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Facebook to change tax structure; Netflix goes Greek

TOP NEWS

* Facebook Inc. is changing its tax structure, under which it will record advertising revenues in countries where they were earned instead of booking them under the company's international headquarters in Dublin. The tech giant expects the move to "provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world who have called for greater visibility" over the matter.

* Netflix Inc. has launched its streaming service in Greek and will provide access to exclusive series and films in Ultra HD 4K and HDR. About 70% of the content on Netflix has already been dubbed or subtitled in Greek.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* Members of the European Parliament voted to approve the mandate for talks with the European Union governments regarding rules for online television and radio. The rules will simplify clearing copyright to make it easier for broadcasters to make their news and current affairs programs available online in other EU countries.

UK AND IRELAND

* Uber Technologies Inc.'s application to renew its operating license in the British city of York has been rejected by the city council's Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee, Reuters reports. The committee refused to renew Uber's license following concerns about recent revelations of a data breach as well as customer complaints about the ride-hailing service.

* Apple Inc. is planning to use its proposed €850 million data center in County Galway, Republic of Ireland, to help run online services such as iTunes and Maps, Dublin's The Irish Times reports.

* British Telecom agreed to add Symantec Corp.'s endpoint security technologies to its security portfolio. Under the partnership, BT also made Symantec's endpoint protection offering an exclusive cloud-based service for its small and medium-sized enterprise customers.

* The U.K. Committee on Standards in Public Life will suggest legislation to punish tech companies for not removing racist, extremist or child sex abuse content, London's The Times reports. Set to be presented to the British government on Dec. 13, the new bill will treat social media companies as publishers rather than platforms with no control over the content posted.

* British media and telecom watchdog Ofcom named Althea Efunshile, Uzma Hasan, Fru Hazlitt and Tom Hooper as nonexecutive directors of public broadcaster Channel 4 (UK). Efunshile and Hooper will initially serve four-year terms, while Hasan and Hazlitt will sit on the board for initial terms of three years.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE Chairman Thomas Ebeling will not be at a Dec. 14 employees' meeting, DWDL reports, citing sources. Ebeling was reportedly not invited after his controversial comments on the company's restructuring plans.

* German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF (DE) announced the schedules of their PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games coverage from Feb. 9 to Feb. 25, 2018. The channels will broadcast the games live over roughly 230 hours.

* Siemens AG has again faced criticism from parties in the German Bundestag, following a legal proposal by the Die Linke party to suspend mass layoffs among profitable businesses, Handelsblatt reports.

* Two former managers of defunct German internet company Unister GmbH appealed their guilty verdict over fraud, according to a spokesperson of the Landgericht Leipzig, Leipziger Volkszeitung reports. Both had been sentenced to parole.

FRANCE

* Orange SA said Orange Business Services and Cargotec have signed a three-year, multimillion-euro agreement for worldwide internet of things connectivity. Finland-headquartered Cargotec provides cargo and load handling solutions. The Orange internet of things connectivity service offers internet of things SIM card ordering, activation and tracking through a dedicated portal.

* Museum, a French TV channel specializing in visual arts and exclusively offered by Vivendi SA's Canal Plus SA since April, plans to launch in a dozen countries by the end of 2018, CB News reports.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* Altice NV will reduce its share capital by cancelling treasury shares, resolving to cancel 416 million common shares A and 1,307,716 common shares B held by the company. The cancellation of such shares will become effective in accordance with the provisions of Dutch law.

* Atos SE sent a formal offer to acquire Gemalto NV for a total consideration of about €4.3 billion, or €46 per Gemalto share, in an all-cash deal. The French company has also offered a discussion with Gemalto's board in relation to the proposed deal. Gemalto said it will review the proposed acquisition.

* KPN NV said it completed the acquisition of QSight IT Holding BV, which was announced in October. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets earlier approved the acquisition in November.

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s cloud computing business will work with NXP Semiconductors NV, the latter said, a move that could bolster the Chinese e-commerce giant's smart home and payment offerings. The combination will allow NXP and Alibaba to develop electronic devices for a wide range of uses.

* KPN reached an agreement with Apple on carrier billing, meaning that KPN customers can now pay for apps they buy using an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Apple TV through their mobile phone bill, TotaalTV reports. Customers can buy up to €150 worth of apps or content a month via carrier billing, according to KPN's website.

* Belgian provider Proximus will end its telegram service on Dec. 29, which has existed in Belgium since 1846. The telegram was used by only a handful of residential and business customers in recent years.

* The Dutch Consumers' Association, or Consumentenbond, urged customers who are planning to buy a new smartphone, not to purchase a Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge or Galaxy J3 2016 phone, as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. would not provide new updates for these devices from March 2018.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Broadnet AS lodged a complaint against Nkom with Norway's Ministry of Transport and Communications, digi.no reports. The fixed-line operator disputes a November ruling by Nkom that it breached security laws linked to outsourcing contracts to India.

* Telenor ASA is terminating its music streaming deal with Tidal, owned by rap star Jay Z, e24.no reports. The agreement will end Jan. 7, 2018.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* The Italian government requested Telecom Italia SpA to provide detailed information on the operator's network assets, Reuters reports. The request, sent through a letter, is asking for the company to "identify all material and immaterial assets that make up the network."

* Meanwhile, Telecom Italia CEO Amos Genish expressed that a network separation may not solve all problems, Reuters reports. Italian regulator AGCOM has since been looking into competition concerns in relation to the operator's fixed-line network.

* Vodafone Italia launched a €90 million project to test 5G technologies using the 3.6 GHz band to 3.8 GHz band in Milan, Italy, Telecompaper reports. The Vodafone Group Plc unit will be working with about 28 partners for the project, CEO Aldo Bisio said.

* Current Supreme Court of Justice Vice President Sebastiao Povoas has been appointed president of Portugal's Regulatory Body for Social Communication, replacing Carlos Mango, Telecompaper reports. Povoas will begin work with a newly appointed council Dec. 14.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Liberty Global plc will be merging the marketing, sales and customer operations of its UPC units into a single organization, Digital TV Europe reports. The new entity will be led by Severina Pascu, who has been named COO of Liberty Global's central Europe group.

* Poland's National Broadcasting Council slapped a fine of about 1.5 million Polish zlotys to TVN SA, Broadband TV News reports. The regulator ruled that the Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. unit violated laws by "promoting illegal activities and encouraging behaviour that threatens national security."

* Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile Czech Republic is adding the Epic Drama HD channel to its T-Mobile TV service, effective Dec. 14, Telecompaper reports.

* Tele2 Russia launched its own mobile virtual network enabler platform, which would allow companies to launch MVNO services on the telco's network, Telecompaper reports, citing Cnews.ru.

* Russia's Megogo.net will no longer use the services of Gazprom-Media Digital for advertisement sales beginning 2018. The move follows Gazprom-Media's decision to work with ivi.ru Media Ltd., Megogo's rival in the country, Broadband TV News reports, citing Kommersant.

FEATURED NEWS

Diversity Spotlight: Inclusive hiring practices help operators with innovation: According to some of the biggest players in the telecommunications space including Comcast, AT&T and Verizon meeting the needs of a diverse customer base means having a diverse workforce from which to draw new ideas and solutions.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Multichannel Trends: Multichannel video revenue sets course for slide in 10-year outlook: Combined annual subscription sales for traditional video services are expected to post a first-ever annual decline in 2017, a harbinger of things to come for the formerly buoyant sector.

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.