Disney expects to make its acquisition of Fox's entertainment assets final March 20, they said Tuesday. Asked about the state of regulatory OK, Disney didn't comment. CEO Bob Iger last week said that's expected "soon" (see 1903070029).
After the ink dried on Amazon's eero purchase, eero CEO Nick Weaver pushed the companies' attention to product integration and “customer trust." In a Tuesday blog post, Weaver said Amazon’s financial muscle will allow it to improve products via more frequent software updates, launch new products and services, and expand globally. The companies have begun building customer experiences together such as Amazon’s WiFi Simple Setup, he said. Soon, when customers who own both an eero system and an Echo smart speaker set up connected devices bought on Amazon, the devices will look automatically for the eero network and use encrypted credentials to connect, he said: “Gone will be the days of manually setting up each smart product we bring into our homes.” Convenience doesn’t matter “if you don’t feel safe using our products and services,” said Weaver, “so we want to reaffirm our commitment to your privacy head-on.” Guiding principles shared with Amazon, he said, are: customers have a right to privacy, to know what data is being collected in “easy to understand terms” and have control over their data. Eero collects network diagnostic information only to improve the performance, stability, and reliability of its products and services and for customer support, he said. To mark the occasion, Amazon offered customers a $100 discount on eero home Wi-Fi systems through 11:59 PDT Tuesday.
Allowing T-Mobile/Sprint to go through will "unleash a disruptive and effective" home broadband competitor serving unserved areas, T-Mobile said in a docket 18-197 posting Friday updating the FCC on its proposed T-Mobile Home Internet offering. Specifics, such as how many rural households will be eligible for the service and monthly pricing, were redacted.
Dialog Semiconductor agreed to buy Silicon Motion Technology’s FCI mobile communications product line for $45 million cash, it said Thursday. The FCI product range -- including SoC technology for mobile TV, smartphones, tablets and portable navigation devices -- is designed for battery-powered IoT devices. Dialog CEO Jalal Bagherli called ultra-low-power Wi-Fi a “strong strategic fit," giving it the opportunity to combine Wi-Fi and Bluetooth low-energy chips for IoT, consumer and automotive markets. Dialog has shipped more than 250 million Bluetooth low-energy SoCs for IoT applications, and ultra-low-power Wi-Fi positions the company to drive integration with “optimized combo solutions,” it said. Silicon Motion’s mobile communications unit reported about $30 million revenue last year. The deal is expected to close this year and is subject to regulatory approval.
Regulatory approval for Disney's buy of Fox's entertainment assets should come "soon," Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the company's annual meeting Thursday. He said the ESPN Plus streaming service has more than 2 million subscribers, which "bodes well" for the Disney Plus streaming service launching later this year. He said some Fox businesses -- such as FX and the motion picture operations -- will keep the Fox brand after close. He said Disney Plus will include "the entire Disney motion picture library" plus original content. DOJ last year said it would seek to stop Disney/Fox unless 22 Fox regional sports networks were sold (see 1806270016).
The House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee set a Tuesday hearing on T-Mobile's proposed buy of Sprint, as expected (see 1903050044). Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure and T-Mobile CEO John Legere will both testify, the House Judiciary Committee said. Also slated to appear: Rural Wireless Association General Counsel Carri Bennett, Free Press Senior Policy Counsel Carmen Scurato, Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton, Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy distinguished fellow Gigi Sohn, Georgetown University School of Business Senior Policy Scholar Scott Wallsten and University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Christopher Yoo. The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. in 2141 Rayburn. The House Communications Subcommittee examined the merger during a hearing last month (see 1902130072). The Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee probed it last year (see 1806270068).
T-Mobile acknowledged to lawmakers it spent $195,000 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington since announcing its proposed buy of Sprint in April 2018 (see 1903050071). T-Mobile's Trump hotel spending during that period is “approximately 14 percent of the $1.4 million T-Mobile incurred at hotels in Washington, DC during the same period for travel and other business-related activities,” said Vice President-Federal Legislative Affairs Anthony Russo in a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Wash. The Democratic lawmakers wrote T-Mobile seeking such information. T-Mobile spent $750,000 at area Hilton hotels during the period, Russo said. He acknowledged T-Mobile CEO John Legere and other executives stayed at the Trump hotel only once before announcing the Sprint deal, and 52 times since. Legere separately acknowledged also staying at Trump properties in Chicago and New York. “T-Mobile respects the regulatory review process underway concerning our pending merger,” Russo wrote. The FCC and DOJ “are giving this transaction a thorough and objective analysis. While we understand that staying at Trump properties might be viewed positively by some and negatively by others, we are confident that the relevant agencies address the questions before them on the merits.” Americans "deserve better than an administration that appears to be for sale to businesses eager to line the president's pockets,” Warren and Jayapal said. The disclosure could give House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee member Jayapal and other subcommittee members fodder for questions at the subpanel's upcoming hearing on T-Mobile/Sprint, lobbyists said. The House Judiciary Committee plans to formally announce the hearing for March 12, about a month after it was originally scheduled (see 1902120056), a committee spokesperson said. Jayapal was among three dozen House Democrats who signed onto a letter sent Tuesday by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and DOJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim in opposition to T-Mobile/Sprint (see 1902050050).
Comcast bought Virginia cybersecurity technology firm BluVector and installed a new CEO (see personals section of this issue), it said Monday. The deal is expected to increase collaboration on new cybersecurity technologies.
DOJ could potentially mandate divestiture of spectrum or network facilities and other assets, or require the new T-Mobile to share its network as part of approving T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint, New Street’s Blair Levin wrote investors Monday. Spectrum divestiture could require sell-off of the 2.5 GHz spectrum owned by Sprint, Levin said. “The first bucket involves forcing the company to divest some or all of the 2.5GHz spectrum,” Levin said. “If it’s a small amount, we are not sure what it would accomplish, but if it is a big amount or all of it, we are perplexed by the antitrust logic. It would destroy a lot of the synergies that are essential to approving the consolidation from four to three competitors.” Meanwhile, the Puerto Rico Telecom Bureau raised concerns about the deal. "The T-Mobile/Sprint Transaction Task Force [should] pay particular attention to the Commission’s spectrum policies applicable to Puerto Rico to ensure such policies promote competition, innovation, and serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-197. “With the consolidation of two of the four major carriers, the Bureau is concerned that smaller carriers and new entrants to the market would be priced out of obtaining the necessary spectrum to serve the population of Puerto Rico.”
The $340 million purchase of streaming service Pluto TV is now complete, Viacom said Monday. The deal was announced in January (see 1901230029). Viacom said Pluto CEO Tom Ryan will remain in charge of the independent subsidiary.