TOP NEWS
* Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. unit Starz announced that it launched its STARZPLAY-branded channels in the U.K. and Germany on Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video. STARZPLAY will provide exclusive same-day access to Starz (US)'s upcoming original shows.
* Telecom giant Telefónica SA struck a global partnership with Netflix Inc. to integrate the streaming service into its TV and video platforms in Europe and Latin America. Netflix is planned to be made available to Telefónica customers in Spain by the end of 2018, while the first launches in the LatAm region will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
* Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at VivaTech in Paris that the social network has failed to "take a broad enough view" of its potential to fuel fake news, interfere in elections and spread hate speech.
PAN-EUROPEAN
* The digital ventures and innovation division of Turner Broadcasting System Inc. unit Turner International Inc., in association with Warner Bros. Digital Network, will soon expand its premium streaming service Filmstruck in France and Spain. The video-on-demand service, already available in the U.K. since February, will offer content from the Warner Bros. Digital Network and Criterion Collection catalogues, as well as global and local content partners. Turner International and Warner Bros. Digital Network are both units of Time Warner Inc.
* As the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation takes effect today, the European Commission will look closely at its implementation by member states. The European Commission has allotted €1.7 million to support the training of data protection professionals and an additional €2 million will help national data protection authorities in activities related to the GDPR implementation.
* Alphabet Inc. unit Google Inc. will roll out additional tools for publishers in June and August to address concerns by media and advertising companies over the increased scrutiny from GDPR, Reuters reports.
UK AND IRELAND
* TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC plans to sell business-to-business segment Daisy Group Plc for £175 million. TalkTalk will transfer its direct B2B customers to Daisy, including about 80,000 SoHo, small and medium-sized enterprise and large enterprise clients, as part of an agreement between the parties.
* British Telecom CEO Gavin Patterson's salary package has increased by about £1 million in 2017 following the announcement that it would be laying off about 13,000 employees, London's The Daily Telegraph reports. Patterson has received about £2.3 million for the year until the end of March, which includes a £1.3 million performance bonus and a 2.5% increase in his base salary to £997,000.
* BT Sport will provide a live broadcast of rowing event Power8 Sprints, which will be held in Bristol on July 22, Advanced Television reports. The match will be a competition among representatives in Bristol, Cambridge, Exeter, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Oxford.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Facebook plans to launch its job exchange in Germany with a focus on providing regional jobs, reports Handelsblatt.
* Frederic Huwendiek is the new head of online news at German public broadcaster ZDF (DE). Effective from Aug. 1, Huwendiek will replace Michael Bartsch who moves on to lead the ZDF editorial board for economy, law, service, social affairs and the environment.
* Deutsche Telekom AG intends to increase its key financial figures in the coming years and expects to increase sales from 2017 to 2021 at an average of 1% to 2% per year. Meanwhile, its adjusted EBITDA is predicted to rise by 2% to 4% on average.
FRANCE
* Uber Technologies Inc. announced that it will open a new Center for Advanced Technologies as part of a €20 million investment in France over five years. The center will initially concentrate on AI and airspace management systems for large-scale urban aviation.
* Facebook announced it will strengthen its investment in the dedicated AI center opened in France three years ago. The facility is Facebook's largest AI research center globally.
NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG
* Orange SA unit Orange Belgium is expanding its Love offering with a live TV feature on its Orange TV mobile app and a fixed phone option. Channels that can be accessed on the go by Orange customers include Eén, Canvas, VTM, Q2, VIER, VIJF, National Geographic NL, Discovery NL, Ketnet and Disney Channel NL, the company said.
* Orange Belgium and Belgian company MEDIALAAN nv entered into a mobile virtual network operator agreement. The companies entered into a five-year partnership for the mobile branch of MEDIALAAN: Unleashed, which offers mobile services to residential customers under the Mobile Vikings and JIM Mobile brand, the company said.
* The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets is allowed to force operator VodafoneZiggo to open its network to competitors, reports FD. A provisional agreement has been reached at European level on the conditions for dealing with an oligopoly on the telecom market. The agreement however can't be enforced before 2020.
* KPN NV is not planning on any major acquisitions in the next few years, the provider's CFO Jan Kees de Jager has stated on radio station BNR. According to de Jager, KPN's focus will mainly be on the Dutch market.
* Dutch operator Eurofiber BV has started construction on a new fiber-optic connection to the Dataport at Eemshaven, which will be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2018. The new connection will run directly between Eemshaven and Groningen, providing the shortest route to the data center hub in Amsterdam.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Ronnie Leten, who was appointed board chairman at Ericsson in March, and who holds 56,000 B shares in Ericsson, has bought an additional 44,380 shares in the telecom equipment supplier, writes Dagens Industri. The shares are worth 2.9 Swedish million kronor.
* The Nordic and Baltic countries will collaborate on artificial intelligence. The Nordic-Baltic alliance aims to grow the region's position as a European leader in digital technologies development.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* Pay TV platform Nova, owned by Greek operator Forthnet SA, has renewed its long-standing agreement with Discovery Inc., Broadband TV News reports. The new deal enables Nova to distribute Discovery content on demand, as well through simultaneous viewing on mobile devices using the Nova Go service.
* Italian telecom watchdog Agcom has approved the final conditions for the country's first 5G spectrum auction, which will be conducted in September, Telecompaper reports. The regulator expects to raise at least €2.5 billion from the auction.
* Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s Spanish unit and Mediapro's over-the-top service beIN Connect teamed up to live stream the UEFA Champions League final between the Liverpool and Real Madrid soccer teams on May 26, Telecompaper reports.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Russian telecom regulator Roskomnadzor will conduct checks on Facebook and its messaging service WhatsApp Inc. on whether they are complying with the country's data privacy laws, Reuters reports, citing news agency TASS. Russia has previously threatened to block access to Facebook unless it complies with laws requiring the storage of Russians' personal data on local servers, according to the report.
* Russian over-the-top platform ivi.ru Media Ltd. is adding more streaming TV channels to its service in the coming days, following an agreement with national operator Rostelecom PJSC, Broadband TV News reports, citing Kommersant. Rostelecom agreed to initially supply about 80 channels to ivi's service, with the number of channels eventually increasing to as many as 130.
* Serbia Broadband has begun switching its transmission to digital TV in the country's capital city of Belgrade as part of a five-year investment plan, Broadband TV News reports, citing a statement.
* Orange Slovakia is set to roll out an exclusive sports channel in Slovakia this August, Broadband TV News reports, citing Digitalni Radio. The channel will air sports events such as the UEFA Champions League. O2 Czech Republic as, which holds broadcast rights for the soccer league in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia, is working to secure a license for the upcoming channel.
FEATURED NEWS
Analysts: For Comcast, the cost of pursuing Fox might be splitting from NBCU: As Comcast prepares a bid for key 21st Century Fox assets, legal experts say the cable giant must weigh the deal's potential advantages against the risks of inciting regulatory ire.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Economics of Networks: Big rights pacts signed for UFC, WWE: Two mammoth $1 billion-plus sports rights deals that were recently reported indicate there is little hope for near-term cost curbing.
Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Gerard O'Dwyer contributed to this report.
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