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Netflix, EuropaCorp in deal talks; TalkTalk investors pull out shares

TOP NEWS

* Netflix Inc. is in talks for a multipicture deal with EuropaCorp, Variety reports, citing sources. Under the deal, French filmmaker Luc Besson would direct and produce several movies for the streaming giant.

* TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC's investors have pulled hundreds of millions of pounds in stakes out of the British company over worries about its ability to pay its dividend and debts, London's The Daily Telegraph reports. Investment firm Exane BNP Paribas forecasts that the company would further cut its dividend by 50% in the next year due its need to service its debt, which was at £837 million as of November 2017.

UK AND IRELAND

* Eir announced that its board has decided to opt out as one of the bidders in the bidding process of Ireland's National Broadband Plan due to the risks involved in the process. The Irish operator cited commercial, regulatory and issues, as well as the complex tender process, as some of the reasons of its withdrawal. Meanwhile, The Irish Times reports that the broadband project will continue to keep its timeline and would not incur increased costs to taxpayers despite eir's decision, citing Minister for Communications Denis Naughten.

* Virgin Media Inc. is no longer pursuing its plan to roll out a cheaper broadband service, which was intended to be named Ruby, London's The Daily Telegraph reports. The plan, which was targeted to compete with rivals' offerings, had been cancelled by the Liberty Global plc unit late in 2017 after Vodafone Group Plc's and Sky plc's standard prices were reduced.

* London-headquartered digital health startup Medopad Ltd. has entered into deals with Chinese companies totaling to about £100 million, Bloomberg News reports. The deals consist of 15 commercial projects and partnerships with companies such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Lenovo Group Ltd.'s New Vision.

* British company Boxer has entered into a partnership with video compression solutions manufacturer V-Nova Ltd. Boxer will represent V-Nova's PERSEUS-powered P.Link products and provide infrastructure support for V-Nova P.Link customers.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA is considering the sale of part of service subsidiary Arvato Crm Solutions Gmbh, as well as partnerships.The publishing company is testing multiple options for the advancement of its customer relationship management Arvato.

* Lyft Inc. has built a team in Munich to create maps for self-driving cars. The team will work on Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, as well as geometric mapping technologies, according to a blog post.

FRANCE

* France Télévisions SA President and CEO Delphine Ernotte appointed Takis Candilis to replace Xavier Couture as deputy CEO, effective Feb 26. Candilis will be in charge of channels, programming and editorial strategy for the group.

* French media regulator Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel said it has revoked Mathieu Gallet's mandate as president of Radio France effective March 1, 2018. Gallet was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and €20,000 fine for favoritism during his term as president of the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel.

* Neighborhood social network Nextdoor SAS launched in France on Feb. 1. The app, which is accessible on iOS, Android and the web, is already available in the U.S., the U.K., Germany and the Netherlands.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* KPN NV said its supervisory board intends to reappoint Jan Kees de Jager as CFO for a second four-year term. The board will inform shareholders of the intended reappointment during their annual general meeting April 18.

* Meanwhile, KPN reported a turnover of €1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017, a more than 6% year-over-year drop. Total revenues also decreased, from €115 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 to €70 million in the fourth quarter of 2017.

* Dutch public broadcaster NPO has said it will soon find a solution for the privacy problems of its app NPO Start, reports Villamedia. At the moment, users of the app have to agree to share certain details with advertisers, before they can use the app.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Telia Co. AB has completed its acquisition of Finnish ICT company Inmics Oy. The acquisition, announced in December 2017, has an enterprise value of €75 million.

* Telenor ASA will cut about 6,000 full-time positions over the next three years, the company said when presenting its financial report for 2017. The cuts are part of an ambition to cut costs by between 1% and 3% by the end of 2020. The company reported revenues of 125 billion Norwegian kroner in 2017 and EBITDA of 49 billion kroner, up from 46 billion kroner in 2016.

* One Equity partners has become majority owner of Ericsson AB's Media Solutions, with a 51% stake. The closing of the deal is anticipated in the third quarter of 2018. Meanwhile, the company said it will continue to develop Red Bee Media as an independent and focused media services business.

* Ericsson also launched Business Area Emerging Business, a division focusing on innovation and new business development. Åsa Tamsons will head the new area, and was also appointed senior vice president.

* Spotify AB launched a new app focusing on playlists, Breakit reports. Named Stations, the app offers the possibility of listening to music without access to a Premium account, but with limited search possibilities. The app is only available in Australia at the moment.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* A number of Italian broadcasters, such as RAI, Mediaset SpA, Sky Italia SRL and Discovery Communications Inc.'s Discovery Italia Srl, have sealed deals to air sporting events, Advanced Television reports. Sky Italia, which owns the Italian rights to the UEFA Champions League, has cut a deal with RAI; Mediaset acquired rights for the 2018 World Cup in Russia; Sky Italia obtained rights for the Formula 1 World Championship from 2018 to 2020; and Discovery Italia has renewed its agreement to air the Six Nations rugby tournament until 2021.

* Spanish operators Telefónica SA, Vodafone España SAU and Orange SA's Orange España will be increasing the prices of their convergent packages by up to €5 a month in exchange of additional services or offerings, Advanced Television reports. The operators are said to be attempting to acquire bigger revenues as higher football TV rights and low packages are bringing lower profits for the companies.

* Discussions between Vivendi SA and Mediaset are ongoing over a potential agreement after the companies' failed pay TV deal, Reuters reports. Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine remains optimistic and said that "finding an agreement would be good."

EASTERN EUROPE

* Croatia's Hrvatski Telekom will stop airing Discovery channels on its MAXtv service, effective Feb. 1, Broadband TV News reports. The operator will introducienew channels, such as National Geographic, History, Crime and Investigation and CBS Reality, in local languages.

* Two senior members of the U.S. Democratic Party are seeking further answers from Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. regarding the social media campaigns from Russia that push for the release of a Republican memorandum related to alleged surveillance abuses at the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Twitter responded saying that preliminary analysis on the use of the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag did not show "any significant activity connected to Russia," Reuters reports.

* Russia's Channel One has sent letters to tech companies, such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google Inc., as well as smart TV makers Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc., to remove applications that provides an illegal broadcast of the channel, Broadband TV News reports, citing Kommersant. The channel is also demanding over-the-top companies to OTT services to only distribute Channel One on legal platforms.

FEATURED NEWS

New York Stock Exchange's 'Spotify Rule' may not spell end of traditional IPOs: The New York Stock Exchange's proposed direct listing model could encourage some companies to avoid using underwriters to go public, but the traditional IPO will remain a necessity for some companies, experts said.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Technology: Connected device increases help OTT video supplement free-to-air in Italy: With a large connected device installed based in the country, over-the-top video still remains an important distribution mechanism despite widespread use of free-to-air television in Italy.

RECENT EARNINGS

Ericsson posts net loss for Q4'17; to sell 51% of Media Solutions biz: Ericsson reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2017 as the company recorded 14.5 billion Swedish kronor of impairment in the quarter.

Facebook reports 47% YOY revenue increase on steady user growth: Facebook delivered steady user growth and financial growth in the fourth quarter, but a tax-related EPS miss and strategic commentary from its leadership cast a shadow on the report.

EBay Q4'17 revenue up 9%, expects similar growth for Q1'18: The company performed to consensus expectations with its adjusted earnings in the fourth quarter and full year 2017.

Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription.