The Spanish government plans to auction spectrum in the 700MHz band for 5G services in the first quarter of 2019. Currently, DTT channels are using that band, but will release it by March 2020. DTT migration is expected to commence in January of next year. The government aims to raise up to €1.05 billion with the […]
The European Commission is to initiate proceedings against two Member States for not complying with EU spectrum rules. Two letters of formal notice will be sent to Croatia and The Netherlands requesting full implementation of the European radio spectrum rules on the grounds of the 700 MHz Decision (EU) 2017/899. In line with these EU […]
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) will not oppose the proposed merger between Australian media and entertainment company Nine Entertainment and news, marketplace and entertainment assets owner Fairfax Media. The ACCC examined a number of markets affected by the proposed merger. Australian news, including online news, current affairs reporting and investigative journalism, was the […]
Comcast has won another milestone verdict in its long-running patent dispute with TiVo. The US Patent & Trademark office has said that one of TiVo’s patents which outlined how viewers could watch a show while viewing programme listings data, simply should never have been issued. Comcast has filed many applications to the Patent Office to […]
Canal+ and the French film industry signed a new agreement in Dijon at the annual Rencontres cinématographiques, in the presence of the new French Minister of Culture Franck Riester. The agreement, which renews the way Canal+ will contribute to the financing of the French movie industry and feature film projects, will be applicable over a […]
According to the 2018 How Google Fights Piracy report, the company has invested $100 million in building Content ID, its rights management tool, leading to over 3 billion URLs being removed from Search for infringing copyright. Writing in Google’s Public Policy blog, Cedric Manara, Head of Copyright, notes that the Internet has enabled people worldwide […]
In agreement with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, German anti-trust body the Bundeskartellamt has requested the referral of the Vodafone/Liberty merger case in as far as markets in Germany are concerned. In the middle of October, the parties had notified the European Commission that the Vodafone Group would like to acquire […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a pile of detailed applications from operators looking to launch significant satellite ‘mega-constellations’. The FCC will vote on November 15th on applications from a number of would-be operators, and some which are seeking expansion approvals. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has already indicated that November is ‘Space Month’ as far […]
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of parts of 21st Century Fox by Disney. The decision is conditional on full compliance with commitments offered by Disney. The deal was cleared by US regulators at the end of June 2018. Disney and Fox are two of the six major […]
With one year to go to the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19), the GSMA – which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide – is calling on governments to support mobile industry spectrum needs. The GSMA warns that the successful rollout of ultra-fast 5G services relies on timely access to the right amount and type […]