* Upcoming video streaming service BritBox struck a deal to make its app available on Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s Tizen TVs sold from 2015 onward. Connected TV service Freeview Play and digital TV service YouView will also carry the BritBox app. The British Broadcasting Corp. and ITV PLC jointly own BritBox.
* Yandex NV is rolling out a video streaming service that will enable users to publish videos up to 15 minutes long on the Russian search giant's personal recommendation platform Yandex Zen, Reuters reports, citing a statement. The new service would be up against rival Google LLC's YouTube.
* German media company Axel Springer SE could acquire online auctioneer eBay Inc., Handelsblatt reports. Elliott Management Corp. and Starboard Financial Management LLC are reportedly planning to push eBay to split its StubHub Inc. and Classifieds Group units.
PAN-EUROPEAN
* Incoming European Union commissioners are pushing for the regional bloc to "act alone" and agree on a digital tax if no global agreement is reached by end-2020, Reuters reports, quoting Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's incoming vice president, who will be in charge of digital policy and competition.
UK AND IRELAND
* The U.S. and the U.K. are expected to sign a new treaty in October that will see social media platforms, such as Facebook Inc. and WhatsApp Inc., share encrypted messages of suspected individuals with the British police, The Times reports, without citing sources. Under the agreement, the social media companies will hand over information to police, security services and prosecutors to support their investigations into people who have been suspected of serious criminal offenses, including terrorism and sexual abuse.
* The European Commission approved BC Partners and Vista Equity Partners LLC's proposed acquisition of joint control of U.K.-based Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd., a provider of software, cloud and managed IT services.
* British Telecom appointed Andy Haworth to the newly created role of managing director of sports rights and commercial, Advanced Television reports. BT also named Cindy Varga managing director of strategy and transformation for its consumer division.
* Online sports broadcaster DAZN Group named Stewart Walker executive vice president of global rights partnerships, Advanced Television reports. Walker previously led global media rights sales efforts for beIN SPORTS.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Facebook's digital currency Libra could delay its target launch date, originally June 2020, in order to address concerns from regulators in Europe and globally, Reuters reports, citing Managing Director Bertrand Perez of the Geneva-based Libra Association.
* Austrian sensor specialist ams AG revised its all-cash bid to acquire German lighting company Osram Licht AG to €41 per share from €38.50 apiece, calling it the company's best and final offer. The increased bid follows an indicative competing offer from Advent International Corp. and Bain Capital LP.
* Swiss electronics company Logitech International SA agreed to acquire Streamlabs Inc., a provider of livestreaming software and tools. Logitech will purchase San Francisco-based Streamlabs for about $89 million in cash, plus an additional $29 million of Logitech shares subject to Streamlabs achieving specific revenue growth targets.
* Sunrise Communications Group AG plans to convince shareholders to support a proposal to reduce its planned CHF4.1 billion capital increase to fund its acquisition of Liberty Global PLC unit UPC Schweiz, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, German telecom group freenet AG said it will not sell its shares in Sunrise, according to a separate Reuters report.
* Axel Springer unit AVIV closed the acquisition of MeilleursAgents, a provider of online real estate advertisements in France. The acquisition will bolster Springer's portfolio of French real estate portals, which includes SeLoger and Logic-Immo, according to a statement from the company.
* German publishers should create a European platform to counter Google, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Editor Michael Hanfeld wrote. He added that digital companies behave as if they are above the European law.
FRANCE
* Almost 200 journalists at Mondadori France resigned following Reworld Media SA's acquisition of the press group, Le Figaro reports. A clause in their contracts allows journalists to resign with compensation when Mondadori France's ownership changes hands.
* Orange SA will withdraw its constitutional complaint against ARCEP, following a hearing of its CEO Stéphane Richard with the telecom regulator, La Tribune reports. Orange has been issued several formal notices concerning failures to comply with obligations on fixed lines, quality of service on wholesale offers and commitments on fiber deployment.
NETHERLANDS,
* T-Mobile Netherlands BV will start testing its mobile network with 5G on the 700 MHz frequency band Oct. 2. In addition to the national test license for one year, T-Mobile received a regional test license from the Telecom Agency for testing 5G on the entire 700 MHz frequency in The Hague and surrounding areas for two months.
* A campaign to preserve XS4ALL Internet BV's independence has so far secured more than 54,000 digitally signed petitions and more than €30,000 in donations, TotaalTV reports. KPN NV reportedly wants to place XS4ALL and other subsidiary brands under its own brand name.
* The Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal will rule this week on VodafoneZiggo's appeal against regulation covering Ziggo NV's cable network, TotaalTV reports.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Japanese telecom operator KDDI Corp. tapped Nokia Corp. as a primary partner in the upgrade of the company's 4G network to 5G. The 5G network, to be deployed across Japan, will rely on Nokia's AirScale radio access solution.
* Telenor ASA extended its mandatory tender offer until Oct. 10 for shares in DNA Oyj, after already securing 94.36% of the shares in the Finnish telecom company. Telenor will make a redemption claim to any remaining minority shareholders after the offer extension has ended.
* Norwegian telecom regulator Nkom said 86% of households in the country now have access to high-speed broadband with speeds of at least 100 Mbps, an increase of 4 percentage points from the year-ago period. The number of households with broadband speeds above 1 Gbps increased to 63%.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* Telefónica SA's unit signed a collective bargaining agreement with trade unions UGT and CCOO that covers more than 21,000 employees across the telco's three Spanish units. The deal includes a voluntary plan for employees aged 53 years old and above as of 2019 and have more than 15 years of seniority in the company to "suspend their relationship with the company."
* The Portuguese unit of mobile network services provider Dense Air Ltd. struck a deal with the municipal council of Cascais to launch a 5G smart city "proof of concept" network, according to a statement.
* Altice Portugal said it "cannot be held responsible" for delays in the migration of the country's digital terrestrial TV service from the 700 MHz band, Advanced Television reports. The DTT operator noted that the National Communications Authority's decision on the migration will be published in the second half of October, at the earliest.
* Turkish operator Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AŞ named four executive vice presidents, Telecompaper reports. Ömer Barbaros Yiş will be responsible for the marketing portfolio, while Ataç Tansuğ will lead digital services and solutions. Ceyhun Özata will lead corporate and residential sales, while Kadri Özdal is taking charge of consumer sales.
* Sky Italia SRL will stop airing five channels from Oct. 1 after their licensing deals with the pay TV provider expired, Advanced Television reports. The affected channels are Fox Corp.'s Fox Animation and Fox Comedy, National Geographic Ventures Inc.'s Nat Geo People, and Walt Disney Co.'s Disney XD and Disney in English.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Google is opening a new cloud region in Poland, CNBC.com reports. In an interview, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said Europe is a "big area of focus" for the business and the company is growing there faster in terms of revenue, customers and people, than in any other part of the world.
* Russia's major operators are opposing a draft online TV law, which they say would limit access to TV channels for users, Telecompaper reports, citing Vedomosti. Representatives of MegaFon, Mobile TeleSystems PJSC, VEON unit Beeline, Tricolor TV and the cable TV industry group made the appeal to Vyacheslav Volodind, who chairs the lower parliamentary chamber overseeing the proposed legislation.
FEATURED NEWS
Data Dispatch: 'Abominable' to leave its footprint on box office: With comic book blockbuster "Joker" kicking off October, studios seemed hesitant to launch a competitive title, leaving animated film "Abominable" to roar over the weekend.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Multichannel Trends: Cable TV Investor: Table of contents for issue No. 781, published September 2019.
Global Multichannel: Global markets update — Malaysia: Kagan has recently updated Global Multichannel and Broadband analyses for Asia-Pacific country Malaysia, as well as analyses for related operators Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd. and Telekom Malaysia.
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