trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/K4_Let7yV7L1Y7oREvSpNg2 content esgSubNav
In This List

France, Germany on Libra; Apple in EU court; plans for BritBox

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 50: InfoSec spending up, again…

Blog

Broadcast deal market recap 2021

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Volume of Investment Research Reports on Inflation Increased in Q4 2021


France, Germany on Libra; Apple in EU court; plans for BritBox

The Daily Dose LIVE returns to the City of London on Tuesday, Oct.1! Join us for a timely panel discussion over breakfast on the vulnerabilities facing corporate Europe in a period of deep political, policy and economic uncertainty. Register today to secure your place at this popular breakfast event.

TOP NEWS

* French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said virtual currencies pose risks to consumers, financial stability and "the monetary sovereignty" of EU states, Reuters reports. Germany and France said it backed the development of an alternative public cryptocurrency to Facebook Inc.'s Libra.

* Apple Inc. will face the EU General Court in Luxembourg on the week of Sept. 16 to begin appealing a record €13 billion fine in the European Union over its tax deals with Ireland, Bloomberg News reports. The tech giant is reportedly expected to argue that it is the world's biggest taxpayer.

* Upcoming subscription video-on-demand service BritBox will not use an ad-supported model for its operations, Digital TV Europe reports, quoting BritBox President Soumya Sriaman. The platform, a joint initiative of the British Broadcasting Corp. and ITV PLC, is set to launch in Britain in the fourth quarter.

* Sanoma Oyj completed the acquisition of Dutch digital learning materials provider Iddink Group BV. The purchase includes Iddink's educational platform and services.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* Officials from 26 central banks will quiz representatives of Facebook Inc.'s planned digital currency Libra on Sept. 16, London's Financial Times reports. The move follows concerns from European Union governments over Libra's potential threats to financial stability.

UK AND IRELAND

* RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes slammed government proposals to withdraw funding for the Irish public broadcaster, Digital TV Europe reports. Forbes said RTÉ is "in a crisis" and has a €50 million budget deficit due to a decline in license fee purchases.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* DBAG Expansion Capital Fund, which is managed by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, will acquire a majority stake in German telecommunications service provider STG Braunsberg GmbH. The private equity firm itself plans to invest up to €14 million alongside the fund, for a combined stake of roughly 36% in STG Braunsberg Group.

* German technology company congatec AG is planning an IPO worth €100 million, Reuters reports. Of the target amount, roughly €80 million will be used to expand the company's presence in Asia and America.

* German media association Direktorenkonferenz der Landesmedienanstalten named Wolfgang Kreißig chairman. Kreißig has been president of Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg since 2017.

FRANCE

* Matthieu Pigasse said he does not intend to cede control of Le Monde after selling a 49% stake to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in October 2018, Le Figaro reports. Pigasse holds shares in Le Monde, Télérama and Courrier International via his company Le Nouveau Monde.

* Bouygues Telecom SA launched the Start-over service on Bbox using Alpha Networks SA's Accurate EPG platform, which allows subscribers to record programs with accurate start and end times.

* Eutelsat Communications SA unit Eutelsat Americas struck a multi-year agreement with Orby TV to facilitate a pay-TV experience without internet streaming. Orby TV will use EUTELSAT 117 West A's Ku-band coverage of the U.S. to distribute its satellite TV service with no credit checks or contractual commitments.

* Public broadcaster France Télévisions SA entered into a deal with audiovisual producer unions, promising to dedicate "at least" 82.5% of its investment in content creation, TV5 reports. The deal, which is valid until 2022, provides for up to 17.5% of production done in-house.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM and LUXEMBOURG

* Proximus' board of directors agreed that Dominique Leroy will end her term as CEO on Sept. 20, with the aim "to restore a serene climate within the company." Leroy will transfer all her files to CFO Sandrine Dufour who is appointed as CEO ad interim effective Sept. 21, with the support of Board Chairman Stefaan De Clerck.

* Stoneroos BV, a Dutch company specializing in making interactive television accessible, signed a partnership with XroadMedia, a provider of content discovery and personalization services. Through the partnership, XroadMedia's cloud-based Ncanto back-end solution will be integrated into Stoneroos' OTT NOW! solutions.

* Dutch company Within Reach Group BV announced its acquisition of business communications provider Crystal Networks from Houten for an undisclosed amount. Crystal Networks will join forces with Eazit, a Dutch business communications provider that Within Reach acquired in April 2018.

* The Dutch parliament's lower house freed up €15 million of funding to start pilots that will join forces with local and regional broadcasters, MediaMagazine reports. Media Minister Arie Slob said it should be clear in mid-October what regulations and planning for the pilots will look like.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Fingerprint Cards AB is hoping to drive future profits by boosting sales of its biometric sensor offerings for payment smartcards, Dagens Industri reports, citing Bloomberg News. The company expects the commercial use of the sensor embedded cards to start in 2020.

* Telenor ASA is investigating how information lost in a data breach was used to cold call customers, Computer Sweden reports. A partner sales contracting firm of rival operator Tre AB used the data leaked in the breach, which involved over 30,000 Telenor customers in Sweden.

* Nokia Corp. and Telefónica SA unit Telefónica Perú will deliver LTE network technology to the Minera Las Bambas copper mine under a new agreement. The partnership will enable digitization and automation projects at MLB's site in Apurimac, Peru.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Vodafone Group PLC rolled out TiVo Corp.'s personalized content discovery platform on its Vodafone TV service in Portugal. The platform has a natural-language voice solution to help users find content via their remote control.

* Telefónica's Movistar removed the obligation for new customers to remain with the company when subscribing to its Fusión service, Advanced Television reports. The clause was removed to make its customers feel "free to select whatever company for the quality and variety of its services," according to the report.

EASTERN EUROPE

* The Russian government plans to continue talks over the use of the 3.4-3.8 GHz band for 5G services at the meeting of the state radio frequency commission, Telecompaper reports, citing Interfax. A final decision on the frequency has yet to be released since fixed operators still hold some frequencies in the range.

* Croatian tower and digital TV multiplex operator Odasiljaci i veze launched the new M2 multiplex over the DVB-T2 system, Advanced Television reports. The multiplex will use the H.265/HEVC video coding standard.

FEATURED NEWS

Q&A: Sports streamer fuboTV takes original plunge, expands to other platforms: The ad-supported Fubo Sports Network is available on the streaming company's live TV platform, as well as third-party connected devices.

Data Dispatch: 'Hustlers' could tease a small breakout for STX, Jennifer Lopez: STX Entertainment and Jennifer Lopez could rack up career bests with stripper comedy-thriller "Hustlers."

FEATURED RESEARCH

Global Multichannel: Major TV groups in Malaysia look to coproduction, OTT: New partnerships are emerging in Malaysia to drive the production of higher quality content, which promotes viewership on new digital platforms as well as on traditional linear TV.

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. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.