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Microsoft buys UK gaming developer; Germany's Pantaflix launches on Apple TV

TOP NEWS

* Microsoft Corp. said it acquired U.K.-based Playground Games Ltd., a development partner since 2010 that has worked on the "Forza" franchise. Financial terms were not disclosed. The tech giant also signed letters of intent to buy game studios Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games.

* PANTAFLIX Technologies GmbH has made video-on-demand service Pantaflix AG available globally via an app on Apple Inc.'s Apple TV.

* Sweden is set to lead the growing Nordics subscription video-on-demand market as global online video platforms ramp up investment in original content aimed at the region.

UK AND IRELAND

* The British Broadcasting Corp., ITV PLC, Channel 4 (UK) and network operator Arqiva Ltd. agreed on a five-year joint investment of £125 million in free-to-view connected TV service Freeview Play. The companies will make the investment as shareholders of Digital UK, which operates Freeview Play.

* Irish video gaming company Keywords Studios PLC said it has acquired U.S. video game production services company Blindlight LLC for up to $10 million.

* British Telecom unit EE Ltd. announced the rollout of smart number technology, enabling customers to make and receive calls across multiple devices using a single phone number. The new service will be available free to existing and new subscribers.

* Irish public broadcaster RTÉ named Shane Murphy as its group head of drama and comedy, Dublin's The Irish Times reports. Murphy joins the broadcaster from London-based Acorn Media Enterprises, where he is currently managing director.

* Sky PLC is rebranding its Sky Living (UK) channel to Sky Witness, effective Aug. 6, Broadband TV News reports. The channel was launched by its former owner Flextech in 1993 as UK Living.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Vodafone Group PLC unit Vodafone Deutschland GmbH plans to improve its 4G/LTE coverage across German motor highways and railway lines. The company plans to launch an additional 700 base stations in 2018 and will modernize another 1,500 stations.

* Deutsche Telekom AG announced that it has supplied over 204,000 new households with a faster internet connection. In total, over 5 million households are now receiving speeds up to 100 Mbps since the start of 2018.

* Gemany's Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien has acquired all FM stations and antennas for private broadcasting in Bavaria state from German image and audio service provider Media Broadcast GmbH, through its subsidiary Bayerische Medientechnik GmbH.

FRANCE

* Orange SA has purchased 9.1 million treasury shares as part of its 2018 share buyback program. None of the shares were purchased as part of a share liquidity contract.

* Altice NV's SFR Group SA's fiber-optic services have reached 1,272 households in the French commune of La Colle-sur-Loup. A programming and deployment monitoring agreement was signed between SFR, the municipality and the various urban communities in 2017; deployment will continue in 2019.

* Laure Bezault has been appointed secretary general of information at TF1 Group, effective Aug. 6. Bezault succeeds Eric Jaquen, and will lead the various projects involving the news teams.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* The Dutch areas of Peel en Maas, Leudal, Maasgouw, Nederweert and Weert will receive a fiber-optic network in 2019, Tweakers reports. The standard condition, which states that at least half of the addresses has bought a subscription, has reportedly been met.

* Dutch satellite TV provider Joyne BV will launch in Belgium on Aug. 1 with a large Flemish channel offer, TotaalTV reports. Joyne's Travel Light package will reportedly cost €10 a month and include all VRT channels as well as 15 other channels.

* VodafoneZiggo opened in Utrecht, the Netherlands, the first offline store in which both brands Vodafone and Ziggo NV are represented.

* Belgian drone startup Unifly NV will cooperate with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on unmanned traffic management systems, Unifly said. The deal includes both research and development and a joint market approach.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Telia Co. AB will not let protests from its largest owner, the Swedish government, stop a possible acquisition of Bonnier Broadcasting, Svenska Dagbladet reports, citing a source close to the negotiations. The Bonnier AB unit owns Sweden's largest commercial broadcaster TV4 and pay TV company CMore, and the government is worried about the planned acquisition's impact on competition in the media sector.

* Danish network, data center and cloud solution company GlobalConnect A/S said it has finalized its acquisition of competitor Nianet A/S, after the Danish Competition Council approved the deal. GlobalConnect said that the acquisition will strengthen its position in the Danish and German markets.

* Modern Times Group AB said the new company split off from its operations, Nordic Entertainment Group, will operate as a separate organization from July 1. It will be listed on Nasdaq Stockholm later this year. The decision to split MTG into two separate entities was made earlier this year, and Nordic Entertainment will focus on broadcasting, streaming and content production.

* Swedish IT security company Yubico AB was valued at more than 2 billion Swedish kronor following a recent share issue, Di Digital reports, citing documents from the Swedish Companies Registration Office. Yubico is known for its USB keys, offering a more secure log-on to computers and web services, which is used by companies such as Microsoft, Alphabet Inc. unit Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Telecom Italia SpA CEO Amos Genish welcomed a decision by Italian telecom watchdog AGCOM to open a public consultation on its plans to spin off its network assets into a a separate legal entity, Digital TV Europe reports.

* Turksat Satellite Comms & Cable has tapped Teleste Corp. to provide the Luminato digital TV platform to improve the delivery of the Turkish satellite operator's CATV, over-the-top, and IPTV services, according to a news release.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Polish broadcaster TVN SA has teamed up with ITI Neovision have together launched the Player+ Box, a new set-top device that allows access to hybrid TV, digital terrestrial TV, live premium channels and video-on-demand content, Broadband TV News reports.

* Russian broadcaster CTC Media Inc. will launch a new children's channel dubbed CTC Kids on July 6, Broadband TV News reports. The channel will be initially available to cable service subscribers in Russia.

FEATURED NEWS

M&A Replay: Microsoft buys GitHub; Rakuten acquires Curbside: S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of U.S. companies' media and communications deal announcements and completions from June 4 to June 8.

M&A Replay: European deals: UK conditionally approves Fox/Sky deal, clears Comcast bid: The British government granted conditional approval to 21st Century Fox's proposed takeover of Sky, while also saying it will not intervene in Comcast's rival bid for the British pay TV giant.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Economics of Internet: State of Belgian online video: Subscription: Belgium is a market characterized by above-average levels of multichannel and broadband penetration compared to the rest of Western Europe.

Global Multichannel: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Pay TV market overview: With growth fueled by the demand for triple-play services and premium content, the Balkan market of Bosnia and Herzegovina has grown by 60% over the last five years, reaching pay TV penetration of 74% as of year-end 2017.

Anne Freier, Amanda Kelly, Koen Pijnappels and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.

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