AT&T plans to buy over-the-top video partner Quickplay Media from Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity firm, AT&T said Monday. Quickplay's platform already supports AT&T's U-verse TV Everywhere product and will support DirecTV streaming services to be introduced later this year, said an AT&T announcement. It said the new plans will allow viewers to stream DirecTV content on virtually any device. John Stankey, CEO-AT&T Entertainment Group, said: “Quickplay's multitenant IP distribution infrastructure, combined with AT&T's leading scale in IP connected end points, will allow us to host and distribute all forms of video traffic." AT&T plans to retain Quickplay's 350-plus employees and contractors. The deal is subject to antitrust review in the U.S. and Canada, said the release. An AT&T spokesman told us the deal doesn't need FCC approval. AT&T and Quickplay expect the deal to close in mid-2016. "We don’t have concerns about AT&T streaming video," said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood. "We just have concerns when it uses data caps, data cap exemptions, and pure and simple tying arrangements to limit customers’ ability and incentives to choose other online video sources."

Western Digital’s buy of SanDisk is expected to close Thursday, now that the acquisition has cleared its last remaining regulatory hurdle with approval from the Chinese government, SanDisk said in a Tuesday announcement. Western Digital will acquire all outstanding shares of SanDisk in a $19 billion cash and stock deal announced as a definitive agreement in October (see 1510210027).

Comcast will spend roughly $3.8 billion on DreamWorks Animation in an all-cash deal, making it part of its Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, the cable company said in a news release Thursday. Comcast said it expects to close on the deal by year's end, subject to antitrust approvals in the U.S. and internationally. On close, DreamWorks Animation CEO/co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg will be chairman of DreamWorks New Media, which will hold its ownership interest in Awesomeness TV and Nova, and serve as an NBCUniversal consultant, Comcast said.

Mitel agreed to acquire Polycom in a $1.96 billion deal, they said in a news release Friday. The cash-and-stock acquisition is expected to close in Q3, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals from the DOJ, FTC, Russia and Germany. The combined company will be located at Mitel’s headquarters in Ottawa, Canada, operating as Mitel under CEO Richard McBee but keeping the Polycom brand. The combined company will have a global workforce of about 7,700.

Foxconn’s purchase of a 66 percent controlling interest in Sharp (see 1603300021) won’t affect Hisense’s TV business, Hisense Americas CEO Jerry Liu emailed us Thursday. Hisense bought Sharp’s TV factory in Rosarito, Mexico, last year along with North American licensing rights to the Sharp brand for five years. “The licensing agreement is not affected by a transition in ownership so we don’t expect anticipate [sic] any impact on our North American TV business,” Liu said. Hisense plugged another $30 million into the Rosarito plant last month with a goal of boosting production to 4 million TVs per year throughout North America, up from 1.5 million today, a Wall Street Journal report said last month. Liu sidestepped our question about whose LCD and QD panels would be used in future Sharp and Hisense TVs. Instead, he said that all Sharp and Hisense televisions are now being produced by Hisense at the HIMEX factory in Mexico. Liu noted that at CES Hisense announced 25 Sharp televisions for 2017, including the first curved screen and quantum dot models for the brand. For 2016, Hisense is planning 22 new Hisense models, many of which are already shipping and “will not be affected by the Sharp/Foxconn news.” On the company’s choice to feature a Hisense TV, not Sharp, at the Luxury Technology Show in New York last week (see 1603240056), Liu said, “Hisense is the number three television brand in the world and we have an aggressive goal to be the number three US brand within three years. It is important to us to introduce the brand and its superior television technology to all types of consumers.” Liu said 2016 is an “important year” for Hisense as it looks to grow its U.S. presence. “We are growing our North American presence, expanding our R&D capabilities across our North American locations and challenging the industry with a 4 year warranty for all 4K televisions -- the longest warranty in the television industry.”

Foxconn’s $3.5 billion buy of 66 percent of Sharp marks a “historic strategic alliance of two global technology leaders,” the companies said in a joint statement Wednesday. As Sharp’s new majority owner, Foxconn is “committed to restoring profitability and strengthening operations to once again make Sharp a leader in the global electronics arena and a world-class company with a positive outlook,” the statement said. “Both our teams are on the same page working towards the same goal.” Foxconn and Sharp “are confident about our future together,” because both companies “have been working very closely and successfully since 2012,” the statement said. The deal comes as Sharp faces significant financial hurdles. It expects to post a $1.98 billion net loss for the fiscal year that officially closes Thursday, the company said in a Wednesday forecast announcement that cited declining sales and price erosion in its core LCD business as its main problems. The company also has suffered operational losses “from low factory utilization,” and expects “further devaluation of inventory” due to “slow moving stocks,” it said.

Pandora is considering divesting the South Dakota radio station that was the center of a years-long fight with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the inspiration for the FCC to re-examine its foreign broadcasting rules, it said in an ex parte filing posted online Wednesday in docket 14-109. The FCC approved the deal to buy KXMZ(FM) Box Elder less than a year ago. The deal required special dispensation from the FCC since Pandora couldn't prove it wasn't more than 25 percent foreign-owned under FCC rules that treated shareholders whose identities are concealed through SEC-allowed aliases as foreigners. That difficulty is the basis of a proposal to update the foreign ownership rules to make them more flexible. “Pandora currently is reevaluating its broadcast strategy,” the ex parte filing said. Pandora wants the FCC to give it permission to delay making changes to its organizational documents that were a condition of the FCC's granting the KXMZ transaction, the filing said. Pandora was required to give its board specific powers to make it harder for foreign interests to gain control of the company. Since the company is considering divesting KXMZ, it doesn't want to make the organizational changes at its upcoming 2016 shareholder meeting, the filing said. Pandora wants a year to consider the idea, at the end of which it will either sell KXMZ or change the organizational documents, the filing said.

TiVo shares closed 23 percent higher Thursday at $9.45 following a report in the The New York Times that the company was in “advanced negotiations” to be sold to Rovi. Shares in Rovi closed 1.3 percent lower Thursday at $19.81. After a deal closes, TiVo shareholders would own about 30 percent of the combined company, the report said. TiVo and Rovi representatives didn’t comment. In TiVo’s latest earnings call in early March (see 1603020001), interim CEO Naveen Chopra fielded questions about the company’s possible mergers and acquisitions strategies, but as a buyer, not as a seller. “Obviously, we can't comment on any specifics in terms of how we deploy our own resources, how we think about M&A opportunities,” Chopra told a questioner. “We continue to look at a lot of things, as we've shown in the past when we have seen opportunities that we think are strategic and consistent with the areas where we are looking to grow.” If such deal opportunities “make financial sense, we're willing to do them,” he said.

The FTC signed off on Comcast's buy of Flixster, the agency said in an antitrust review early termination notice Monday. The FTC said the notice indicates it and the Justice Department have finished their reviews of the proposed transaction, which has Comcast's Fandango buying Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes from Time Warner and aren't taking any enforcement action.

Gannett said it bought a minority stake in Spirited Media, which runs Philadelphia-based mobile news website Billy Penn. Gannett didn’t disclose how much it paid for its stake. Gannett said its investment in Spirited Media will allow the company “to expand its mobile-first approach in the Philadelphia market and launch into new local markets.” Spirited Media “has a proven track record of producing high-quality journalism and delivering engaging experiences for local markets,” said Gannett CEO Bob Dickey in a Monday news release. Billy Penn was nominated for an Online Journalism Award for its coverage of the 2015 Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia, which killed eight people and injured 200 others.