Twenty-First Century Fox is offering Sky shareholders roughly $13.34 per share in its planned takeover of the U.K. pay-TV company (1612090029), it said in a news release Thursday. Twenty-First Century Fox said that's roughly a 40 percent premium and the deal is expected to close before the end of 2017, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. It said Sky's independent board committee plans to recommend the acquisition terms unanimously.
Amazon added Belgium, Canada, France, India, Italy and Spain to the list of countries where Prime members can watch Prime Video at no additional cost to their membership, it announced Wednesday. It’s offering Prime Video in other new territories at an introductory price of $2.99 or 2.99 euros per month for the first six months, along with a free seven-day trial, it said. Prime Video is now available in nearly every country; China isn't on the list. Content includes Amazon originals such as Transparent, The Grand Tour and The Man in the High Castle and “hundreds” of movies from Hollywood studios and network TV, Amazon said. Members can watch Prime Video in English, with French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles, and dubbed versions are also available for many titles. Members can watch content through the Amazon Prime Video app on Android and iOS phones and tablets, Fire tablets, LG and Samsung Smart TVs or online at Primevideo.com. Members can also download movies and TV shows for offline viewing on a plane or train at no additional cost, it said.
The Commerce Department doubled the number of foreign markets within its digital trade attache program, adding France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea, said the department in a Monday news release. “These digital trade officers serve as dedicated resources for U.S. businesses as they seek to increase exports through global E-commerce channels and navigate digital policy and regulatory issues in foreign markets," said Secretary Penny Pritzker. Officers also will help with navigating digital policy and regulatory issues in the markets, the department said. The program had covered the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Brazil, China, the EU, India and Japan.
Google agreed with Cuba telecom provider ETECSA (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba) to deploy the U.S. company's Global Cache service to speed YouTube videos and other high-bandwidth Google content viewed in the country, Google said in a Monday blog post. Cubans with internet access should have reduced latency for cached content, Google said. Engage Cuba, a coalition of companies and local leaders seeking to dismantle the Cuban embargo, sees the announcement as good for local startups. “The deal with Google will allow for increased activity and faster connections that will continue to benefit the Cuban people; in particular, the growing sector of Cuban entrepreneurs, or cuentapropistas, that relies heavily on access to internet to expand their private businesses,” said Engage Cuba President James Williams in a news release.
Twenty-First Century Fox -- in talks with Sky about a takeover -- has a Jan. 6 deadline for announcing whether it will make an offer, the company said in a news release Friday. It said it reached agreement in principle to buy the 60.9 percent of the U.K. pay-TV company that it doesn't own, but certain offer terms still are under discussion. Sky said it formed an independent committee of board members to consider the terms of a 21st Century Fox proposal. Twenty-First Century Fox said the deadline can be extended. Several years ago, 21st Century Fox, then called News Corp., tried unsuccessfully to buy Sky, then known as BSkyB. The deal was tabled in 2011 amid concerns about phone hacking by News Corp. newspapers (see 107140093).
One country’s rules on web search delisting shouldn't affect the listings of the entire world, said Google Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer in a blog post Friday. Google honors European individuals’ requests to delist URLs about themselves under EU “right-to-be-forgotten” rules, but hides the link only when the searcher is from the same country as the delister, Fleischer said. Google opposes an order by the French Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés to delist French users from everyone’s search results globally, he said. “We agree with the CNIL that privacy is a fundamental right -- but so too is the right to free expression,” Fleischer wrote. “Any balance that is struck between those two rights must be accompanied by territorial limits, consistent with the basic principles of international law. Aside from anything else, it’s plain common sense that one country should not have the right to impose its rules on the citizens of another, especially not when it comes to lawful content.”
Tessera's DTS agreed to buy All In Media, which supplies smartphone apps and broadcast systems for radio stations owned by Australian Broadcasting Corp., RTÉ Radio, Wireless Group and others. DTS said in a news release Thursday the firm also helps run visual radio services.
The FCC International Bureau signed off on SES' launch of its SES-11 satellite and subsequent operations in the Ku-band. In an approval Wednesday, the bureau said the company sought rule waivers for the satellite -- which will operate at 104.95 degrees west -- to operate in the Ka-band in 18.3-19.3 GHz and 19.7-20.2 GHz for downlinks and 28.35-29.1 GHz and 29.25-30 GHz for uplinks, but it would address those waivers in connection with any future request for operating authority in the Ka-band frequencies, which can be used for broadband. The bureau in a letter to U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom said the satellite is expected to launch this year.
BT continues to seek a voluntary settlement with U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom, a company spokesman emailed Wednesday. Earlier this week, Ofcom said it will require the legal separation of Openreach from BT due to competitive concerns (see 1611290027). “We put forward proposals in July that we believe are fair and sustainable, and that meet Ofcom’s objectives without disproportionate costs,” the BT spokesman said. “We are implementing these proposals, and have just appointed Mike McTighe to be the first chairman of Openreach. We are in discussions with Ofcom on two outstanding issues, the reporting line of the Openreach CEO and the form of legal incorporation.”
Ofcom will require the legal separation of Openreach from BT due to competitive concerns raised by the U.K. regulator, the agency said in a news release Tuesday. After concluding a public consultation, Ofcom decided to notify the European Commission to implement the change, it said. Legal separation would require Openreach to become a distinct company with its own board, including a majority of nonexecutive directors not affiliated with BT, Ofcom said. “We are disappointed that BT has not yet come forward with proposals that meet our competition concerns,” Ofcom said Tuesday. “Some progress has been made, but this has not been enough, and action is required now to deliver better outcomes for phone and broadband users." Monday, BT announced Mike McTighe as the first chairman of the new Openreach board. He worked at Ofcom from 2007 to 2015 and also for communications and other companies such as General Electric. BT didn’t comment Tuesday on the Ofcom announcement.