Fresh off activating its latest price increases in North America, Netflix on Thursday announced a new across-the-board monthly rate spike in the UK and Ireland. 

In the UK, the price for the standard HD plan is going up £1 ($1.31) to £10.99 a month ($14.46), probably less than what HBO Max will cost when it launches in the territory later this year, but nearly twice as much as the $7.99 monthly bill for Disney Plus.

Meanwhile, Netflix's basic plan for the UK will also shoot up £1 ($1.31) to £6.99 ($9.19). 

In Ireland, the standard plan is going up by by €2 ($2.20) to €14.99 ($16.54), while the basic plan will increase by €1 ($1.10) to €8.99 ($9.92).

Netflix hasn't increased the price of the basic plan in the region in nearly a decade. 

Premium service -- which delivers 4K video while enabling four simultaneous streams -- will see a hike of £2 ($2.63) in the UK and €2 ($2.20) in Ireland.

New customers are subject to the price increases immediately while existing ones will ramp into the higher payments over the next 30 days. 

The UK represents Netflix's biggest region outside the U.S. in terms of production budget, with the streaming company reportedly spending $1 billion to make content there in 2020. 

Recent output in the region includes Power of the Dog, which is up for a Best Picture Oscar. 

Netflix has around 14 million subscribers in the UK and another 600,000 in Ireland, according to Ampere Analysis. 

"Our updated prices reflect the investment we have made in our service and catalog, and will allow us to continue making the series, documentaries and films our members love as well as investing in talent and the creative industry," Netflix said in a statement. ■

Amazon has turned the lights on for its free ad-supported VOD service, IMDb TV (now Amazon Freevee), in the UK.

Starting Wednesday, both Amazon Prime members and non-members will be able to access IMDb TV through the Prime Video app, via the carousel labeled “IMDb TV – Popular Movies and TV - free with ads.” 

Also read: The Amazon Prime Video ‘Purge’: Why the Massive SVOD Library Appears to Have Fewer Titles to Binge on These Days

“IMDb TV has created a free-to-consumer destination by combining a hybrid of exclusive originals from Amazon Studios and highly sought-after movies and television,” said Lauren Anderson and Ryan Pirozzi, co-heads of content and programming, IMDb TV, speaking together in perfect unison for a joint statement. “Today’s UK launch marks a major step in our mission to deliver customers widely appealing content and globally relevant storytelling, through a personalized, free streaming experience.”

For the launch, Amazon is touting the free service's burgeoning originals catalog,  specifically calling out non-fiction shows Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary, Moment of Truth and Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers. 

Whether UK audiences jibe with documentary shows on an American country music performer, NBA legend Michael Jordan and his father, and life and times of high school basketball stars at a rich Southern California high school, respectively, remains to be seen. 

What is notable, however, is the IMDb TV catalog, with Amazon also naming in its press release Wednesday films including Pulp Fiction, Anger Management, The English Patient, as well as TV repeats including  Person of Interest, Community, 2 Broke Girls.

Amazon isn't transparent about a lot of things, and that opacity extends to its various streaming catalogs. And as IMDb TV has become an inextricable part of the overall Amazon Prime Video app experience, it's getting harder and harder to determine what's available as an all-you-can-binge-without-ads offering in the Amazon Prime Video library, vs. what's watchable with ads via IMDb TV, and what's monetized via rental or sale via Amazon Prime Video TVOD. 

The theory of economic elasticity considered, how much does it hurt Amazon Prime membership to negotiate more AVOD deals than SVOD deals going forward, and sell ads against more of its content rather than let it be binged for no additional revenue in the Prime Video smorgasbord?

We asked that question last month to an Amazon rep and received rather cagey answers. 

Not surprisingly, Amazon hasn't released data on how much ad revenue IMDb TV is delivering to it these days. But anecdotally, the figure seems to be growing. A year ago, ad breaks on IMDb TV programs were limited to as few as two a show, and durations often spanned 30 seconds or less. 

Last week, we watched the underrated 2018 Sony Pictures thriller Searching, starring John Cho and Debra Messing. Ad breaks of 90 seconds appeared every 10 minutes. 

The long-awaited European invasion of the powerful Roku/TCL alliance is finally at hand, with TCL announcing models and retail availability for Roku-powered HD and 4K smart TVs in the UK ranging in sizes from 32 to 65 inches, and priced starting at around £229 ($319).

According to a news release published late last week by Chinese electronics maker TCL, interested UK customers can sign up at Currys.co.UK to receive a £20 discount and notification as to when these TCL sets can finally be purchased. 

Models will span from the 32-inch HD RS520K to the full-featured, 65-inch 4K UHD RP620K. In the UK, the TCL TVs will support streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, BT Sport, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and My 5.

TCL announced almost a year ago that it was expanding its successful U.S. partnership with Roku to Europe and South America. 

Roku has emerged as the most powerful gatekeeper in the U.S. OTT market, largely on the fast adoption of low-priced TCL sets powered by its operating system. In the span of only around three years, Roku-powered TCL smart TV’s overtook market leader Samsung as the No. 1 selling smart TV brand. Factoring in other smart TV OEM partnerships, with companies including Hisense, Roku is now the top smart TV operating system in the U.S. and Canada, controlling more than one-third of sales. 

In Europe, however, both Roku and TCL are not nearly as well infiltrated. Samsung controls the biggest smart TV market share, with 31% of the market using TVs powers by Samsung’s proprietary Tizen OS, according to Statista. 

Google, meanwhile, is the top-selling overall smart home brand—a category that includes smart TV, but also gadgets like smart speakers—controlling 18.1% of the overall market, according to International Data Corp. Not only does Google have a strong third-party OEM presence for Android TV/Google TV OS for smart TVs, the OS is also proliferate via pay TV distribution of Android TV Operator Tier. 

“The combination of our affordable premium TVs with Roku’s operating system, offers consumers excellent picture quality and ease of use, alongside a huge variety of features and streaming channels. I am confident that this partnership will help us maintain our strong UK sales growth and increase our market share,” said Bernie Chen, TCL’s UK country manager, in a statement. 

Added Arthur van Rest, VP of international at Roku: “TCL was one of the first TV brands to embrace the Roku OS and together we have created numerous award-winning TVs with great picture quality and ease of use. TCL Roku TV models are powered by the Roku OS offering consumers simplicity, choice and incredible value. The Roku OS offers consumers an always current smart TV experience, it is not without reason that the Roku OS is the No. 1 selling smart TV OS in the U.S. and Canada.”

Yet another report has surfaced in the UK suggesting Netlix is under paying local corporate taxes.

The Cardiff-based Companies House, the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, said that Netflix only paid £3.2 million ($4.37 million) in UK corporation tax in 2019 against revenue of £120 million ($164 million). Netflix declared declared pre-tax profits of £13 million ($17.76 million) in 2019, the group added. The data was originally published by The Guardian.

It’s the second time in recent months that Netflix has come under fire for allegedly underpaying taxes in Britain. 

In November, local advocacy group Tax Watch said that Netflix reported 2018 revenue of just $57 million in the UK, while the org tallied its actual revenue at closer to $1.1 billion. 

“As Netflix continues to grow in the U.K. and in other international markets we want our corporate structure to reflect this footprint,” a Netflix spokesman told The Guardian at the time. “So from next year, revenue generated in the UK will be recognized in the U.K., and we will pay corporate income tax accordingly.”

Netflix’s UK accounting is complicated. The company operates in the region through a holding company called Netflix Services UK, which also also provides services to Netherlands-based Netflix International.

And Netflix’s UK business isn’t just about streaming video to homes. As Variety noted, Netflix is investing heavily in U.K. production, and is now spending as much as $1 billion in this operation, producing successful shows like The Crown and Sex Education in the region. 

The Netflix tax data comes as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental group, is considering proposals to reduce tax avoidance by multinational companies.

Amazon Prime Video attracted more than 635,000 new customers in the UK in the fourth quarter, driven by demand for live Premier League football matches on the platform, according to research company Kantar. 

In total, Amazon captured 49% of the 1.3 million new UK subscription OTT customers in Q4, outpacing Netflix, which controlled a 17% share of these new subscribers. 

In Q4, hit series The Boys drew audience share for Amazon, as did Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” film sequel. But Kagan credits the 20 Premier League English football games carried by the streaming company during the three-month period. Amazon was in the second season of a three-year deal to stream Premier League matches in the UK.

“Amazon’s increasing focus on live sports continues to pay big dividends,” said Dominic Sunnebo, senior VP at Kantar’s Worldpanel operation, quoted in The Guardian newspaper. 

This has implications for the U.S. market, as well, where Amazon has aggressively pursued rights to sports leagues including the NFL. 

On Dec. 26, for example, Amazon had exclusive national “broadcast” rights to the final regular season matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers. And it streamed an NFC Wild Card game between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears on Jan. 10.

Netflix had a rather turbulent Thanksgiving holiday in the United Kingdom, receiving slaps on the wrist for how it bills its hit original series The Crown, as well as how it reports its revenue in the region.

Speaking to local paper The Mail, U.K. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden called on the streaming service to address historical fabrications in The Crown, a Left Bank Pictures-produced period drama that tracks the lives of more recent British royalty.

“It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction, so as with other TV productions, Netflix should be very clear at the beginning that it is just that,” Dowden told The Mail. “Without this, I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact.”

Dowden said he planned to follow up with Netflix this week. 

The growing clamor in the U.K. for Netflix to more clearly delineate when The Crown head writer Peter Morgan and his team are taking creative license comes as think tank Tax Watch reports that Netflix is significantly under-reporting its revenue in the UK. 

Through holding company Netflix Services UK, the streaming company reported 2018 revenue of just $57 million (U.S.). It gets complicated, because the holding company also provides services to Netherlands-based Netflix International.

Tax Watch said that Netflix’s real U.K. revenue for 2018 is closer to $1.1 billion. 

Netflix responded by saying that U.K. revenue will more directly broken out in future earnings reports. 

“As Netflix continues to grow in the U.K. and in other international markets we want our corporate structure to reflect this footprint,” a Netflix spokesman told The Guardian. “So from next year, revenue generated in the UK will be recognized in the U.K., and we will pay corporate income tax accordingly.”

House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans are applauding the UK's decision to exclude technology form Chinese telecom Huawei from their 5G networks. 

The country had pondered pushing such tech to the edges where it would be less of a security issue, but instead said it needed to exclude it after the U.S. decided not to allow its chips to be supplied to Huawei. 

Related: UK Bans Huawei from 5G Network

The U.S. government has concluded that it will not allow broadband subsidy money to be used for network buildouts with Huawei tech and will likely fund a rip-and-replace program to weed out existing tech. 

After the UK announced its ban, House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta (R-Ohio), and Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said that China will "stop at nothing" to dominate in tech and that the pandemic has put an exclamation point on the need to secure supply chains and networks. 

“The U.S. has taken unprecedented steps to ensure U.S. leadership in wireless and emerging technologies and to hold China and other bad actors accountable for their continued efforts to compromise the security of our networks," they said. 

Related: FCC to Declare Suspect Tech Item Fills Hill Bill

That includes moves by both the FCC and Congress to exclude suspect tech from the Universal Service Fund broadband subsidy program, as well as Congress' decision to exclude them from government contracts and the Trump Administration decision to put Huawei and ZTE on the list of companies considered national security threats, which means U.S. chip makers can't supply them.   

Related: FCC Seeks Input on Excluding Foreign Tech 

"Our nation’s leadership has proven important today with the U.K.’s announcement to ban Huawei from its networks, and we encourage other countries to follow suit," the legislators said. "We applaud this decision by the U.K, and must continue our efforts to remain a global leader on the world stage and work with our allies on shared goals." 

Taking the lead from the U.S., the UK government has decided to ban Huawei from 5G networks starting after Dec. 31. 

The UK had initially signaled it might try to find a compromise position that allowed Huawei tech in the edges of the network, but that ultimately did not fly.  

“By the time of the next election we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks," said Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden in a statement to the House of Commons.  

The UK government announced the crackdown Tuesday (July 14), saying it came after a technical review by the National Cyber Security Centre that was prompted by U.S. sanctions. 

The U.S. has banned Huawei tech from government contracts, will not allow Universal Service Fund broadband subsidy money to go to carriers who would use Huawei tech in their buildouts, is looking to rip and replace it from current networks, and has put the company on a list that prevents the importation of U.S. chips and other tech to the Chinese telecom. 

It is that last that helped turn the tide. Given that the U.S. move cut off Huawei's access to products based on U.S. chips, the UK government, led by PM Boris Johnson, concluded that that made it "impossible to continue to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future." 

Related: FCC to Declare Suspect Tech Item Fills Hill Bill

The problem is what the U.S. and now UK see as too close ties to the Communist Chinese government, which they see as a big security risk as their 5G, internet of everything wireless broadband networks are being built out. 

The sweeping new restrictions are: 

1. Buying new Huawei 5G equipment banned after 31 December 2020; 

2. All Huawei equipment to be removed from 5G networks by end of 2027; and 

3. Existing ban on Huawei from most sensitive ‘core’ parts of 5G network remains. 

Mike Rogers, chairman of 5G Action Now, has been pushing for the ban, including testifying before a Parliament subcommittee. Rogers, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, called the decision a crucial protection for British citizen's data.  

Related: FCC Seeks Input on Excluding Foreign Tech 

"The aggressive use of citizens’ data by the Chinese Communist Party to restrict movement and speech—something they are doing in mainland China and will do in Hong Kong—is not something that should be imported anywhere," he said. "Using Huawei gear would do just that. Other countries should see this decision as a signal as to just how serious the security threat posed by Huawei gear really is.”  

“I welcome these developments in the UK and reiterate my hope that the Trump Administration will begin to engage multilaterally with like-minded allies on promoting secure and competitively-priced alternatives to Huawei equipment," said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "My bipartisan legislation, the United Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act, would be a major step in the right direction and I hope to see it included, fully funded, in the eventual defense authorization act.” 

A similar bill, the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act of 2020, is being marked up in the Energy & Commerce Committee Wednesday (July 15).

“I’m pleased to see our partners in the United Kingdom take action to address the security concerns they have identified with allowing equipment from Huawei into 5G networks," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "There is an overwhelming consensus that Huawei is in a position to exploit network vulnerabilities and compromise critical communications infrastructure for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party. The United Kingdom has taken a necessary step to safeguard its national security as it builds out advanced networks.”

In a landmark move that shifts distribution of content from linear pay TV to direct-to-consumer streaming, Disney announced that it will no longer distribute Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior in the UK. The media conglomerate will instead distribute movies and series targeted to those kids networks through its Disney Plus streaming service. 

“From October 1st,  Disney Plus will become the exclusive home for content from Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior in the UK,” Disney said in a statement. 

"The direct-to-consumer service, which garnered more than 54.5 million subscribers worldwide in its first seven months, will now premiere all the latest films, series and specials from the three Disney channels, along with offering a rich and expansive back catalogue of Disney Channel titles in the UK, including Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Descendants 3 and Phineas and Ferb," Disney said.

Also read: Disney Plus: Everything You Need to Know About the Service That Went From Zero to 28.6 Million Users in Less Than Three Months

Disney’s move comes after the conglomerate failed to reach carriage terms for its kids networks with the UK’s major pay TV operators, Liberty Global’s Virgin Media and Comcast’s Sky. 

It also comes after departure announcement of David Levine, Disney’s VP of kids programming in Europe and Africa. He’s ending his 16-year tenure at the end of June. 

A Sky rep reminded The Hollywood Reporter that the pay TV operator had already struck a distribution deal for Disney Plus, adding  "We have over 5,000 episodes of on demand content alongside our brilliant linear channels, from our partners Viacom and Turner, and we’re investing more in our own Sky kids originals, too, like Moominvalley and Morph. Kids can watch favorites like Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol, SpongeBob Squarepants and The Amazing World of Gumball, all the wonderful LEGO content and much, much more. And it is all available in one place – together with the best apps, like Disney+ and Netflix – on [premium pay TV service] Sky Q.”

PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore told THR that Disney’s move represents "a landmark moment.

”The streaming revolution is gathering pace and cannot be ignored,” Pescatore added. “Companies can no longer continue to support a slew of channels and cannibalize revenue streams. The future is all about streaming and this latest move sets a benchmark for others to follow suit."

Boris Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus after showing "mild symptoms," the UK Prime Minister said in a tweet: 

[embed]https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1243496858095411200[/embed]

Johnson said he was self-isolating and working from home with a temperature and a cough, but thanks to technology would continue to lead his country's fight against the disease. "Stay at home and save lives," he said.  

Heir to the throne Prince Charles announced earlier in the week that he had contracted the virus. 

Amid massive global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Walt Disney Company moved forward of its expansion of Disney Plus, debuting the streaming service on Tuesday in the UK, as well as Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

"We humbly hope that this service can bring some much-needed moments of respite for families during these difficult times,” said Kevin Mayer, chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International for Disney, in a statement.

Subscribers in the UK pay £5.99 per month for Disney Plus, or £59.99 for a full year. Outside the UK, European residents can expect to pay €6.99 per month, or €69.99 a year.

Disney had earlier pushed back its launch of the platform in France to April 7, the same day Disney Plus will debut in Eastern Europe.

At the behest of bandwidth-concerned European regulators, Disney has agreed to lower the initial bitrate of the service to standard definition resolution, a move it says will reduce its load on local telecom networks by 25%. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, YouTube and Facebook are also doing this.

Disney Plus enjoyed a spectacular North American launch, signing up 28.6 million customers from its November 12 debut through December 31. 

Amid massive global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Walt Disney Company moved forward of its expansion of Disney Plus, debuting the streaming service on Tuesday in the UK, as well as Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

"We humbly hope that this service can bring some much-needed moments of respite for families during these difficult times,” said Kevin Mayer, chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International for Disney, in a statement.

Subscribers in the UK pay £5.99 per month for Disney Plus, or £59.99 for a full year. Outside the UK, European residents can expect to pay €6.99 per month, or €69.99 a year.

Disney had earlier pushed back its launch of the platform in France to April 7, the same day Disney Plus will debut in Eastern Europe. 

At the behest of bandwidth-concerned European regulators, Disney has agreed to lower the initial bitrate of the service to standard definition resolution, a move it says will reduce its load on local telecom networks by 25%. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, YouTube and Facebook are also doing this. 

Notably, Disney Plus users in the United Kingdom are already complaining about how The Simpsons, which has run for nearly 30 years on broadcast TV in a 4:3 aspect ratio, is being awkwardly played in the native 16:9 format of Disney Plus. This is also something U.S. customers have griped about. 

Disney Plus enjoyed a spectacular North American launch, signing up 28.6 million customers from its November 12 debut through December 31. 

Computer companies said Britain is moving ahead with a discriminatory internet tax and U.S. officials need to respond. 

The digital services tax proposed in the new U.K. budget would disproportionately affect U.S.-headquartered tech companies, said global tech trade association ITI. It would be a tax on U.K online revenue from search (Google), social media (Facebook) and online marketplaces (Amazon). 

Related: ITI Pans Digital Services Tax 

The U.S. and UK are about to start negotiating trade talks. ITI urged the U.K to rethink the tax. 

“The digital services tax proposed by the UK represents the latest in a worrying and very real trend of countries departing from important multilateral efforts to secure an agreement on international tax reform,” said ITI president Jason Oxman. 

The Computer & Communications Information Association also took issue with the tax. 

“At a time when the U.S. is poised to begin negotiations with the UK on a comprehensive free trade agreement, the U.K.’s decision to follow other countries in pursuing discriminatory taxes against U.S. exporters is unfortunate and will threaten the strong U.S.-UK trade-in-services relationship," said CCIA president Matt Schruers. "Rather than pursuing taxes that guarantee trade conflicts, countries must remain committed to the ongoing multilateral process at the OECD to achieve lasting solutions.” 

The government of the United Kingdom has concluded that while Chinese telecom Huawei remains a high-risk vendor (HRV) whose technology should be restricted to use outside the core of the country's communications networks, it will not exclude it entirely from its 5G network buildouts, though its presence will now be limited there to 35% of nonsensitive parts of a network. 

The U.S. had advised the country to ban Huawei from its 5G network as a security risk and warned that if not, the U.S. would have trouble sharing data across that network. 

Related: Huawei Tech Threatens UK Sovereignty

Following a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, the National Security Council issued the following guidance to UK telecom operators regarding HRVs, saying they should be: 

1. “Excluded from all safety related and safety critical networks in Critical National Infrastructure; 

2. “Excluded from security critical ‘core’ functions, the sensitive part of the network;

3. “Excluded from sensitive geographic locations, such as nuclear sites and military bases;

4. “Limited to a minority presence of no more than 35 per cent in the periphery of the network, known as the access network, which connect devices and equipment to mobile phone masts.”

“The government is certain that these measures, taken together, will allow us to mitigate the potential risk posed by the supply chain and to combat the range of threats, whether cyber criminals, or state sponsored attacks,” said the U.K. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the National Cyber Security Centre. 

RELATED: Rogers Slams UK Decision to Work with Huawei

The FCC has banned the use of broadband buildout subsidy money from Huawei and is considering extending that ban. The Congress has also disallowed the use of government contract money for the Chinese telecom's tech. 

“Great Britain’s decision to allow Huawei to build ‘non-core’ parts of the 5G network is a terrible decision, period,” said Mike Rogers, chairman of 5G Action Now and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “Allowing Huawei access to any part of your network — core or otherwise — is a recipe for disaster as even a non-core door is still a door to a critical communications network. I worry that by the time London realizes this, it will be too late to close the barn door and the digital horses will be in Beijing’s stables.” 

"I am disappointed by the UK’s decision today, especially since the security risks are so well understood," said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chari of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "But under current circumstances, I remain committed to working with the UK and other key allies to build more diverse and secure telecommunication options that provide competitive alternatives to Huawei. I have introduced legislation that seeks to accomplish that, including a Multilateral Telecommunications Security Fund, and hope the UK will commit to partnering on this effort in the coming months. It is critical that countries committed to building and maintaining secure networks come together. Current financial support by China for Huawei puts any Western alternative at a serious disadvantage.”

But not everyone was similarly concerned.

“This is extremely good news for Huawei,” said Dimitris Mavrakis of tech advisory firm ABI Research. “We are thrilled to see the British government taking informed advice from their security advisors and telecoms service providers regarding this contentious issue and not submitting to the pressure induced by geopolitical tactics. This move will encourage other governments to take similar initiatives and welcome Huawei back to the list of key suppliers and innovators in the 5G era.”

Ad-supported streaming platform Tubi has announced the launch of a kids component, as well as its expansion into the UK.

Tubi Kids will launch on Oct. 21 and feature what the San Francisco startup said will be more than 1,200 age-appropriate movies and TV shows. Movies will include How to Train Your Dragon, Norm of the North, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows; TV series will feature characters including Sonic the Hedgehog, Strawberry Shortcake, Paddington Bear and The Wiggles.

Related: Tubi Set to Launch in Australia

The move follows AVOD competitor the Roku Channel’s launch of a dedicated kids area in August. Subscription streaming platforms including Netflix and Hulu have had dedicated kids areas for some time.

Meanwhile, the UK launch will occur in “early 2020,” Tubi said. It comes after the AVOD platform’s August expansion announcement for Australia.

“We’re ramping up our international expansion with the UK launch being the first of several forthcoming territories and look forward to announcing them soon,” said Farhad Massoudi, CEO of Tubi. “The launch of Tubi Kids reinforces our dedication to offer an age-appropriate viewing environment – super-serving kids and families with a robust amount of content.”

Tubi doesn't announce unique users for its platform. But the startup announced earlier that it had streamed 94 million hours of content in the month of May. It said it was up to 132 million hours of streamed content in September, a 40% increase. 

Chinese tech company Huawei said it has achieved 2 Gbps download speeds during 5G fixed wireless download trials being jointly conducted with British wireless operator Three UK.

Huawei said the trials utilized the 100MHz C-Band spectrum and that speeds actually averaged around 1 Gbps over time.

With cable operators vested in DOCSIS 3.1-powered HFC networks, the speed boast will undoubtedly raise interest. Verizon has deployed 5G fixed wireless in a number of U.S. markets, but speeds average around 300 Mbps, topping out at just under 1 Gbps.

In the UK, Three recently committed to spending more than $2.5 billion to deliver 5G services.

Network technology vendor Huawei, of course, faces steep hurdles in markets including Australia and the U.S.m which believe its products provide the means for Chinese operatives to conduct espionage.

"Huawei will continue to work with Three UK to bring customers more market-leading commercial applications of 5G," Huawei 5G product line president Yang Chaobin said in a statement.

The UK Parliament is taking aim at Facebook, saying the social media company's practices are causing a "democratic crisis."

A new report by the Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said Facebook should be held accountable for the "misleading" content on its platforms.

Facebook's fortunes (as well as the personal fortune of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg) have fallen in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data-sharing scandal and other revelations of data privacy abuses at the company.

Related: Facebook Stock Plunges After Revenue Miss

U.S. legislators have also been looking into the company and its data-sharing practices, summoning Zuckerberg to testify on the Hill last April. Just two months later, The New York Times reported Facebook had also shared users' data with device makers, including Apple.

The company faces scrutiny for possibly violating the terms of its 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that Facebook deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on the social media platform private, and then repeatedly allowing the data to be shared and made public.

A Nov. 29, 2011, FTC statement said the decree "bars Facebook from making any further deceptive privacy claims, requires that the company get consumers' approval before it changes the way it shares their data, and requires that it obtain periodic assessments of its privacy practices by independent, third-party auditors for the next 20 years."

Ashkan Soltani, a former FTC CTO who is now a consultant, told Congress in June that he believes the company's actions indeed violate the terms of the consent decree.

A June poll by the nonprofit watchdog group Campaign for Accountability found the majority of Facebook users don't trust the company with their personal data, and an even larger majority said they believe "large internet and technology companies" should be more heavily regulated. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) said they "do not trust Facebook to obey the law when it comes to protecting their personal information."

The Commercial Broadcasters Association (COBA) wants some answers on how the British government's exit from the European Union (Brexit) will be handled and whether there will be a buffer period after that exit.

"Like many sectors, international broadcasting cannot wait until the March 2019 'cliff edge' to undertake any restructuring that may be necessary as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU," COBA said. "Businesses need several months to put contingency plans into place, as this may involve significant changes to their operations."

COBA comprises a host of U.S. players doing business abroad, including 21st Century Fox, NBCU, A+E Networks, Turner, Discovery Inc. and The Walt Disney Co., as well as Sky, for which both NBCU parent Comcast and 21st Century Fox are bidding.

Related: Comcast Ups the Ante for Sky

Without more certainty over whether the transition period will take place, we are certainly concerned that broadcasters will have to reluctantly start restructuring within the next few months, and possibly within weeks for some companies," said COBA executive director Adam Minns. "The UK has a leadership position as Europe’s international broadcasting hub for good reason – no one wants to have to restructure their businesses. But if these changes have to be made, companies will be forced to start the process well in advance of the cliff edge so they have sufficient time to manage the process."

The broadcasters want a "status quo" transition period, pointing out that international broadcasters invest more than $1 billion annually in the UK and support one in 10 UK TV jobs.

Comcast said it has made an offer for U.K. satellite TV company Sky that bests an earlier proposal by minority owner 21st Century Fox by 16%.

Fox, which owns 39% of Sky, has been winding through the U.K. regulatory approval process in an attempt to acquire 100% of the company. British regulatory bodies have balked at approving the deal because they feel it would concentrate too much media power in one company’s hands.

But the Comcast bid is a surprise. The cable company had held some U.K assets in the past but sold them in the late 1990s to concentrate on the U.S. business. As domestic cable subscribers have increasingly opted for over-the-top and online video alternatives, international assets are becoming more attractive.

Sky is the largest pay TV service provider in the U.K., also has operations in Germany and Italy.

Comcast has offered £12.50 per share ($17.44), a 16% premium to Fox’s £10.75 ($14.99) bid.

“We think Sky is an outstanding company,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement. “It has 23 million customers and leading positions in the UK, Italy, and Germany.  Sky has been a consistent innovator in its use of technology to deliver a fantastic viewing experience and has a proud record of investment in news and programming.  It has great people and a very strong and capable management team.”

Roberts continued, adding that Comcast plans to use the satellite operation as a growth platform, and has a U.K. presence in London through its NBCUniversal international operations. The company said it intends to maintain Sky’s U.K. headquarters and that the deal would increase Comcast’s international revenue from 9% of total revenue to 25%.

Fox had intended to make the Sky stake as part of its overall deal to sell certain assets to The Walt Disney Co. Reports have said Comcast has been mulling making an offer for those assets as well, outbidding Disney. 

Discovery Communications said its Eurosport network has secured a five-year deal for live simulcast coverage of the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s and Ladies Singles finals and daily 90-minute highlight shows for the duration of the storied tennis tourney.

The deal gives Eurosport rights in the U.K. for all four Grand Slam tennis events – The French Open, The Australian Open and the U.S. Open are the others. The Wimbledon agreement is in line with British agency Ofcom’s Listed Events regulations, which allows a secondary broadcaster to acquire certain rights alongside the primary broadcaster, which in the case of The Championships is the BBC.

“It is fantastic to offer fans the chance to watch one of the most iconic events in British sport on Eurosport for the first time,” said Discovery Networks UK and Ireland EVP and MD Susanna Dinnage in a statement.” Adding the Wimbledon rights means we now have live coverage of all four top tournaments and cements our position as the Home of Grand Slam Tennis in the U.K.”

Eurosport’s Rob Curling will host the nightly highlights program in the U.K. from the All England Club from 10 pm every day of the tournament.

In addition to the four Glam Slams, Eurosport broadcasts the Davis Cup, known as the ‘World Cup of Tennis’ and the five British grass court tournaments that take place in the lead up to The Championships, Wimbledon.

The BBC will continue to broadcast continuous daily live coverage of The Championships in the UK across BBC 1, BBC 2 and online, and remains the AELTC’s primary UK broadcast partner for the term 2016-2020 inclusive.

With a new name for the network in place, Mark Golub is setting his sights on a bigger footprint for the Jewish Broadcasting Service -- both in the U.S. and abroad.

Golub, the president and executive producer of Jewish Broadcasting Service, which was rebranded from Shalom TV on Sept. 24, believes the network will gain carriage on telco Verizon FiOS before the end of 2014, and gain a foothold in Europe next year.

He said the conversion on the morning of when the community celebrates Rosh Hashanah is more indicative of what the network is today.

“The whole channel is predicated on the PBS model. We don’t feel that Shalom TV conveyed where the network is, or is reflective of the programming we deliver,” said Golub. “We’re like a Jewish-oriented PBS.”

Golub said Shalom TV resonated with many people through its “peaceful overtones,”  but the moniker often raised many questions in the minds of the uninitiated.

“People would think it was in the Hebrew language, or ask if it was an American or religious channel," he said.

While JBS is the only American network to present on-air services during the high holidays and on Friday nights for the elderly and immobile, its scope is much wider.

The network trades on a mix of public affairs programming, major event coverage, twice-daily educational children's programming, plus Jewish studies programs that enable viewers to learn to read Hebrew and study the Talmud. JBS will also continue to serve as television home of the 92nd Street Y's presentations from the Kaufman Auditorium, and deliver a Jewish Film Festival with multiple movies each week.

Golub said Shalom TV distinguished itself this summer among Jewish leaders and Jewish and non-Jewish viewers as the only channel on American television to concentrate on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on a daily basis.  A wide array of notable Jewish and non-Jewish figures, reflecting the entire political spectrum have participated in the ongoing series, Israel In Turmoil.

He also noted that JBS morphed from Shaltom TV because the latter was "a hair too parochial," while adding it also shared a name of Christian-oriented channel in Malaysia. “In the early days, there was a lot of confusion, and it still comes up from time to time on searches.

He also believes the new name is a better calling card for its expansion plans beyond these borders. Golub said the network has engaged in conversations with a number of international distributors for dubbed versions of the English-language channel.

Naturally, Golub is looking toward a position in Israel, and has had talks with SKY for carriage in the U.K. JBS is also eyeing launches in eastern and western parts of The Continent

“There has been a wave of anti-Semitism in Western Europe of late. We believe JBS provides lovely, alternative perspectives of Jewish life and culture," he said, “I would not be surprised if in 2015 JBS gains distribution outside the U.S."

Stateside, JBS is looking to butress its linear presence. After bowing as video on demand service with Comcast in 2006, Shalom TV over the years gained a VOD foothold across the nation with on-demand deals with providers, reaching more than 40 million households.

The service in 2012 secured its first linear berth on Cablevision systems serving the New York DMA. It also has carriage with RCN in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Maryland and Virginia; in Miami Beach via Atlantic Broadband; Metrocast in Maine and New Hampshire; Service Electric in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Emmaus, Penn. and Hunterdon, NJ; Hot Wire Communications in Miami, Manhattan and New Jersey; Blue Ridge Communications in Penn.; and Google Fiber in Kansas City, and Provo, Utah, plus an upcoming launch in Austin, Tex.  The service also has a Roku channel, can be streamed on the JBS website www.jbstv.org, and heard on Tune In Radio.

About a year ago, it exited the VOD space, commiting itself toward a model steeped in linear positioning.  To that end, Golub is confident JBS will launch in a couple of Verizon FiOS markets before the close of 2014, without disclosing the DMAs. He also wants to land on three of the nation's largest distributors.

“We’re in talks with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV that will hopefully result in carriage next year,” said Golub.  

As JBS builds its linear base, it eventually plans to return to its carriage beginnings. “We’re going to look to add video on demand a bit later,” said Golub.

In the meantime, the network’s roots live on in another way: Promos with the likes of Dr. Ruth Westheimer saying “You’re watching Shalom TV on JBS” will air and the former name is uttered in archival interview programming with the likes of a lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

“It’s embedded in some of our existing shows,” said Golub. “We’re not dropping the Shalom TV name entirely.”

The United Kingdom could be the next nation to open the Pandora’s box that is retransmission consent, once the sole bane of U.S. distributors, based in part on a recent report commissioned by that country’s largest commercial public broadcaster, ITV.

After years of lobbying by broadcasters like the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, U.K. regulators seem open to the idea, with U.K. culture secretary Sajid Javid stating recently that the government is set to review whether more of a free-market approach to the U.K. television system, including retransmission payments, should be taken to encourage further investment in programming.

“I will be taking a long, hard look at the balance of payments between broadcasters and platforms,” Javid said at the recent Royal Television Society Conference in London, according to U.K. newspaper The Guardian.

Javid’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport intends to launch the retrans review by the end of the year.

Estimates are that U.K broadcasters — who until recently were paying satellite distributors like British Sky Broadcasting as much as $40 million annually for the right to be carried on the service — could take in up to $400 million per year in retransmission fees.

That is still a fraction of what U.S. broadcasters rake in from retransmission consent. According to the study written by NERA Economic Consulting — Delivering for Television Viewers: Retransmission Consent and the U.S. Market for Video Content — U.S. free-toair broadcasters received about $3.3 billion in retrans payments in 2013, accounting for less than 3% of cable operator revenue, but making up about 15% of total broadcast revenue — and “having little or no impact on pay TV prices.”

U.S. retransmission fees are expected to more than double by 2019, the study added.

That last quote will likely be argued to the contrary by U.S. distributors, who have said retrans payments are increasingly being passed on to consumers and have pressed U.S. government agencies to turn back the retrans clock.

Most recently, MVPD lobbying groups have proposed a “Local Choice” initiative that would require broadcasters sell their channels directly to consumers, who would have the right not to purchase the service. The Local Choice push, though, seems to have faded under pressure from broadcasters.

Across the pond, though, the pressure is high to help fund original programming, which is becoming increasingly more expensive to produce.

ITV, which is 6.4%-owned by U.S.-based international cable operator Liberty Global (which also owns Virgin Media, the largest U.K. cable company), estimates that U.K. public-service broadcasters invest about $4.8 billion per year on programming, most of it pumped back into original content.

ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said introducing retransmission fees would have clear benefits to the U.K. creative industries and the wider economy by enabling PSBs to continue to invest in original programming.

“The majority of viewing on these pay TV U.K. distributors, sounding a lot like their U.S. counterparts, warned that cherry-picking regulations from another country’s television system could provide unintended consequences.

BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch, speaking at the RTS conference, was supportive of deregulation but said it had to work both ways, according to The Guardian. And he added that current benefits to U.S. broadcasters — like platform access and prominent positioning on electronic programming guides — could be lost in a retrans regime.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Darroch said at the conference, according to The Guardian.

At Virgin Media, which never charged content providers for carriage in the past, CEO Tom Mockridge likened retrans to an additional tax on viewers to watch programming they’ve already paid for.

“There is a careful balance to strike,” Mockridge said, according to reports.

Expanding its media holdings in the United Kingdom, Liberty Global announced Thursday that it has acquired a 6.4% stake in U.K. broadcaster ITV from BSkyB.

Liberty Global, which acquired Virgin Media, the U.K.’s largest cable operator last June, said it bought 259.8 million shares of iTV plc for £481 million (US $822.37 million).

“This is an opportunistic and attractive investment for us in our largest cable market,” said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries, in a statement. “ITV is the leading commercial broadcaster in the U.K. and we're excited to be shareholders.”

Liberty Global said this level of investment requires no regulatory approvals, and confirmed that it does not intend to make an offer to acquire ITV.  However, it did leave the door open to that possibility, noting that it does reserve the right to announce an offer or possible offer within the next six months.

That mere possibility of a future takeover caused BSkyB shares to spike 7% Thursday,The Guardianreported.