Antitrust authorities cleared the way for Verizon to buy BlueJeans Network, a videoconferencing platform (see 2004160004). An FTC early termination notice dated Monday and released Tuesday ended the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.
Congress should include a moratorium on takeovers in the upcoming COVID-19 stimulus package, said House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I. He and “several colleagues” are pushing for a moratorium on “all transactions that do not involve firms that are truly failing or in bankruptcy,” he said in prepared remarks for Thursday's Open Markets Institute event. This is “outdated antitrust agenda,” NetChoice President Steve DelBianco said in a statement: The proposal “would leave small businesses with no choice but to let go their employees and declare bankruptcy.”
Antitrust authorities cleared the way for communications hardware company MaxLinear to buy various Intel entities. An FTC early termination notice dated Tuesday and released Wednesday ended the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.
Fandango is buying Walmart's streaming video sales and rental operation Vudu. The deal won't affect existing customers' libraries or accounts, Vudu said Sunday. It said there will be no immediate change regarding it and Fandango's FandangoNow online video brand.
Fox closed on its roughly $440 million purchase of Tubi (see 2004100010), the buyer said Monday.
T-Mobile's promised mobile virtual network operator agreement with Dish Network -- a key reason T-Mobile/Sprint was approved -- satisfies what the FCC hoped for when it approved the deal, said the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics in a letter to T-Mobile in Friday's Daily Digest. The pricing arrangement should let Dish's New Boost and T-Mobile "be aggressive competitors," and New Boost also will get terms at least as favorable as New T-Mobile gives its Metro brand or any successor brand, they said. The seven-year MVNO is also a year longer than the agency set as a minimum, it said.
Verizon Business beefed up videoconferencing capability, buying BlueJeans Network, an enterprise-grade videoconferencing and event platform, Verizon said.
The California Public Utilities Commission reasserted authority to review T-Mobile/Sprint, while tweaking some conditions the carriers opposed, in a revised proposed decision released Wednesday (see 2004150050). Commissioners plan to vote Thursday. T-Mobile and Sprint “have California wireless subsidiaries that are public utility telephone corporations under state law, and subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission,” the CPUC said. The agency rejected the carriers’ motion to withdraw their wireline application, plus Sprint’s letter relinquishing its wireline certificate, both of which the carriers used to lay a foundation for closing without California OK. The CPUC removed specific backup power obligations and requirements that 5G commitments extend to 2030. It added a condition that 93% of California's population have 300 Mbps download speeds in 2024. The agency also tweaked conditions for Lifeline, a Boost pilot program and CalSpeed testing. The edits “are more meaningful in what they do not say, more so than the relatively small changes,” emailed The Utility Reform Network Managing Director-San Diego Christine Mailloux. The commission “held steady in its correct and critical position that it has the full authority under the California Public Utilities Code to review all aspects of this merger and to impose conditions.” The companies completed their deal and began integrating in states other than California.
California commissioners met behind closed doors without any stakeholders Monday to discuss T-Mobile/Sprint, said a California Public Utilities Commission agenda released Friday. The CPUC didn’t comment. Friday, consumer and union opponents opposed the carriers’ motion to withdraw their wireline application, one of two legal moves that laid the foundation for T-Mobile to close its Sprint buy without CPUC approval. The carriers ignore that a state law prohibiting regulating IP-enabled services lapsed in January (see 1909230048), said the CPUC Public Advocates Office, Communications Workers of America and others in docket A.18-07-011. The companies pledged not to combine California operations until they get OK at Thursday's public meeting (see 2004080029). Even if the CPUC grants withdrawal, T-Mobile promises to honor 50 voluntary commitments, including from a memorandum of understanding with the California Emerging Technology Fund, CETF wrote Monday. The deal will close and any conditions can be renegotiated, especially in light of COVID-19, New Street analyst Blair Levin wrote investors Sunday.
Antitrust authorities cleared the way for Fox to buy streaming platform Tubi for about $440 million. An FTC early termination notice dated Thursday and released Friday ended the transaction's Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.