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SoftBank acquires stake in Charter; China to abolish media regulator

TOP NEWS

* SoftBank Group Corp. quietly acquired a nearly 5% stake in Charter Communications Inc. in a transaction led by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, The Times (London) reports, citing sources. The move could possibly increase the possibility of a US$100 billion merger between Charter and SoftBank-owned Sprint Corp., the report said.

* China announced an overhaul of its governmental structure, including moves which could tighten the ruling Communist Party's control of the media. The government plans to form a state radio and television administration directly under the State Council, the country's cabinet. The existing regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television will be abolished in a bid to "strengthen publicity work, strengthen the management of important propaganda area, and give full play to the role of radio and television media," State Councilor Wang Yong said.

JAPAN

* Sony Corp. is in early discussions with Mubadala Investment Co. about a stake purchase that would give the Japanese company majority ownership of EMI Music Publishing, Bloomberg News reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Mubadala reportedly intends to use an option requiring Sony to buy its stake in order to keep all of EMI from going up for sale. However, that cannot be put into motion before the end of June.

* KDDI Corp. announced that it would launch a signage service for businesses, KDDI Touch Signage, from April 2. Monthly fees start at ?980.

* Kakao Corp. will launch its transportation services to Japan and Southeast Asia, as the South Korean internet company runs into regulatory obstacles in Korea, The Nikkei reports. John Chung, CEO of Kakao Mobility, said South Korean tourists will soon be able to hail taxis through partner Japan Taxi, according to the report.

* Netflix Inc.'s Japan unit denied a rumor that the company is closing down its Japanese drama department and giving up creating drama in Japan, Nlab reports. Netflix Japan replied that it would continue to create live action works although it will concurrently increase its efforts in the anime field.

SOUTH KOREA

* Local creative content company Seventytwo Seconds Co. Ltd., or 72 Seconds, signed a content distribution deal with European video platform Dailymotion SA, E Daily reports. Under the partnership, 72 Seconds TV's content including "72 Seconds" and "Banana Actually" will be available in Dailymotion.

* The Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute developed a core technology to provide network service between 5G and Wi-Fi without disconnection. The institute has worked together with local companies including KT Corp. and LANbird Technology to develop the new technology.

* SK Telecom Co. Ltd. joined hands with local real estate developer MDM Plus Co. Ltd. to provide the telco's smart home services exclusively.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* Two international sports media agencies applied to the High Court in Hong Kong to liquidate Hong Kong Sports Industrial Development, formerly LeTV Sports Culture Develop (Hong Kong) Co., the Hong Kong-based sports streaming arm of LeEco Group, Hong Kong Economic Times reports. The hearing is scheduled for May 16, but the company will reportedly be closing down on March 15. Now TV, a pay-TV service provider under PCCW Ltd., will reportedly take over the production of the English Premier League.

* Cash-strapped bike-sharing firm Ofo finished a US$866 million funding round led by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Caixin reports. The funding consists of equity and debt financing, with Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial Services Group, Haofeng Group, Tianhe Capital and Jinli Capital participating as well.

* Ant Financial, the financial arm of internet giant Alibaba Holding Ltd., reached a partnership with Norwegian government-backed telecommunications company Telenor ASA to acquire 45% of its subsidiary Telenor Microfinance Bank for US$184.5 million. Ant Financial aims to leverage on its experience from Alipay to upgrade the Pakistan-based Telenor Microfinance Bank's mobile wallet Easypaisa.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* Bharti Airtel Ltd. announced that Singtel's affiliate Singtel International Investments Pvt. Ltd. completed the deal to acquire 85,450,000 equity shares of Bharti Telecom Ltd., increasing Singtel's, along with its affiliates' total stake in Bharti Telecom to 48.90%. Singtel paid a total of S$539.4 million for the shares.

* Airtel's board also approved the transfer of 19% equity shares of its unit Bharti Telemedia Ltd. to its wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments Ltd.

* Sri Lanka is expected to lift its ban on social media networks this week after blocking access to Facebook Inc., WhatsApp Inc. and Viber on March 7 to prevent the spread of communal violence, Reuters reports, citing a government minister.

* Amazon.com Inc.'s Amazon India Ltd. collaborated with the Indian Performing Right Society Ltd., where Amazon Prime Music in India will gain access to IPRS music publishing repertoire of over one million Indian music titles in multiple languages, eras and genres. IPRS represents over 4,000 Indian authors, composers and major music publishers.

* India's Supreme Court set a deadline of six months for the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to finish the probe on the 2G spectrum allocation cases and the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board's approval of the Aircel Ltd.- Maxis Bhd. deal, where former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram have been questioned by the agencies, Press Trust of India reports.

* Wipro Ltd., has completed its investment in U.S.-based security software provider Denim Group Ltd. The investment will enhance the Indian IT, consulting and business process services provider's ability to help clients mitigate cybersecurity risks.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Philippine telco giant PLDT Inc. confirmed reports that the company plans to refinance its maturing obligations of 16 billion Philippine pesos in 2018, mainly via peso bank loans. The company also said that it is mulling plans to sell its stake in Rocket Internet SE, subject to certain parameters and market conditions. The stake sale will supplement funding requirements in 2018.

* PT Metranet will complete its acquisition of a mobile payment company, Cellum Global Zrt in April, Indotelko reports. Metranet, a subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk, paid US$6 million for 30.4% stake in Cellum.

* Malaysian pay-TV operator, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd., partnered with iQiyi Inc., a subsidiary of Baidu Inc., to offer content produced by iQiyi in Malaysia, Xinhua reports. The partnership will enable Astro to broadcast iQiyi's Chinese premium entertainment and series of drama.

* Thailand's Central Administrative Court has ruled that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission must return the 1.7 billion baht bank guarantee statement or an equivalent sum to Thai TV Co. Ltd., Thairath reports. The court pointed out that NBTC's failure to sufficiently promote digital TV among Thai viewers constitutes a breach of contract, justifying Thai TV's withdrawal from digital broadcasting.

* The Labor Union of Thai state-owned telco TOT Public Co. Ltd. is taking the Ministry of Digital Economy and the Thai cabinet to court for the establishment of two private firms that would take over assets of TOT, Thairath reports. According to the union's representative, Thai law regards a state enterprise's assets as national assets and prohibits such assets from being privately owned.

* Microsoft (Thailand) Ltd., Thai telco Advanced Info Service Public Co. Ltd. and Thai real-estate developer Sansiri Public Co. Ltd. launched mixed reality technology in Thailand, Siam Phone reports.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* Fox Sports Australia Pty. Ltd., on Foxtel, signed a three-year agreement for live, start-to-finish coverage of the French Open at France's Roland Garros, while Special Broadcasting Service (AU) will be the free-to-air broadcast partner.

FEATURED NEWS

Q&A: Turner president on March Madness: Digital dollars 'not chump change anymore': Turner Broadcasting President David Levy in an interview said the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship has delivered in myriad ways since Turner Sports started collaborating with CBS Sports on the tournament.

Washington Watch: Senators call for new FCC broadband maps: Senators concerned about gaps in broadband data are pushing the Federal Communications Commission to revisit its coverage maps to better guide federal infrastructure dollars.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Wireless Investor: Germany mobile projections, 2018-2028: As German mobile network operators complete buildouts of nationwide 4G networks using 700MHz spectrum acquired in 2015, we estimate German 4G mobile subscribers totaling 41.9 million and representing 33% of total mobile subscribers.

Nozomi Ibayashi, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Emily Lai, Wil Hathaway and Kevin Osmond contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription.