TOP NEWS
* 21st Century Fox Inc. unit Twentieth Century Fox has acquired a 4% stake in Italian transactional video-on-demand platform Chili SpA for €6 million, Broadband TV News reports. Chili remains controlled by Brace, which was founded by Stefano Parisi and Giorgio Tacchia, with a stake of about 30% in the streaming platform. Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment, Viacom Inc. and its unit Paramount Pictures Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. also hold stakes in Chili, Advanced Television reports.
* The European Union is anticipated to announce "in the coming weeks" plans to impose taxes on tech companies' revenues in the range of 2% to 6%, Reuters reports, citing French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire's interview with Le Journal du Dimanche. Le Maire said the rate is likely to be closer to 2%.
PAN-EUROPEAN
* The European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission have reached an agreement to make the radio spectrum for 5G available in the EU by 2020.
UK AND IRELAND
* InQuisiTiVe Media will launch a subscription video-on-demand service in the U.K. in July, Rapid TV News reports. IQTV will also offer exclusive rights to BBC Worldwide Ltd.'s rights to shows such as "Mastermind," "Celebrity Mastermind," "A Question of Genius" and "The Weakest Link," together with Channel 4 (UK)'s "Countdown" and Banijay International's "Only Connect."
* Apple Inc. has decided to keep Dialog Semiconductor Plc as a supplier for power management chips through 2019 and 2020, laying to rest concerns that the iPhone maker would cut ties with the Reading, U.K.-based chipmaker, Reuters reports. Dialog CEO Jalal Bagherli told Euro am Sonntag that Apple has commissioned the company for chips for a number of devices. For its part, Dialog has rejected rumors about the supposed cancellation of its contracts with Apple, Handelsblatt reports.
* U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is calling for the exploration of "creative options" to continue broadcasting in the EU after Brexit, which would remove British broadcasting companies' license to air in EU member states.
* British broadband infrastructure provider CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings Plc has filed a judicial review over the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority's misleading definition of "fiber," London's The Daily Telegraph reports. The advertising watchdog said it would respond to the filing "in due course."
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA U.K.
* The Swiss voted against the abolition of broadcasting fees under an initiative dubbed "no billag," Neue Zuercher Zeitung reports. A second trend calculation by the Schweizerische Radio und Fernsehgesellschaft (SRG) indicated that 71% of voters rejected the initiative. Following the vote, the SRG announced plans to launch measures to save CHF100 million and boost efficiency.
* German software developer SAP SE will allow its 22,000 staff in Germany to choose where they work from, Die Welt reports, citing SAP PR head Cawa Younosi's interview with German press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
* Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA CEO Thomas Rabe told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that digital shops had become an important part of the group's business, contributing an average €5 billion in sales. The company has plans to expand to €7 billion in sales over the coming years.
* Axel Springer SE said Stefan Voswinkel, previously head of the Auto department at German tabloid Bild, is the new deputy editor in chief for Bild Group. He reports to Tom Drechsler, editor in chief of Bild Auto.
FRANCE
*
* Ubisoft Entertainment SA acquired Atlanta-based video game development studio Blue Mammoth Games Inc. Further details of the deal were not disclosed.
* Dailymotion SA has renewed its exclusive live-stream partnership with the Generation Iron Sports Network to broadcast the 2018 edition of the Arnold Sports Festival and Arnold Classic in the U.S.
NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG
* Belgian provider Proximus reported a 1.1% underlying revenue increase for its domestic operations, to about €4.46 billion, primarily driven by the ongoing expansion of Proximus' TV, internet and mobile postpaid customer base and the revenue increase from ICT. For its domestic operations, the operator increased its EBITDA by 2% to €1.68 billion, in spite of the €41 million net loss of roaming margin.
* Liberty Global plc unit Telenet announced the completion of the refinancing of part of its debt with an additional $300 million term loan, which will carry the same terms a previous loan issued on Dec. 1, 2017. Both loans run until March 2026.
* RTL Nederland will stop providing its RTL Gemist service to providers such as KPN NV and Ziggo NV from April 3, as they would offer decent on-demand services themselves, MediaMagazine reports. RTL will keep its on-demand service RTL XL, which allows users to watch RTL programs from up to seven days ago.
* Gijs van Beek has taken up the position of head of digital sales at RTL Nederland. Van Beek previously was head of publisher trading at GroupM.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* A merger between TDC A/S and Modern Times Group AB's Nordic business, which includes MTG Entertainment and MTG Studios, is now unlikely, MTG said. The media group noted that TDC had withdrawn its recommendation for TDC shareholders to support the merger.
* Telia Co. AB will use earnings from Spotify AB's stock market listing to pursue acquisitions in Scandinavia, Berlingske Tidende reports. Telia invested 950 million Swedish kronor in Spotify in 2015. The holding may be worth 2.4 billion kronor post listing.
* Telenor ASA said Telenor Norge AS will launch a new digital-based Smart Retail service in Norway. Smart Retail is aimed at retailers that are looking for innovative solutions to sell more products. It uses beacons to send offers to shopper's smartphones while in-store.
* Ericsson AB CEO Börje Ekholm earned a salary of 14 million Swedish kronor in 2017, Dagens Industri reports. Ekholm became Ericsson's CEO in mid-January 2017.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* Telecom Italia SpA clarified that it maintains "full and exclusive ownership" of Persidera and has merely appointed Advolis SA as a proxy to act in the sale of the operator's unit, as its shareholder Vivendi requested. Advolis is to coordinate with CEO Amos Genish for the RaiWay-F2i offer, which has been approved by the company's board.
* F2i and Raiway underscored that they will not extend the March 2 deadline for their €250 million offer to buy Telecom Italia's stake in Persidera, Reuters reports, citing sources. The reported statement comes after U.S. infrastructure fund I Squared Capital expressed interest to acquire the Italian operator's Persidera stake for €290 million.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Hrvatski Telekom will reorganize its board's management structure after the expiration of Boris Batelic's role as chief executive of user experience May 1, Broadband TV News reports. That role will be abolished and the Croatian operator's board will then be composed of six members, including those who will be in charge of technical and information functions, private user segment and their user experience, the business segment users and their user experience and human resources functions.
* Latvian cable operator Baltcom added music TV channels MTV Live HD and VH1 Europe to its pay TV offering, Telecompaper reports.
FEATURED NEWS
Comcast to gain significant streaming video footprint with potential Sky deal: A potential combination with European video operator Sky would link Comcast to an aggressive digital video strategy in Western Europe and other international markets.
EU demands 1-hour removal of terrorist content from social media platforms: Online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been ordered to remove terrorist content within one hour of being notified, according to a set of new recommendations by the European Commission.
MarketWeek: Comcast, Fox, Disney shares fall as investors weigh potential Sky bidding war: All of the major players with stakes in a potential bidding war for British pay TV giant Sky saw shares fall during the week ended March 2.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Wireless Investor: Brazil emptying 700 MHz for mobile; towercos watchful as MNOs begin to recover: Brazil's Digital Switchover, clearing the country's 700 MHz for mobile use, is expected to finish by 2019. In addition to 10-year and 4G subs forecasts, Kagan's update on Brazilian mobile includes spectrum and tower information.
Anne Freier, Amanda Kelly, Charlotte van Hek and Gerard O'Dwyer contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription.
