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Cellnex/Arqiva deal; US on Huawei's European rivals; Netflix in Italy

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Cellnex/Arqiva deal; US on Huawei's European rivals; Netflix in Italy

TOP NEWS

* Spain's towers operator Cellnex Telecom SA agreed to acquire the telecom division of British telecom infrastructure company Arqiva Ltd. for £2.0 billion. The acquisition includes about 7,400 Arqiva-owned cellular sites and the rights to market about 900 more sites all across Britain.

* The U.S. is considering ways to obstruct Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.'s lead in the telecom equipment space and to offer funds to its European rivals Nokia Corp. and Ericsson, London's Financial Times reports, citing two sources. The planned funding into Huawei's rivals is intended to allow them to compete with the financing terms the Chinese company offers its clients.

* Netflix Inc. plans to open an office in Italy and invest about €200 million in the next two years in Italian films, Reuters reports, citing CEO Reed Hastings. The announcement was made during an event in Rome, where the streaming giant confirmed its partnership with Mediaset SpA.

* Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video commissioned an Italian version of Endemol Shine Group Ltd.-produced unscripted format "Celebrity Hunted – Caccia All'uomo." EndemolShine Italy is producing the Italian original series for Amazon which will debut on Prime Video in 2020.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in her new term will be looking at other "remedies" on top of hefty fines to ensure a playing field in the bloc, London's Financial Times reports. Vestager said the new administration plans to heighten its vigilance on technology giants.

* European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who is also in charge of financial stability and financial services in the EU, committed to propose new regulations aimed at virtual currencies, Reuters reports. The move is in response to Facebook Inc.'s Libra project, which is perceived as a risk to the EU's financial stability.

* European broadcasters, such as Sweden's SVT, Denmark's DR, Spain's Telefónica SA, Norway's NRK, Czech Republic's Prima and Czech TV, entered into presales agreement for BBC Studios Ltd.'s "Seven Worlds, One Planet," TBI Vision reports. The natural history show is being co-produced by BBC America (US), Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s Tencent Penguin Pictures, ZDF (DE), France Télévisions SA and China's CCTV-9. The British Broadcasting Corp. owns BBC Studios.

UK AND IRELAND

* SoftBank Group Corp.-owned ARM Holdings PLC is eyeing to return to the public markets by 2023, as set by SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, Reuters reports, citing CEO Simon Segars. SoftBank's ARM acquisition in 2016 prompted the British semiconductor company's delisting from the London Stock Exchange.

* Twofour Group Ltd. CEO Melanie Leach and Chief Creative Officer Andrew MacKenzie are in the final stages of discussions for the planned formation of a new production company, to be called South Shore. ITV Studios Ltd., which owns Twofour, intends to take a minority stake in the new company. Leach and MacKenzie will continue working at Twofour until the launch of South Shore. ITV PLC owns ITV Studios.

* U.K. pay TV solutions company Oregan Networks Ltd. acquired Sweden-based Zenterio AB's assets for an undisclosed sum. The transaction includes Oregan's assimilation of Zenterio's engineering and delivery teams in Linköping, Sweden, and Guadalajara, Mexico. Oregan also plans to further recruit engineers in the U.K., Sweden, Mexico and eastern Europe.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* German marketer Telepool GmbH acquired developer Diviad GmbH. Following the transaction, Diviad will be joining Telepool at its Munich headquarters and will be renamed Wild River Games GmbH.

* Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. KG launched "STERN CRIME Plus," its first digital paid content offer. The German media company plans to launch its full subscription service by the end of 2019.

* German media group Madsack Medienagentur GmbH & Co. KG expanded its web radio portal, radio.net, as an audio aggregator and will be integrating over 1 million podcasts. Currently, more than 30,000 channels and podcasts are available via the channel. Madsack's editorial network in Germany will be contributing its own audio formats.

FRANCE

* Eutelsat Communications SA's latest satellite, Quantum, is reportedly delayed until next year, Advanced Television reports. Quantum was expected to launch and begin generating revenue prior to June 30.

* Publicis Groupe SA launched Epsilon in France. Epsilon France's team will join Publicis units Soft Computing Technologies, Publicis Eto and Publicis Media Data Sciences. The launch comes shortly after the completion of Publicis' Epsilon acquisition in July.

* Orange SA CEO Stéphane Richard said that the operator expects its 5G network to cover about 15% to 20% of the population in France by the end of 2020, Franceinfo reports. The coverage would initially involve mostly large cities.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* S4 Capital PLC agreed to merge Dutch digital content unit MediaMonks BV with digital marketing agency Firewood Marketing Inc. for $150 million in a cash-and-stock transaction. The price includes a cash payment of $77.5 million, with the remaining $72.5 million to be paid in 41,428,571 new ordinary shares.

* Dutch operator KPN NV introduced KPN Hussel, a new all-in-one triple-play subscription that allows customers to choose from multiple options and make regular changes to the offer. According to KPN, the new offering has been designed to provide customers more flexibility in choosing their programming.

* Viacom International Media Networks Benelux and Dutch production company NewBe entered a strategic partnership covering the YouTube platform First, reports AdFormatie. The cooperation is mainly intended to serve advertisers with regard to the younger target group. Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC owns YouTube.

* The Dutch government intends to spend €2 billion on the development of artificial intelligence in the country, reports Emerce. The government will work with 65 organizations and a coalition to ensure that AI can be used for the benefit of the people.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Spotify AB launched its app on Apple Inc.'s Apple TV, Digital TV Europe reports. The music streaming platform also began allowing the use of Siri voice assistant on iOS.

* Telia Norway entered into a network modernization agreement with Ericsson, which would include the Telia Co. AB unit's introduction of 5G coverage. The upgrade will start next year, and 5G services will be introduced gradually over four years. Telia ealier secured access to two blocks of 10 MHz in the 700 MHz band for the rollout of 5G in Norway. Telia Norway's 5G partnership with Ericsson means that the company must replace at least 6,000 base station delivered by Huawei, Dagens Næringsliv noted.

* Nokia said it launched a new family of chipsets for next-generation massive scale access networks. The Quillion chipsets combine current and next-generation fiber access technologies in a single chip, and is optimized to support time-critical, low-latency 5G transport.

* Norway's reMarkable AS raised about $15 million of fresh capital in a series A funding round from venture firm Spark Capital. The e-ink tablet company plans to use the capital to invest heavily in product development.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Telecom Italia SpA is weighing a spinoff and listing of its data center operations, Reuters reports, citing a source. A deal could reportedly occur in 2020.

* Sky Ltd. unit Sky Italia SRL is adding Netflix to its entertainment platform Sky Q on Oct. 9, Broadband TV News reports. Subscribers of the pay TV operator's Entertainment Plus package will initially be able to access Netflix, before the service is opened to new customers beginning December.

* Italian digital services company Vetrya SpA and the Vatican City are jointly preparing for the rollout of streaming platform VatiVision in the first quarter of 2020, Telecompaper reports. The new service will offer access to religious, artistic and cultural video content.

* Mediaset España Comunicación SA and Atresmedia Corporación de Medios de Comunicación SA could renew their battle for soccer TV rights in Spain before year-end, with both companies expected to bid for 2022 Qatar World Cup rights, Broadband TV News reports, citing El Economista. Spanish broadcaster Mediapro, which currently owns the rights to the games, could reportedly resell the rights to the highest bidder.

* Wind Tre SpA unit 3lettronica Industriale SpA and PRIMA TV SpA formed a joint venture that will manage a network of almost 1,000 digital terrestrial TV transmitters in Italy, Advanced Television reports.

* Italian prosecutors are seeking a trial for BT Italia SpA and 23 defendants, including former top executives, in relation to an accounting fraud case at the British Telecom unit, Reuters reports, citing sources. The prosecutors reportedly alleged that the individuals hid the company's true financial standing by faking contract renewals and exaggerating revenues.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Telenor ASA unit Telenor Bulgaria EAD conducted a practical 5G trial in partnership with Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. SA in Bulgaria, Telecompaper reports. The test involved the remote overseeing of the bottling process of Coca-Cola products using 5G connectivity.

* Polish cable operator Inea SA named Michal Bartkowiak its new management board president, effective Jan. 1, 2020, Telecompaper reports. Bartkowiak will replace Janusz Kosinski who is joining the company's supervisory board. Meanwhile, Inea named Marta Wojciechowska to its management board.

FEATURED NEWS

5G Focus: Launch in Saudi Arabia; Huawei, Maxis deal; SK Telecom, Rakuten tie-up: 5G Focus is a weekly global roundup of notable 5G trials, launches, use cases and major equipment supply contracts. It will also feature in-depth analysis of strategies, expansion plans, business models and other related initiatives.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Global Multichannel: IBC 2019: European broadcasters turn to SVOD, original production: Traditional linear broadcasters came together at the International Broadcasting Convention this year to discuss how the environment has changed and what they need to do to survive.

Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.

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