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Discovery, Scripps merger gets EC clearance; EC to probe Apple, Shazam deal

TOP NEWS

* The European Commission approved Discovery Communications Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., according to a news release. The approval, however, is conditional on Discovery's commitment to offer third-party distributors the right, on a non-exclusive and unbundled basis, to distribute TVN24 and/or TVN24 BiS in Poland.

* Meanwhile, the commission will look into Apple Inc.'s proposed acquisition of U.K.-based music recognition app Shazam Entertainment Ltd. following a request from Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden. "The Commission considers the transaction may threaten to adversely affect competition in the EEA," the commission said.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* The European Parliament voted to put an end to geoblocking when people shop online within the European Union, according to a news release. The changes to the regulation is expected to take effect by December.

UK AND IRELAND

* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. will spend another £3 billion on procurement in the U.K. as it seeks alternatives to the U.S., where it failed to strike distribution deals with Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., Reuters reports.

* Facebook Inc. deleted claims posted on its platform about its supposed influence in helping the Scottish National Party "achieve an overwhelming victory" in the 2015 U.K. general election, London's The Daily Telegraph reports. The move came after recent reports that the tech giant was operating an obscure government and politics unit that provided support to multiple political campaigns.

* Virgin Media Ireland aims to expand its high-speed broadband network to almost 1 million Irish households over the next three years, Dublin's Irish Independent reports. The Liberty Global plc unit also predicted broadband speeds on its network would reach 1,000 Mbps within the next four years.

* British independent producers association Pact has struck a partnership with the Producers Guild of India, in a bid to further collaboration between the British and Indian production sectors.

* British Prime Minister Theresa May said the government will launch a new review of the country's online communications laws, in a bid to keep them updated in line with recent technology trends. The government also plans to launch a new social media code of practice as well as an annual internet safety transparency report.

* Independent News & Media PLC is proposing the addition of four new non-executive directors to its board, INM Chairman Leslie Buckley told shareholders. The nominees are John Bateson, Fionnuala Duggan, Murdoch MacLennan and Seamus Taaffe.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Austrian pay-TV provider Sky Österreich has partnered with Austrian TV channel ServusTV. Under the deal, customers of the Sky plc unit will be able to watch select Bundesliga games live on ServusTV.

* Austrian sensor solutions provider ams AG reported positive full-year results for 2017, including an increase in fourth-quarter revenue of 252% year over year. Fourth-quarter operating results were up 683% and earnings reached €141.4 million.

FRANCE

* Vivendi SA's Canal Plus SA and Iliad SA's Free are threatening to cancel their respective agreements with TF1 Group over the latter's retransmission fee demands for carriage of TF1 content, Digital TV Europe reports. TF1 and Orange SA had earlier ended their distribution agreement due to a similar issue.

* France Télévisions SA launched its new 100% video and 100% digital offering for young adults. It features series, documentaries, animation, comedy and interviews published on France.tv, YouTube and Facebook.

* Technicolor announced the launch of Mill Film, a new visual effects studio for the theatrical/film production market. The studio is initially located in Adelaide, Australia.

* Al Jazeera Media Network tapped Euronews Group as its content and brand syndication agent to internationally represent Al Jazeera's digital flagship brand AJ+. Euronews Group will market and promote AJ+ digital channels to third-party clients.

* Orange Business Services demonstrated the next stage of its global SD-WAN portfolio with the first onboarding of a Cisco SD-WAN virtual network function on the Cisco Enterprise Network Compute System. The technology uses artificial intelligence to automatically orchestrate networks.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* Cable provider DELTA will re-add the Discovery, Eurosport, TLC and ID channels to its basic package on March 1, following a new agreement with Discovery Networks. The Dutch operator took the channels out of its offer in early 2017 when it could not reach a distribution agreement with Discovery Networks.

* Cable operator Nethys PLC, which operates under the VOO brand, and Belgian provider Telenet Group have concluded an MVNO partnership for the next five years. Under the terms of the new contract, VOOmobile customers will soon be leaving the Orange mobile network to be accommodated on Telenet within 2018.

* Dutch online publisher Wayne Parker Kent is taking over the brands Mama en Zo and J/M Ouders from Mama Media Group, as well as its platform Buskruit met Muisjes, Adformatie reports. Mama Media Group went bankrupt in late 2017.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Telenor ASA said it will cut 115 positions in its technology division. The cuts coincide with Telenor's reorganization of its IT operations.

* Com Hem is running tests of broadband speeds of 1.2 Gbps symmetrical over its FiberCoax network. The speed is identical on both upstream and downstream.

* Swedish regulator PTS said it has awarded a national license for 2 x 5 MHz frequencies in the 450-MHz band to Ice Group unit Netett AB. Telia Co. AB was Netett's sole rival in the frequency auction.

* Norwegian telecom watchdog Nkom said it fined Broadnet AS 14 million kroner for security lapses in its ICT system. Following an audit of Broadnet's emergency networks in 2017, Nkom found that subcontractors in India gained unauthorized access to Broadnet's ICT system.

* Sonetel AB named Peter Montgomery as its new CFO, replacing Kristina Elfström Mackintosh who will leave the international telephone services company by end-February, Dagens Industri reports.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Telecom Italia SpA will provide live and exclusive coverage of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics on the TIMvision platform and on the Eurosport player, Telecompaper reports. The Italian operator's broadcast of the sporting event is part of its two-year agreement with Discovery Communications.

* Huawei's Italian unit appointed Thomas Miao as its CEO, replacing Edward Chan, Telecompaper reports. Chan will become the vice president of marketing and sales for Huawei's operations in Western Europe.

* An unnamed senior member of the Forza Italia political party has recommended communication networks in Italy, including those owned by Telecom Italia and Enel SpA's Enel Open Fiber SpA, to be merged into one entity, Reuters reports. The aim is to foster investment and to ensure equal network access to all operators. Forza Italia is the party of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, which is leading the polls ahead of Italy's national elections in March.

* Telefónica SA, together with Huawei, rolled out 5G-V2X, a proof-of-concept testbed for 5G-based vehicle communication networks. The test for 5G-V2X technology is built on the latest 3GPP New Radio standard.

* Orange España and local carmaker Seat agreed to develop projects centered on technologies for connected vehicles, such as connected car services and digital home or office experience improvements for car users, Telecompaper reports.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Russia's Tricolor TV said it acquired a license to distribute content from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution Inc. Under the agreement, Tricolor TV will have rights to about 200 titles from the Time Warner Inc. unit that will be aired on its Kinopremium HD and Ostrosyujetnoe HD channels.

* Mail.Ru Group Ltd. is teaming up with Telesport in its plans to broadcast Winter Olympics footage on its social networks Odnoklassniki LLC and VKontakte Ltd., Telecompaper reports, citing Cnews.ru. Telesport will be in charge of streaming the video footage from South Korea.

* Orange Polska SA is buying a portion of Nettelekom's fiber optic network in the city of Kielce, Telecompaper reports. The acquired assets cover about 14,800 households and business locations.

* Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service is looking to investigate MegaFon over a potential violation on implemented roaming rates, Telecompaper reports. The Russian operator is said to have increased its base international roaming rates in December 2016.

* Natalya Chumachenko has been appointed as a member of MegaFon's board and will also be joining USM Holdings, Telecompaper reports. Alexander Sobolev will replace Chumachenko in her current role as MegaFon's managing director for strategy and organizational development.

FEATURED NEWS

Vodafone re-enters talks with Liberty Global in push for European cable deal: Vodafone is in preliminary discussions with Liberty Global regarding a potential acquisition of overlapping European assets. For now, a deal is centered on Liberty's cable business in Germany, as well as assets across Eastern Europe.

Tech Time: Samsung, Qualcomm expand patent deal; US mulls building 5G network: Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm expanded their global patent cross-license deal covering mobile devices and infrastructure equipment, while the U.S. government is considering building a 5G network to boost cybersecurity in the country.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Multichannel Trends: TV Everywhere maintains differentiation with OTT, but retention goal not met: TV Everywhere offerings from the top multichannel operators avoided significant duplication with the Hulu and Netflix catalogs in early 2018, but accelerating multichannel subscriber losses underscore the limits of TVE's retention capabilities.

RECENT EARNINGS

Snap beats earnings estimates despite net loss, reports user gains in Q4'17: The company said its net daily active users grew by 5% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2017. Executives said a recent app redesign credited with driving more engagement will roll out to users during the first quarter of 2018.

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.