New broadband subscriber data reinforces the danger Charter Communications' buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable poses to the growing online video distribution marketplace, Dish Network said in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 15-149. Pointing to Media Bureau-released broadband subscriber data made available earlier this month to signers of the confidential information protective order, Dish said the combined Charter/TWC/BHN subscribers to its 25-plus Mbps downstream services, alongside Comcast's similar subscribers, would give Comcast and New Charter combined a sizable -- though redacted -- portion of the high-speed Internet market. "The Department of Justice has disapproved of mergers that would have resulted in the duopolists' combined market share below the figure at issue here," Dish said, pointing to DOJ's 2013 antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking Anheuser-Busch InBev's proposed acquisition of Mexican beer company Grupo Modelo. "Such market concentration between two firms would allow for coordinated action even without active collusion between the players." Dish also renewed its call for the FCC to deny the transactions (see 1511130021). In a statement Monday, Charter said it "would only have 23 percent of broadband subscribers receiving 25 Mbps and above. There is no more OVD friendly provider ... [we] have a minimum broadband speed of 60 Mbps with no data caps, no usage based billing and a generous interconnection policy.” Earlier this month in reply to opposition comments regarding the possible Comcast duopoly, Charter said its business approach in such areas as OVD and broadband are markedly different and that it is no significant programming interests to protect.

Technicolor completed its acquisition of Cisco’s connected devices operations for $450 million cash and $150 million in newly issued Technicolor shares, Technicolor said in a Friday announcement. The acquisition, announced in late July (see 1507230028), includes a “strategic collaboration agreement” with Cisco that will allow both companies to develop and deliver “next generation video and broadband technologies,” with a special emphasis on IoT “solutions and services,” Technicolor said. In a separate development Friday, Cisco announced plans to acquire Acano, a privately held London-based company that supplies “collaboration infrastructure and conferencing software.” The acquisition will speed Cisco’s “collaboration strategy to deliver video everywhere, providing the best collaboration experience across every endpoint, every screen, every workspace, and to every user," the company said. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Liberty Global plans to buy Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) in a $5.3 billion stock swap, Liberty said in a news release Monday. Liberty Global will issue up to 121 million shares and assume CWC's $2.7 billion in net debt, it said. Acquiring CWC would give Liberty Global "significant scale and management depth to our fast-growing operations in Latin America and the Caribbean," said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries in a statement. Liberty Global said it hopes to close on CWC in Q2.

Ericsson hasn't discussed the possibility of merging with or being acquired by Cisco, Ericsson said in a news release Monday. It said it's aware of rumors suggesting Cisco is interested in acquiring the company, which emerged after they announced a collaborative partnership that included licensing agreements for their patent portfolios (see 1511090044). "The talks leading up to the partnership have been ongoing for a year and there have not been any discussions whatsoever on a merger or an acquisition," Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said in a statement.

Pandora agreed to buy "several key aspects" of streaming music technology provider Rdio for $75 million cash, Pandora said in a news release Monday. The company will acquire certain technology and intellectual property from Rdio and will offer "many" Rdio employees roles with Pandora, the release said. After regulatory approval of the transaction, Rdio will begin "winding down" its branded services, Pandora said.

PayPal completed its buy of electronic money transfer service Xoom, PayPal said in a news release Thursday. Under the terms of the acquisition announced in early July, PayPal bought all shares of Xoom for $25 in cash per share, it said. Xoom CEO John Kunze will continue to lead the company, which will operate as a separate service within PayPal, and will join PayPal's executive staff, PayPal said.

RealD abruptly canceled its earnings call Monday after saying it reached a deal to be acquired by private equity investor Rizvi Traverse Management for $551 million cash. The acquisition is expected to close in RealD’s fiscal Q4 ending March 31 or soon thereafter, RealD said in a statement. Rizvi Traverse will take RealD private, RealD said. Since the start of 2015, RealD CEO Michael Lewis has discussed exploring “strategic alternatives” to determine the company’s future fate (see 1502090048), but declined to elaborate. Lewis will remain CEO after the Rizvi Traverse takeover, RealD said. Besides struggling with declining 3D box office receipts, RealD failed to develop and monetize any long-sought-after consumer business. However, also on Monday, RealD disclosed in a 10-Q SEC filing that it signed a contract Aug. 17 with an unnamed “computer technology company” to develop and commercialize RealD’s “intelligent backlight” technology for tablets and smartphones. Announced in June 2014, RealD touted intelligent backlight as enabling the manipulation of light sources on a mobile display for glasses-free 3D viewing at low power (see 1406060056). RealD’s plan then was to license the technology to tablet and smartphone makers for the commercial introduction of mobile devices in calendar 2015, but that never materialized. As part of its contract with the unnamed computer technology company to commercialize intelligent backlight, RealD has “dedicated a group of employees and resources to support and fulfill our obligations under this agreement,” the company said in its 10-Q. RealD doesn't expect the contract to yield commercialized product this fiscal year, it said. RealD was paid a $7.5 million "upfront" license fee under the contract and will draw undisclosed patent royalties when commercial products are introduced and shipped, it said. To account for that business activity, RealD has created a new "consumer" operating segment, its fourth after "cinema," "3D consumer electronics" and "3D professional," it said.

Pandora finalized its buy of live events technology company Ticketfly, Pandora said in a news release Monday. The transaction was valued at about $450 million (see 1510070013).

Sony will acquire Toshiba’s wafer factory in Oita City, Japan, and use it as a production base for CMOS image sensors, the companies said Wednesday in a joint announcement. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Sony and Toshiba plan to sign a binding agreement on the deal by the end of December and complete the transaction before the March 31 end of the current fiscal year for both companies, they said. Toshiba will outsource CMOS image sensors from the Sony facility after the deal is done, they said. Sony and Toshiba also are negotiating to offer jobs within Sony to 1,100 Toshiba employees at Oita, they said.

Ericsson finalized its purchase of software-based video encoding company Envivio, Ericsson said in a news release Tuesday. Ericsson indirect subsidiary Cindy Acquisition Corp. merged into Envivio, and Envivio became a wholly owned Ericsson subsidiary, it said. The FTC recently approved Ericsson's request for early termination of the waiting period during which the deal faced antitrust review (see 1510080016). Ericsson said it bought more than 26.3 million shares of Envivio through a tender offer of $4.10 per share, which accounted for about 93 percent of Envivio's shares.