* Netflix Inc. and Mediaset SpA are teaming up to co-produce seven feature films, and the U.S. streaming giant will contribute a majority of the funding, Bloomberg News reports, citing sources. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is expected to visit Rome next week to announce the deal.
* The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that individual EU member states can order Facebook Inc. to remove or disable global access to users' comments that were declared unlawful. The decision is related to a case filed by Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek, a former leader of Austrian parliamentary party the Greens, who wanted Facebook to remove comments posted on a user's personal page that a court found to have insulted and defamed her.
* London's Court of Appeal gave the green light to move forward with a legal action against Google LLC over allegations of collecting data from around 4 million iPhone users between June 2011 and February 2012, Reuters reports. The recent decision overturns a 2018 ruling, which called to block any legal action against the Alphabet Inc. unit. A Google spokeswoman stated that the issue had been addressed and the case "has no merit."
UK AND IRELAND
* The U.S. and the U.K. signed an agreement to access electronic communications from terrorists, crime gangs and criminals by forcing internet companies, such as Facebook, Google and Twitter Inc., to provide content of emails, texts and direct messages to British authorities, London's Financial Times reports. The agreement will also require U.K.-based companies to provide information requested by U.S. authorities. The agreement has yet to be ratified in the U.S. Congress or the U.K.'s House of Commons and may only come into force by early next year.
* Dutch tycoon John de Mol is leaving ITV PLC in line with a planned restructuring at ITV Studios Ltd., which will see the integration of Talpa Media BV's Talpa Global into ITV Studios' Global Entertainment division, Advanced Television reports, citing Deutsche Bank analysts. De Mol decided not to extend the earn-out period for another three years, but will continue to offer management services to Talpa Media until April 2020.
* AMC Entertainment Inc.'s AMC U.K. channel is no longer available on Sky Ltd.'s Sky EPG and will become exclusive to British Telecom's BT TV, Broadband TV News reports.
* Accenture PLC will acquire Nytec Inc., a product innovation and engineering company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington with 250 employees. Upon closing, Nytec will become part of Accenture Industry X.0, Accenture's digital industry services division.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Swiss telecoms group Sunrise Communications Group AG's planned takeover of UPC Schweiz has been opposed by 30% of the group's investors, reports Finanzen.ch. Sunrise will require a majority to back a newly proposed equity deal of CHF2.8 billion.
* German public broadcaster ARD plans to invest more heavily in the production of TV series, reports DWDL. NDR Programming Director Frank Beckmann said the company plans to invest about €20 million in streaming content.
FRANCE
* The French competition regulator L'Autorité de la Concurrence launched an "exploratory" investigation into the new rules that Google will apply, to display French press content in its search engine, Le Point reports. The decision follows Google's announcements on how it plans to implement neighboring rights.
* French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said France tapped Dassault Systèmes SE and OVH Groupe SAS to help break the dominance of U.S. cloud computing firms, Reuters reports. The French government is expecting to build a "trustworthy cloud" that will be used to store companies' sensitive data. First results from Dassault Systèmes and OVH's work are expected by the end of 2019. In a separate report published by Challenges, Le Maire said France will invest about €1.5 billion in artificial intelligence in the coming years.
* French President Emmanuel Macron will push through will plans to implement an ID program using facial recognition technology, Bloomberg News reports. The ID program, dubbed as Alicem, is scheduled to be rolled out in November.
* The assignment of 5G frequencies to French operators will be pushed back to mid-October, Le Figaro reports. The recommendations of the independent committee Commission des Participations et Transferts was initially expected to be made public this week.
NETHERLANDS,
* The Dutch city of Apeldoorn will postpone a decision regarding deployment of the first 5G network in the Netherlands, after residents voiced concerns about harmful radiation in city hall, Emerce reports. The city and partnering network company RadioLED will now reportedly have to wait until residents' questions have been answered, city council decided.
* T-Mobile Netherlands BV customers in the southern and eastern provinces of the Netherlands experienced a large mobile network outage, which lasted for several hours before being resolved, Algemeen Dagblad reports. The issue reportedly originated from a hardware malfunction.
* Dutch radio network provider Broadcast Partners will install several support transmitters in the Netherlands to improve reception quality of national commercial DAB+ channels, TotaalTV reports.
* The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets called for KPN NV to adjust its policy for processing complaints regarding unsolicited anonymous mobile calls, in relation to a case between KPN and Robin Mobile Nederland BV. If a Robin Mobile customer issues a complaint about a malicious anonymous call from a T-Mobile Netherlands user, KPN is obligated to investigate the matter.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Finnish operator Elisa Oyj said it is planning to expand its 5G network in the city of Jyväskylä further in the coming months. Elisa said it received great interest in the 5G network.
* Cloud-native network software company Mavenir Inc. said it opened an innovation development center in Stockholm, Sweden, as part of its increased focus on 4G and 5G virtual radio access networks. The center will include two business units, one to develop the company's vRAN software and hardware, and the other focused on business opportunities in the enterprise and internet of things space.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* The Turkish Personal Data Protection Board fined Facebook 1.6 million lira in relation to the Cambridge Analytica LLC scandal, which affected nearly 300,000 people in the country, Reuters reports. The data protection regulator, also known as KVKK, said Facebook violated Turkey's data protection laws when the platform's users in the country were impacted by the data privacy breach.
* Netflix is facing an investigation in Italy over tax evasion charges, Reuters reported, citing a source. Prosecutors reportedly said the U.S. streaming giant should pay taxes in Italy due to the digital infrastructure it uses to stream content, which it said is equivalent to having a physical presence in the country.
* Cassa depositi e prestiti SpA's Massimo Tononi is mulling to take the chairman role at Telecom Italia SpA, which has been vacated by Fulvio Conti, Reuters reports, citing three sources. Tononi is yet to make a final decision on the matter.
* Zegona Communications PLC-controlled Spanish operator Euskaltel SA is looking for a new president to replace Alberto Garcia Erauzkin, who will not continue serving for the position in 2020, Advanced Television reports.
* Vivendi SA, which earlier filed lawsuits to counter Mediaset's restructuring plan, is requesting for the Court of Milan to deem earlier resolutions approved by Italian company's board ineffective, including preventing Simon Fiduciaria SpA from exercising governance rights. Vivendi is also seeking for the court to allow the company to exercise all ownership and governance rights in relation to its shareholding in Mediaset.
EASTERN EUROPE
* T-Mobile Polska SA began offering Amazon.com Inc.'s Amazon Prime Video to its subscribers, Broadband TV News reports. The video streaming service will have a monthly subscription fee of 13 Polish zlotys a month. Deutsche Telekom AG owns T-Mobile Polska.
* Mobile TeleSystems PJSC unit MGTS appointed Vladislav Medvedev as its managing director and board member, Telecompaper reports, citing Comnews.ru. Medvedev will also continue serving as chief technology officer of MTS' Moscow regional branch.
* Liberty Global PLC unit UPC Slovakia had an outage in the selected areas of Bratislava due to damage to a main fiber optic cable, Broadband TV News reports.
FEATURED NEWS
Hires and Fires Europe: Disney names new EMEA president; Telecom Italia chairman steps down: Walt Disney Co. named Jan Koeppen president of its Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, while Fulvio Conti stepped down as chairman and a director of Telecom Italia SpA.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Global Multichannel: Global UHD H1'19 update: Asia, Europe continue to dominate UHD scene: Only four new unique UHD channels launched worldwide in the first half of 2019. Overall, by the end of 2019, the number of available unique UHD channels worldwide is expected to reach 197, up 16.6% year over year from 169 channels at the end of 2018.
Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Marieke Pijnappels and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.
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