TOP NEWS
* Broadcom Ltd. said it raised its bid for semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc. to about $121 billion, calling it its "best and final offer." Broadcom said it would offer $82 per share, consisting of $60 in cash and the balance in Broadcom shares. The improved offer also depends on Qualcomm either acquiring NXP Semiconductors NV at the currently disclosed terms of $110 per share or dropping the deal.
* Italian soccer league Serie A has agreed with Mediapro's approximately €1.05 billion offer to acquire rights to broadcast its matches for the seasons from 2018 to 2021, Reuters reports. The Serie A organization will notify the Italian antitrust authority of the agreement to officially assign the rights to the broadcaster.
* Kazakhtelecom has offered to buy Telia Co. AB's 75% shareholding in Kazakh mobile operator Kcell JSC, valuing the latter at about $600 million, Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the talks. The offer is reportedly 40% below Kcell's present market capitalization of about $1 billion.
PAN-EUROPEAN
* Facebook Inc.'s European chief, Nicola Mendelsohn, may soon leave the company after being diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells, London's The Times reports.
UK AND IRELAND
* Amazon is bracing for a potential battle with Sky plc and British Telecom in a multibillion-pound auction of broadcast rights to English Premier League soccer, Reuters reports. Amazon's push into TV content may reportedly force Sky and BT to up their offers in the rights auction that begins Feb. 9.
* BT has decided to close its defined benefit pension scheme for 10,000 managers, in order to build up benefits under the scheme until May 31. Pension contributions for the affected managers will instead go to into their new accounts under the BT Retirement Saving Scheme, effective June 1.
* Trinity Mirror plc clarified media reports that it is close to sealing a deal to acquire several of Northern & Shell Plc's assets. The newspaper publisher said talks are ongoing and may not necessarily lead to a deal. Trinity Mirror is eyeing the Daily Express and Daily Star, Dublin's Irish Independent reports.
* Eir Group plc refused to lower costs for access to its rural infrastructure across Ireland, in what is regarded as the latest stumbling block to the government's National Broadband Plan, Dublin's Irish Independent reports.
* Baby Cow Productions Ltd. executive Kerry Waddell is joining British multichannel broadcaster UKTV as its head of production, effective March. Waddell will lead UKTV's production management team as the broadcaster furthers its push into original programming. UKTV is a joint venture between the British Broadcasting Corp.'s BBC Worldwide Ltd. and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Deutsche Telekom AG and Inmarsat plc, together with their technology partner Nokia Corp., have completed the development of the European Aviation Network. Touted as the first LTE-based European airspace network, the EAN is expected to be made commercially available to airlines as early as the first half of 2018.
* German commercial broadcaster RTL (DE) reached 11.77 million unique users in January with its information and entertainment offers, representing an increase of 26% compared to the previous year.
FRANCE
* Amazon.com Inc. has reached a settlement in a tax dispute with authorities in France, according to media reports. The U.S. online retail giant did not provide details on the settlement. However, Amazon has not settled all its tax problems in Europe.
* Canal Plus SA affiliate StudioCanal announced its first licensing deal with Hulu LLC. The new agreement will grant Hulu exclusive U.S. SVOD rights to 20 hours of premium drama content and includes three drama series.
* Orange SA's cybersecurity unit Orange Cyberdefense SAS has partnered with Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. to deliver the Mobile Threat Protection service. The new service will help multinational enterprises protect their mobile device fleets from mobile attacks in line with current and emerging threats.
* The SFR Group management team appointed Arthur Dreyfuss as secretary general and Michel Mates as general counsel, replacing Régis Turrini and Emmanuelle Lévine, respectively. Dreyfuss will retain his position as communications director of Altice NV.
* Alexandre Guillet has been appointed editor-in-chief at L'Argus Edition Pro, replacing Catherine Leroy, CB News reports.
NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG
* KPN NV and Dutch public broadcaster NPO will switch from DVB-2 to DVB-T2/HEVC for their digital terrestrial transmissions, Broadband TV News reports. KPN, for its part, expects to complete the migration by April 2019.
* KPN is set to start upgrading its copper wire network that will allow for speeds up to 400 Mbps, TotaalTV reports. The operator prefers upgrading its network as opposed to rolling out a new fiber-optic network due to the latter's high costs.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Apple Inc.'s Apple Music could replace Spotify AB as the top music-streaming service in the U.S. in terms of paid subscribers this summer, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources with knowledge of the details. Sources said Apple Music has a monthly growth rate of 5% versus 2% for Spotify.
* The Swedish government named Åsa Zetterberg as the country's first chief digital officer, Di Digital reports. Zetterberg, who is tasked with implementing Sweden's national digitalization strategy, will report to Digital Minister Peter Eriksson.
* Nkom told Telenor ASA's Telenor Norge AS to discontinue unlawful efforts to retain customers, the regulator said. Nkom's concerns relates to Telenor customers in the process of porting their number to another operator. Telenor has until Feb. 21 to respond to Nkom.
* Nokia and China United Network Communications Ltd. will deploy a cloud-native core network based on Nokia's AirGile technology in seven Chinese provinces, Nokia said. The network will enable China Unicom to deliver Voice over LTE and Voice over Wi-Fi capabilities from a single platform.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* Telefónica SA's pay-TV platform Movistar is anticipated to focus on film and TV series content after it seals an expected agreement with Netflix Inc., Advanced Television reports. The Spanish operator may take out soccer matches in its lineup due to the high costs of acquiring rights.
* Viacom Inc. signed a mobile streaming deal with Telefónica for Latin America. The deal allows the Movistar Play platform to carry live feeds of MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Comedy Central and Paramount Channel in the region beginning in 2018, according to a news release.
* Vodafone Italia teamed up with electronics company Arduino for the development of internet of things-related applications, Telecompaper reports. The partnership coincides with the Vodafone Group Plc unit's plan to bring NarrowBand IoT in Italy by March 2019.
* MásMóvil Ibercom SA is seeking to extend its national roaming agreement with Orange España as a way to substantially reduce the €367 million agreement cost, Telecompaper reports. MásMóvil is looking to have the deadline extended beyond June 30, 2021.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Television Inc. plans to operate pay TV channels in Russia through a joint venture with National Media Group, Reuters reports. The Russian company intends to buy about 80% in a company that broadcasts Sony channels in the country.
* Radio Television of Serbia will broadcast three additional TV channels and three radio stations following an extension of the partnership between satellite company SES SA and Telekom Srbija ad Beograd. The Serbian telecom company has leased additional capacity on SES' ASTRA satellite in order to broadcast the RTS1, RTS2 and RTS Poletarac channels, as well as the Radio Beograd 202, Radio Beograd 2 and Radio Beograd 3 radio stations.
* Kartina.TV is anticipated to roll out in Russia in March under the operation of Russian company National Network, Broadband TV News reports, citing Kommersant. The over-the-top platform is seeking other local partners, such as ivi.ru Media Ltd.
FEATURED NEWS
M&A Replay: Meredith closes Time Inc. deal; SAP unit to buy software firm: S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of U.S. companies' media and communications deal announcements and completions from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2.
M&A Replay: European deals: TDC buying MTG's TV biz; Cineworld, Regal deal approved: Danish operator TDC agreed to buy Modern Times Group's broadcasting and entertainment business, while Regal Entertainment Group shareholders approved the company's proposed takeover by European cinema operator Cineworld.
Samsung heir Lee walks free as legal fightback starts to pay off: An appeals court in South Korea has suspended Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong's jail sentence over charges of corruption, paving the way for Lee's swift return to the company.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Economics of Internet: European SVOD 5-year outlook: Kagan projects the over-the-top subscription online video-on-demand market in Europe should reach $6.8 billion in 2022, up from $3.9 billion in 2017.
