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Pluto TV's Europe expansion; US-Poland 5G deal; HUYA/ESL joint venture

The Daily Dose LIVE returns to the City of London on Tuesday, Oct.1. Join us for a timely panel discussion on the vulnerabilities facing corporate Europe in a period of deep political, policy and economic uncertainty. Register today to secure your place at this popular breakfast event.

TOP NEWS

* Viacom Inc. launched its ad-supported video-on-demand platform Pluto TV in the U.K., Germany and Austria via Apple Inc.'s Apple TV and mobile devices, Broadband TV News reports, citing a statement. Pluto TV is also making its debut in Switzerland.

* The U.S. and Poland entered a cooperation agreement on 5G technology, which was signed by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, The Associated Press reports. Polish President Andrzej Duda confirmed that his country has detected "activity that could be of espionage nature" which prosecutors are investigating.

* Chinese livestreaming platform HUYA Inc. struck a binding term sheet with Modern Times Group AB to acquire a minority stake in the latter's esports business Turtle Entertainment GmbH, or ESL, for $30 million, according to a statement. HUYA and ESL will also form a strategic joint venture to enable the expansion of ESL's offering into China.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* Iliad SA announced a strategic agreement with equipment supplier Nokia Corp. for the rollout of 5G networks in France and Italy. Deployment in these markets, which involve about 17 million mobile users, is set to start in 2020.

UK AND IRELAND

* Sky Ltd. is considering investing in a new full-fiber network that will be constructed by Liberty Global PLC, London's Financial Times reported. Comcast Corp.'s British unit is said to have had discussions with Liberty Global and expressed interest to become both an investor and a customer, the report said, citing three sources.

* Facebook Inc. lost 300,000 active users in Ireland in the last nine months, Dublin's Irish Independent reports, citing the company's own advertising numbers. The drop in user base came amid the social media giant's involvement in a number of scandals and data privacy issues.

* Gravity Media Group Ltd. completed its acquisition of Australian live studio and production services provider Chief Entertainment Pty. Ltd. from Telstra Corp. Ltd. Under the new ownership, Chief Entertainment will continue to provide Telstra with production services for its enterprise division, digital sports rights and media services.

* Eddie Buxton is stepping down as CEO of managed communications services provider Maintel Holdings PLC by year-end, Telecompaper reports. Maintel is looking for Buxton's successor.

* Swedish company Doro AB, which makes assistive technology and phones for the elderly, is acquiring British company Invicta Telecare Ltd. from Clarion Housing Group Ltd. for 60 million Swedish kronor. After the acquisition, Doro will manage about 200,000 connected security alarms in the U.K.

* Accenture PLC completed its acquisition of Australian big data and analytics consultancy Analytics8 LP for an undisclosed amount. Analytics8 is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Solutions by Handelsblatt Media Group named Andrea Wasmuth and Christian Sellmann as managing directors, Horizont reports. The new division will address the needs of advertising customers, including corporate publishing authors.

* Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. KG is preparing a paid content model for news site stern.de, Meedia reports. The model could include a digital subscription and specialist online reports.

* Salt Mobile SA's affiliate telecom group Matterhorn Telecom SA plans to raise up to CHF1.15 billion to refinance. The company could also raise additional secured debt.

FRANCE

* Groupe M6 completed the acquisition of 100% of the capital of the companies that make up Lagardère SCA's television division, excluding Mezzo, Boursier.com reports. The transaction is worth €215 million.

* French Minister of Culture Franck Riester started a series of meetings with television executives and associations related to regulation reforms, Les Échos reports. Changes being considered include geo-targeted advertising and the removal of the cinema publicity ban.

* Orange SA informed subscribers of a possible interruption of the BFM TV, RMC Discovery and RMC Story channels on its Livebox bundles if an agreement is not reached with Altice France SA, Le Figaro reports. Negotiations are set to end Sept. 4.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* Employees of Dutch public broadcasters VPRO, NTR, KRO-NCRV, AVROTROS, BNNVARA, EO, MAX and NOS plan to organize a protest against the government's cost-cutting plans. In a joint statement, unions FNV, CNV and NVJ urged their members to demonstrate in The Hague on Sept. 10.

* The Dutch Radiocommunications Agency awarded the first 5G test permit in the 3.5 GHz band for the north of the Netherlands, to the local 5Groningen project, Telecompaper reports. The permit will reportedly allow local businesses to test 5G technology in the pioneer band, suitable for applications in need of high bandwidth.

* RTL Group SA unit RTL Nederland launched a website for purchasing TV advertising time that guarantees a specific number of views, Emerce reports. The service, named Upfront Guaranteed has fixed prices based on 30-second ads and a target audience aged between 25 years to 54 years.

* KPN NV has started phasing out the ISDN technology, as announced in 2017, NOS reports. The Dutch operator said almost all consumers have switched to more modern services and businesses that have not, will be disconnected.

* Luxembourg-based communications satellite owner and operator SES SA said company CFO Andrew Browne will step down in October due to personal reasons. The search for Browne's successor is underway.

* POST Luxembourg, in partnership with RTVE, announced the launch of Spanish TV channel Star HD, a Spanish origin HD channel that mainly broadcasts fiction and entertainment series programs, Advanced Television reports. The channel will be available on IPTV platform PostTV.

* Dutch live event streaming platform On Air BV appointed Marco Verhoek COO, Broadband TV News reports. Verhoek has previous operations and leadership experience in the broadcasting and broadcasting technology and equipment sectors.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Telia Co. AB made several concessions in a bid to secure the European Commission's approval for its proposed $957 million acquisition of Bonnier AB unit Bonnier Broadcasting AB, Reuters reports, citing a document. Among others, Telia offered to give TV distribution companies in Sweden and Finland access to its free-to-air and basic pay TV channels, as well as grant one internet provider each in Sweden and Finland a license to its TV channels.

* Nokia said it will issue 4,568,000 new shares to the company, expected to be traded on the Nasdaq Helsinki from Sept. 4. The company's board also decided on a directed share issuance of up to 4,568,000 shares to employees that participated in an employee share purchase plan.

* Discovery Inc. unit Discovery Networks Nordic made a deal with BBC Studios to adapt motoring TV format "Top Gear" in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, TBI Vision reports. Banijay Group SAS-owned Nordisk Film & TV AS will produce three local series in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, with different presenters in each country.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Sports streaming platform DAZN and Sky Italia SRL entered an agreement to launch the DAZN 1 satellite TV channel in Italy on Sept. 20, Advanced Television reports. The channel, which will be available to Sky subscribers, will broadcast international soccer matches, including those from the Serie A and Serie B leagues. DAZN and Sky Italia's agreement is valid until June 2021.

* "The New Pope," an original series under a team-up between Sky, HBO and Vivendi SA unit Canal Plus SA, had its international premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The series will be released by HBO in Spain. AT&T Inc.'s Warner Media LLC owns HBO.

* Vivendi's trust, which holds a stake in Mediaset SpA, plans to take action if the Italian media company prevents the trust from voting during the upcoming shareholder meeting, Reuters reports. Shareholders are anticipated to vote on the proposed merger of Mediaset and Mediaset España Comunicación SA into MFE-Media for Europe NV on Sept. 4.

* Mediapro agreed to commercialize the broadcasting rights of LaLiga Santander and LaLiga Smartbank in public places, such as hotels, restaurants and cafeterias. Companies involved in the agreement with Mediapro include Telefónica SA's Movistar, Vodafone España SAU, Orange, Deion Comunicaciones and Euskaltel SA.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Vodafone Czech Republic as began integration with UPC and introduced new offerings in its mobile and fixed broadband, as well as its pay TV services, Telecompaper reports.

* The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation does not intend to allocate funds for smartphones with the Aurora operating system this year, Telecompaper reports, citing Vedomosti. Following the decision, Rostelecom PJSC will delay work on the Aurora OS-powered smartphones.

FEATURED NEWS

M&A Replay: Millicom closes Telefónica unit purchase; France clears Cellnex, Iliad unit deal: Millicom completed the acquisition of Telefónica's mobile operator unit in Panama, while the French competition watchdog approved Cellnex Telecom's acquisition of Iliad's mobile towers subsidiary Iliad 7.

Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Marieke Pijnappels and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.

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