Sunday, August 30, 2020

Week 35 in Telecoms, Internet, Media

FTTH

  • Vodafone: Vodafone UK expands Gigafast Broadband coverage by 360k premises in 3 cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool) on BT Openreach
  • Liberty Global: UPC PL partners with Operacyjnego Polska Cyfrowa (Digital Poland, led by Fiberhost (= INEA)), extends reach to Wielkopolska, Lublin, Lower Silesia; max 1 Gb/s (80 PLZ/mo)
  • Comcast: Sky Italia expands BB reach to 149 cities, on Open Fiber
  • Sunrise: Salt may sue over UPC Schweiz merger: infringes contractual rights established as part of Swiss Open Fibre joint venture [see 200519] - Sale of majority stake in Swiss Open Fiber on hold due to planned Sunrise/UPC CH merger


5G


M&A

  • Liberty Global: Publishes offer prospectus for Sunrise offer; tender to launch 200911 until 201008 followed by 10 trading days acceptance period (201015-201028)
  • Eurofiber: Reuters (resurfaced): Antin to sell minority stake (or majority if demand high enough), valuation EUR 2b (~20x 2019 EBITDA of EUR 109m), Allianz, Ardian, Macquarie, First State Investments, APG, PGGM interested    
  • MasMovil: Polygon Global Partners (1.02%) to vote against, claims offer (22.50 EUR/share) undervalues by 7-8 EUR/share    
  • Telefonica: ElevenPaths (= Telefonica Tech) acquires Govertis (cybersecurity)
  • TIM: Tiscali to participate in FiberCop
  • Intelsat: Rumor: to acquire the commercial aviation portion of in-flight connectivity specialist Gogo, $500m
  • RealNetworks sells Rhapsody (Napster) to MelodyVR, $26m + $44m in content obligations
  • Bytedance

    • TikTok sues US gvt over Exec Order from 200806 (banning business with Bytedance) suspending the company’s right to due process (under Fifth Amendment), no evidence to support accusations national-security risk - General Atlantic and Sequioa Capital support bid from Oracle - Voting rights groups (Rock the Vote, Voto Latino, Common Cause, Free Press, Maplight) also sue
    • TikTok has 100m MAU, 50m DAU in US
    • WSJ: approached Netflix to buy TikTok US, Netflix declined
    • TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer exits, Vanessa Pappas interim CEO
    • Walmart joins Microsoft in bid for TikTok US/Canada/Australia/NZ, rumored value $20-30b; rumor: originally Walmart partnered with Alphabet & SoftBank
    • Rumor: Oracle to offer $20b (50/50 in cash & stock), profit sharing with TikTok/Bytedance (50/50)
    • Bloomberg: Triller and Centricus to bid $20b for TikTok US/Australia/NZ/India in ccash, stock & shared profits; Triller confirms offer, Bytedance denies, Centricus no comment


EARNINGS


VIDEO/TV

  • Comcast
    • Rumor: to sell X1 platform wholesale to smart TV manufacturers, based on Metrological tech
    • Sky DE distr deal for Sky Ticket (free OTT service; sports, films, series, docus, kids) with Sony for Bravia Android TVs
  • Liberty Global launches 4K Mini TV Box (environmental friendly: 35% recycled plastic, 77% reduced energy consumption), powered by Horizon 4 tech, first All-IP device, first for UPC PL; designed by Liberty, manufactured by Commscope
  • Vectra (MSO, PL) launches IP-based STB (Android TV based, Google certified)
  • Apple: Bloomberg: to add AR content to Apple TV+ 2021, plans 2 AR devices (headset 2022, glasses 2023)
  • Philo: Distr deal with Google Fiber: >60 channels for 20 $/mo (joins YouTube TV and fuboTV)
  • Walt Disney: Distr deal for Disney+ Hotstar with Telkomsel from 200905; 39k IDR/mo or 200k IDR/yr
  • WarnerMedia (AT&T): Crunchyroll Adds tiers (Free, Fan, Mega Fan, Ultimate Fan) and features (downloads for offline)
  • Google: Google Discover tests Short Videos [a la TikTok]


OTHER

  • MUSIC
    • Spotify
    • Tidal: Acquires tokens (SENSO Tokens: in-world currency of Sensorium Galaxy: VR social metaspace in which users can attend alternate-world concerts, nightclubs, festivals; public launch planned early 2021) from Sensorium Corp, $7m
  • TEXT/PRINT: Amazon: Audible launches Audible Plus, 8 $/mo for unlimited access (68k hr from 11k items (originals, audiobooks, podcasts))
  • GAMING: DT: Launches MagentaGaming, 7 EUR/mo: cloud gaming platform, 100 games at launch, no downloads
  • INSURANCE:
  • E-HEALTH: Amazon: Launches
    • Amazon Halo: service to improve health & wellness (AI-powered health features, Amazon Halo app; focus on Activity, Sleep, Body (3D model based om smartphone camera picture, calculates body fat), Tone (voice analysis te determine mood), Labs; Halo profile separate from Amazon account), 4 $/mo
    • Amazon Halo Band (accelerometer, temperature sensor, heart rate monitor, 2 microphones, LED indicator, button to turn the microphones on or off; no display; communicates with smartphone over Bluetooth) in US, $100 (separate band $16 or $20); promo: $65 incl 6 mo service, auto-renews at 4 $/mo + tax on early access basis; partnerships with WW, John Hancock Vitality, Cerner, Mayo Clinic, Exhale, Aaptiv, Lifesum, Headspace etc


    REGULATORY

    • Spectrum
    • Platforms
      • Google
        • YouTube Increased removals in 20Q2
        • Bloomberg: US DoJ antitrust ivestigation focuses on bundling services (Google Network, Google Search, Google Ads) in such a way to block out competition (tying); making the sale of one product conditional on purchasing another isn't illegal per se - but it can be when combined with market power
      • Amazon: CALS by All India Online Vendors Assocition (>2000 sellers in India) over unfair business practices (Amazon discounts drive indie vendors out of business; Amazon buys wholesale, sells at a loss to 3rd-party sellers)
      • Apple
        • Facebook prepares advertisers for Apple iOS 14 (brings changes to Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) user tracking feature: becomes opt-in): will disproportionately affect Facebook's Audience Network of publishers (could reduce rev 50%); expects less impact on its own advertising revenue than on the ad-supported businesses that rely on its audience network to promote their apps; may shift demand toward Facebook’s own targeting system    
        • Microsoft supports Epic Games; Epic files response to Apple threatening to cut developers off
      • Facebook: Sues MobiBurn (UK, ad tools for developers) over malicious code that illegally collected personal data of Facebook users


    at 10:09 pm
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