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Comcast may face less scrutiny than Fox; Mediapro, Google sign streaming deal

TOP NEWS

* Comcast Corp.'s offer to buy Sky PLC may not face the same regulatory scrutiny in the U.K. as 21st Century Fox Inc.'s own proposed takeover of the entity, British Culture Secretary Matt Hancock said. He said Comcast's offer does not "raise concerns in relation to public interest considerations which would meet the threshold for intervention," Variety reports.

* Spanish producer and broadcaster Mediapro will live stream Brazil's Campeonato Brasileño de Serie A soccer tournament via a dedicated YouTube channel in 27 territories across Europe, Asia and Oceania, under a partnership with Google, Digital TV Europe reports, citing a statement. In Europe, the new YouTube service will be available in Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Switzerland and Ukraine.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* The European Parliament will broadcast its meeting with Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg live this evening, Reuters reports. Parliament President Antonio Tajani tweeted that Zuckerberg has agreed to web stream the meeting. Meanwhile, U.K.'s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Chair Damian Collins is seeking help from the Parliament for the U.K. government to get answers from Zuckerberg, who will not appear before British parliamentarians, Reuters reported separately.

* E.ON SE and Alphabet Inc. unit Google Inc. announced plans to launch their joint Sunroof platform in Great Britain and Italy. The companies are also extending the Sunroof platform in Germany, where it launched in May 2017, through the end of 2018.

UK AND IRELAND

* An international arbitration panel will hear Vodafone Group PLC's challenge to a $2.1 billion retrospective Indian tax bill in February 2019, The Economic Times of India reports. The panel, led by British judge Franklin Berman, will listen to objections raised by Indian authorities to tax matters being covered under the Netherlands-India Bilateral Investment Treaty.

* Vodafone Ireland teamed up with Asavie, a provider of secure enterprise mobility and internet of things connectivity, to introduce Vodafone IoT Express. It will help Irish businesses access secure SIM-based IoT connectivity on cellular networks, including Vodafone's narrowband-IoT network. Vodafone's IoT management tools will be delivered across the Asavie PassBridge platform.

* IPhone users who filed a lawsuit against Google for allegedly unlawfully collecting personal information are seeking £3.2 billion from the search engine company, Bloomberg News reports. The group, which has about 4.4 million members, suggests that each individual receives £750 for the alleged bypassing of Apple Inc.'s default privacy settings on iPhones.

* Ofcom has launched three new investigations into 11 programs of Russian channel RT over potentially breaching impartiality rules, Reuters reports. The investigation was prompted by RT's coverages of U.S. foreign policy, Ukraine government's policies as well as fracking in Britain.

* British Telecom unit Everything Everywhere Ltd. has contracted Ericsson to supply a customer experience management system based on Ericsson Expert Analytics. The multiyear deal includes software, implementation services and IT managed support.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* German soccer club Bayern Munich has agreed on a content partnership with ESPN Inc. to distribute video content in English and Spanish across its platforms, reports German media magazine DWDL.

* The founding team of Swiss mobile blockchain mining company Envion Ag opposes the assertion of board member and CEO Matthias Woestmann that 40 million tokens were illegally generated by its initial coin offering in January.

FRANCE

* Lagardere SCA is exiting Groupe Marie Claire, Les Échos reports. Lagardere will sell its 42% stake in Maria Claire to the Evelyne Prouvost holding that already owns 58% of the company. ?Although the price has not been disclosed, Lagardere's financial statement valued its stake at €53 million.

* Netflix Inc. purchased North and South American rights to Cannes Festival winners such as "Happy as Lazaro" by Alice Rohrwacher, winner of best screenplay, and "Girl" by Lukas Dhont, winner of Camera d'Or, as well as "The Image Book" by Jean-Luc Godard, winner of the Special Palme d'Or, Les Échos reports. Netflix's own productions are precluded from competing as a film can only be selected if it is first released in French cinemas.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* NPO 1 UHD, the temporary Ultra HD channel from Dutch public broadcaster NPO that will broadcast the World Cup, will not be shown by TV provider Joyne BV, writes TotaalTV. The two operators disagreed about NPO's distribution fees, which Joyne considered too high.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Vinnova will provide 70.2 million Swedish kronor to nine new internet of things hubs in Sweden. The funding by Vinnova, Sweden's main state-run agency for research and development project funding, will benefit municipally run organizations involved in high-value IoT projects.

* HMD global Oy has raised an additional US$100 million to expand production of Nokia Corp. cellphones. The Finnishcompany will use the funding to scale up operations and expand its portfolio of Nokia smartphones.

* Telia Co. AB has repurchased 2.52 million of its own shares. The shares were bought during a four-day period up to May 18. The repurchase is part of a 5 billion Swedish kronor share buyback program announced by Telia in April.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Telefónica SA is unlikely to roll out commercial 5G services before 2020, Telecompaper reports, quoting EFE's interview with company network and IT infrastructure strategy director Javier Gutierrez. The executive noted the Spanish telco's need to change the equipment it uses, to negotiate prices for 5G services and to use available 700-MHz spectrum for a national 5G deployment.

* Viacom Inc.'s free-to-air channel in Spain, Paramount Channel, will be rebranded as Paramount Network on June 10, Advanced Television reports.

* NOS has teamed up with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. for a multiyear upgrade of its network infrastructure in the Portuguese autonomous region of Madeira, Telecompaper reports. The telecom operator is spending €30 million for the last phase of the project, which entailed an upgrade of its mobile network in the region to 4.5G as well as that of its fixed network to gigabit broadband.

* Telefónica, Orange SA's Orange España and Vodafone España SAU have each boosted the speeds of their fiber broadband services free of charge, in a bid to lure more customers, Advanced Television reports. While Telefónica and Orange España are already set to upgrade their internet speeds, Vodafone España is set to apply the speed upgrade in July.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Deutsche Telekom AG is considering an exit from the Macedonian market, where it does business through its majority-owned unit Makedonski Telekom AD - Skopje, Telecompaper reports, citing Lider.com.mk. Sources said the Macedonian government, which owns 34.81% of Makedonski Telekom, has consistently interfered in the telco's operations and decision-making, while favoring companies close to the government in public bidding procedures.

* Katarzyna Iwuc has stepped down as CEO and director general of Polish operator Netia SA, Telecompaper reports, citing a statement. Stefan Radziminski has also resigned as Netia's chief technology officer. Supervisory board member Wojciech Pytel will take over as CEO for an interim basis until Aug. 18, while Grzegorz Bartler was named a new member of the supervisory board.

* Slovak transmission services provider Towercom as rolled out Otta, a new hybrid broadcast broadband TV platform, Digital TV Europe reports. The new service offers a movie and TV series archive as well as seven-day catchup TV and time-shift features.

* Balkan countries such as Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina are expected to ink a regional agreement on lowering roaming rates during the Digital Summit EU-Western Balkans on June 13 in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia, Telecompaper reports. European Commissioner for Digital Economy and the Digital Society Maria Gabriel said mobile data roaming in Western Balkan countries should drop to 70 eurocents per megabyte by July 2019.

FEATURED NEWS

M&A Replay: Weber Shandwick acquires Brazilian agency; Google buys data company: S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of U.S. companies' media and communications deal announcements and completions from May 14 to May 18.

M&A Replay: China may approve Qualcomm/NXP deal; Bharti Airtel closes Telenor India purchase: S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of U.S. companies' media and communications deal announcements and completions from May 14 to May 18.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Wireless Investor: Italy mobile projections, 2018-2028: Italy seeks to bolster LTE coverage, as prepaid remains the dominant mobile subscription type.

Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Gerard O'Dwyer contributed to this report.

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