: 'Doctor Strange' 2 boosts European film revenue with 147.5% YOY surge

Europe's cumulative gross box office revenue stood at about $1.23 billion in the first five months of 2022, and there were 209 film releases in May against 168 titles released in May 2021.

➤ Data Dispatch: South Korean box office stays afloat despite YOY slump in APAC film earnings

Asia-Pacific cinemas recorded a 27.4% dip in film earnings year over year between January and May, with cumulative gross box office revenue at about $3.41 billion.

➤ MarketWeek: Tech, media, telecom IPOs crater in H1 amid bearish sentiment

IPOs in the technology, media and telecommunications industry came to a near standstill in the first half of 2022 after a boom year in 2021.

INTERNET AND OTT

* Meta Platforms Inc. will shut down digital wallet and money-transfer platform Novi on Sept. 1, with both the Novi app and Novi on WhatsApp affected by the move, according to a notice on the service's website. Users will no longer be able to add money to their accounts starting July 21.

* Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC will automatically delete users' visits to medical facilities, including counseling centers, domestic violence shelters and abortion clinics, from their accounts' location history as part of efforts to protect user privacy on health topics, according to a blog post by Jen Fitzpatrick, Google's senior vice president for core systems and experiences.

* Google expects to begin in early 2023 the construction for Google Fiber's expansion in Mesa, Ariz. The Mesa City Council is set to vote on measures for deploying a gigabit speed, fiber-to-the-home network on July 11.

* TikTok Inc. CEO Shou Zi Chew told U.S. senators in a letter that the company is upgrading its data security to address the government's concerns regarding the data practices of the Beijing Byte Dance Telecommunications Co. Ltd.-owned tech platform, The Wall Street Journal reported. The letter included details on the company's "Project Texas" initiative that focuses on protecting user data and U.S. national-security interests.

* Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., the social media company of former U.S. President Donald Trump, received subpoenas from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a federal grand jury in relation to separate legal probes, The Associated Press reported, citing a securities filing by Digital World Acquisition Corp. Digital World is a blank-check company that plans to merge with Trump Media.

* Reddit Inc. acquired MeaningCloud Europe SL, a natural language processing company based in Spain. MeaningCloud's team will support Reddit's machine learning projects across its product, safety and ads teams.

FILM AND TV

* Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal Media LLC will shut down The Olympic Channel on Sept. 30, Deadline reported, citing a statement from NBC Sports Inc. NBC Sports is reevaluating its programming distribution strategy for the Olympic Channel's content, with plans expected to be announced in the fall.

* Illumination Entertainment's "Minions: The Rise of Gru" achieved the strongest opening weekend for an animated-feature film since before the COVID-19 pandemic, with domestic ticket sales of $107 million, The Wall Street Journal reported. The movie was estimated to have reached a box office total of $125.2 million over four days, including the Fourth of July holiday, according to Comscore.

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