Discovery said that pay-monthly Vodafone subscribers in the U.K. will get the Discovery Plus streaming service at no additional cost for six months.

The six month period includes the Tokyo Olympic games. Discovery has the TV rights to the Olympics in Europe and plans to stream 3,500 hours of Olympic coverage on Discovery Plus, including 55 live event feeds.

Adding more subscribers--even if they’re not paying for the service--will give Discovery more viewers to sell to advertisers during the Olympics. Discovery is also counting on some of those trying the service for free to step up and pay for subscriptions.

“Our streaming service Discovery Plus has become incredibly popular since its launch only six months ago. This summer, we’re excited to build on our partnership with Vodafone to bring Discovery Plus entertainment to their UK customers with a very special offer,” said James Gibbons, Discovery’s executive VP and general manager for the U.K. & Nordics. “Packed with the best true-crime, paranormal, documentary and reality content, plus Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 live this month, there’s something for the whole family to get excited about at the home of real-life entertainment."

Vodafone was one of the original distribution partners for Discovery Plus in Europe, carrying the streaming service in 12 markets. At launch Discovery Plus was available to Vodafone’s mobile customers.

“The British summer of sport is going from strength to strength, which is why we’re delighted to give our customers access to Discovery Plus Entertainment just in time for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. There’s also a wide range of content outside of sport that customers can enjoy, including documentaries and boxsets,” said Max Taylor, consumer director, Vodafone U.K.

At the end of their six-month offer period, customers will have the option to continue their subscription for £4.99 per month or cancel the service without any charge.

Before Discovery Plus launched in the U.S., it was offered free to Sky Q customers in the U.K. and Ireland for 12 months.

In the U.S. it was provided free to Verizon customers.

TiVo and its new parent company, Xperi Holdings, have renewed two more patents, inking intellectual property licensing extensions with U.K. telecom Vodafone and Korean consumer-electronics giant Sharp. 

Since TiVo settled its four-year IP battle with Comcast in November, the company has also struck deals with Cox Communications, TCL and Sony. 

Vodafone, which operates video services across Europe and parts of Africa, providing more than 22 million customers with TV/video, will continue to have access to TiVo products including content discovery, conversational voice and insight data analytics.  

“With this extension of TiVo’s services, Vodafone is maintaining its service offerings and keeping audiences engaged in the hugely competitive entertainment landscape,” Matt Milne, chief revenue officer for Xperi, said in a statement. 

Under its multiyear exemption, Sharp will use TiVo’s “G-Guide” products, including G-Guide HTML, G-Guide xD and remote schedule recording service, across compatible television and Ultra HD Blu-ray recorder products in the Japanese market. This includes the latest Aquos-branded 8K TVs.

Xperi, which controls more than 10,000 patents and patent applications, said during its third-quarter earnings call that it expects its IP licensing business to generate around $350 million in revenue in 2021. 

Xperi reports fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 23.

TiVo and its new parent company, Xperi Holdings, announced two more patent renewals Tuesday, inking IP licensing extensions with UK telecom Vodafone and Korean consumer electronics giant Sharp Corp. 

Since TiVo settled its four-year IP battle with Comcast in November, the company has also announced IP deals with Cox Communications, TCL and Sony. 

Vodafone, which operates video services across Europe and parts of Africa, providing more than 22 million customers with TV/video, will continue to have access to TiVo products relating to content discovery, conversational voice and insight data analytics.  

“With this extension of TiVo's services, Vodafone is maintaining its service offerings and keeping audiences engaged in the hugely competitive entertainment landscape,” “said Matt Milne, chief revenue officer for Xperi, in a statement. 

Meanwhile, under its multi-year exemption, Sharp will utilizes TiVo’s “G-Guide” products, including G-Guide HTML, G-Guide xD and remote schedule recording service across compatible television and Ultra HD Blu-ray recorder products in the Japanese market. This includes the latest Aquos-branded 8K TVs.

Xperi, which controls more than 10,000 patents and patent applications, said during its third quarter earnings call that it expects its IP licensing business to generate around $350 million in revenue in 2021. 

“We are proud to extend our licensing agreements with Sony,” said Samir Armaly, president of intellectual property at Xperi, in a statement. “Sony is a creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology, and we are excited to build on our long-standing relationship with them.”

Xperi reports Q4 earnings on Feb. 23. 

Frontier Communications said it has named Vodafone UK CEO Nick Jeffery as its new CEO. Jeffery will replace Bernie Han, who will step down March 1.

Frontier filed for Chapter 11 protection in April  and has been winding through a restructuring process for months. Its reorganization plan was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in August and the company said that it has received regulatory approval in 12 states for its restructuring plan. It expects to emerge from Chapter 11 in early 2021.

After Jeffery takes the helm, Han, who joined Frontier in December 2019 from Dish Network, will step down, but will remain a member of the company’s board of directors and will assist in the CEO transition. Jeffery will join the board of directors after the company emerges from Chapter 11.  

“There is still important work to do in unlocking Frontier’s full potential, and I am excited to facilitate the transition and pass the CEO baton to someone with Nick’s outstanding track record,” Han said in a press release. “I want to again thank the entire Frontier team for their support as we see the chapter 11 process through to completion.”

Jeffery was selected after an extensive internal and external search for a new CEO. He has about 30 years of experience, most recently at Vodafone UK, where he helped engineer a turnaround at the British wireless and wireline operator. According to Frontier, during Jeffery’s tenure at Vodafone UK, the unit of Vodafone PLC grew revenue and market share, improved customer service, reduced churn and increased customer and employee satisfaction. Prior to his tenure at Vodafone UK, where he spent eight years, the last four as CEO, Jeffery spent more than a decade at Cable & Wireless, where he led the UK and international markets business units.

In a press release, Robert Schriesheim, chairman of the finance committee of Frontier’s board of directors, said that in addition to Jeffery becoming CEO, John Stratton will become Frontier’s executive chairman after it emerges from Chapter 11. 

“We are now at a point of natural evolution in our transformation and, following a rigorous process, the search committee concluded that Nick is the right CEO to lead Frontier through its next phase of investment and profitable growth,” Schriesheim said in the release. “On behalf of the Finance Committee and Board, I want to thank Bernie for his leadership in executing Frontier’s operational turnaround while managing the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bernie has demonstrated his world-class skills as a CEO operator, managing large-scale complexity with a relentless focus on driving performance and emphasizing accountability. His contributions have helped to reposition Frontier as a stronger, more resilient business, and we appreciate his willingness to guide the CEO transition and remain on the Board through transition.”

Frontier said it is making progress in executing its reorganization plan, including recapitalizing the balance sheet, which upon emergence, will include reducing its debt by about $11 billion and its annual interest expense by about $1 billion. The company also plans to re-focus its efforts to become a fiber-based broadband service provider, and has had five straight quarters of consumer broadband subscriber growth.

“Frontier owns a unique set of assets and maintains a competitive market position,” Jeffery said in the release. “My immediate focus will be on serving our customers as we enhance the network through investments in our existing footprint and in adjacent markets while building operational excellence across the organization. I am committed to delivering world-class customer service. I look forward to speaking and meeting with our employees while working with Bernie, the Board and leadership team to ensure a seamless transition.”

Harmonic has announced another tier 1 customer deployment of its CableOS virtualized cable access network technology, with Vodafone currently using the solution to festoon its footprint of 25 million passings in Germany with DOCSIS 3.1-powered gigabit service.

Vodafone is foundationing its gigabit-speed deployment on a DOCSIS 3.1 network featuring CableOS virtual cable modem termination system software, remote PHY devices and CableOS Central cloud-connected management service.

Vodafone is San Jose, Calif.-based Harmonic’s second largest customer, supplying 12% of the vendor’s revenue, according to Harmonic's earnings disclosures. Comcast, which signed a $175 million enterprise software agreement for CableOS a year ago, is Harmonic’s biggest client at 17% of revenue.

"We chose Harmonic's CableOS solution to power our GigaCable Max service for its software-based architecture, scalability and efficiency, enabling us to deploy a world-class gigabit-capable network while solving critical space, power and cost challenges,” said Guido Weissbrich, director of network planning and network deployment at Vodafone Germany, in a statement.

"Vodafone Germany is breaking down broadband speed barriers and seeing great success with its Gigabit service," added Nimrod Ben-Natan, senior VP and general manager of cable access business at Harmonic. "We believe a key success factor is Vodafone's compelling strategic vision for differentiated gigabit networks that can reliably scale to meet growing consumption levels. Seeing our CableOS solution adopted by the largest cable operators in Europe and the U.S. reinforces Harmonic's conviction that CableOS is the cable broadband platform of the future."

TiVo used the occasion of the IBC Show in Amsterdam today to announce two new international customers wins, as well as detail the splitting of its products and IP licensing business.

For starters, the vendor said that Vodafone Group is deploying TiVo’s Personalized Content Discovery technology as part of its Vodafone TV service in Portugal. In fact, TiVo said Portugal will be the first country to use its new “Intelligent Voice Search” feature, a natural language solution that enables user to find content by speaking into their remotes.

Separately, TiVo announced that Liberty Latin America will use its Next-Gen Platform, starting in Puerto Rico. TiVo's Next-Gen Platform offers a range of products powered by our cloud-based TiVo service.

“TiVo’s Next-Gen Platform is unique in giving us the flexibility to introduce new, tailored video products and services at scale to serve our different customer segments and markets, while staying ahead of our competitors,” said Vivek Khemka, senior VP and chief technology and product officer for Liberty Latin America. “We are committed to bringing the latest entertainment innovations to our customers and TiVo is the best partner for us to achieve that with.”

In an interview with Bloomberg at IBC earlier this week, Dave Shull, who joined on as TiVo’s CEO in May, outlined plans to split up the San Jose, California technology company.

Shull said he wants to split off TiVo’s patent business by the first half of next year, while having that spinoff assume the bulk of TiVo’s debt and tax credit. The products business—which just made the aforementioned deal announcements at IBC—would carry on with the TiVo name. 

Vodafone Germany has hired Rotterdam-based tech vendor Metrological to integrate OTT apps into its GigaTV pay TV service.

Metrological has worked with a number of cable operators, including Comcast and Liberty Global, to enable the integration of popular OTT services including Netflix natively on the set-top.

The Metrological Application Platform includes a back-office product suite for onboarding, monetizing and optimizing the life cycle of web and native apps across set-tops. The platform supports features including unified search, contextually and second-screen support. Vodafone Germany is also able to source content from the Metrological App Library, which offers more than 300 OTT apps.

Related: RDK Partners with Metrological for Easier OTT App Integration

“Vodafone Germany’s next-gen GigaTV offering gives TV-subscribers easy access to premium OTT services and niche, personalized content. This aligns with Metrological’s vision to integrate the TV and app experience in one single view,” said Thijs Bijleveld, senior VP of sales and marketing of metrological. “Vodafone Germany recognized early on the value of delivering a universal search capability across their full content library. We are very honored Vodafone Germany selected Metrological as their OTT partner.”

The deal by John Malone’s Liberty Global to sell off some of its European assets to rival Vodafone is another step in the international cable giant’s strategy to focus more on its U.K. cable and mobile operations, which after years of investment appear to be turning the corner.

The Vodafone deal will give Liberty Global nearly $23 billion in cash and stock for its cable assets in Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. The deal officially scrubs Malone and Liberty from the German market, Europe’s second-largest, which it had tried for years to dominate. Now that market will be left to Vodafone, already Germany’s largest cable operator, and that country’s No. 2 player, telco Deutsche Telekom.

With the deal, Vodafone will widen the cable TV gap between it and Deutsche Telekom, but the phone company will retain its broadband dominance. After the Liberty deal is closed, Vodafone would have about 14 million cable customers, compared with 3.2 million for DT. According to company reports, Deutsche Telekom controls about 13.4 million broadband customers in Germany, while Liberty and Vodafone will have a combined 10 million.

Some analysts believe the deal will have a rough time obtaining approval, but Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said it should pass muster with the European Union in about a year.

Related: Regulators Likely to Block or Restrict Vodafone-Liberty Global Deal: Analyst

In an interview with CNBC, Fries said the German market is “screaming for consolidation and a real national challenger.” Germany has been a growing, profitable market for Liberty Global — revenue rose 8.7% in the first quarter and operating cash flow was up 11.8% — although its pay TV subscriber growth has slowed. Still, the properties attracted a hefty multiple.

Fries told CNBC prior to Liberty Global’s Q1 earnings announcement that the decision to sell to Vodafone was simple, as the price was right.

At $22.7 billion, the Vodafone deal values the assets at about 11.5 times 2018 estimated cash flow, a huge premium to Liberty Global’s current trading multiple of about 7 times.

“It’s a premium valuation,” Fries told CNBC, adding that this isn’t the first time Liberty Global has sold assets, noting the 2006 sale of its French properties to Altice N.V. “We’re trying to be agile, smart and see the playing field clearly. Long-term, this is going to be a great transaction.”

But this deal has the potential to be transformative for all parties involved. Vodafone gets another arrow in its quad-play quiver of video, voice, data and wireless services. Liberty Global gets a great payday, but is essentially shedding one-third of its business.

With the Vodafone deal and a pending transaction to sell its Austrian operations to Deutsche Telekom for $2.3 billion (expected to close in the second half of this year), Liberty will pare the number of countries it operates in from 11 to six and its total customers from 22 million to 11 million.

No Brexit Here

With those deals, Liberty Global’s Virgin Media U.K. operations become even more strategically important, as they will represent more than half of Liberty’s total cash flow. And while Virgin Media has struggled in the past — subscriber growth has been sluggish, and with 5.9 million video customers it is a distant No. 2 to top pay TV service provider Sky (23 million) — it has started to turn the corner, at least financially.

Revenue growth at Virgin Media has soared in the past five quarters, from 1.7% in Q1 2017 to 5.2% in Q1 2018. At the same time, operating cash flow has grown from about 1% in Q1 2017 to 5.5% in Q1 2018, Liberty reported.

Liberty is also pumping money into the U.K. business. It rolled out its new advanced set-top for cable customers, V6, to 500,000 households in Q1; the product is currently in 41% of Virgin Media’s homes. And in 2014 it started building a fiber network, called Project Lightning, that is expected to reach 4 million homes by the end of 2019 at a cost of about $3.9 billion.

The buildout has hit some snags and last year was revamped because of delays and problems with independent contractors in some communities. But the project is ongoing, and with $13 billion in cash from the Vodafone sale, Virgin could have the resources to accelerate Project Lightning and perhaps build out its own mobile network.

Mobile is beginning to emerge as a growth area for Virgin, which has about 3 million customers through a Mobile Virtual Network Operator agreement with U.K. wireless company BT. Virgin added 69,000 post-paid mobile subscribers in the U.K. and Ireland in Q1, Liberty Global said, 89% higher than the previous year. Overall, mobile revenue growth has turned from a negative 8% in Q1 2017 to positive 5% in Q1 2018.

In a research note, Pivotal Research Group CEO and senior media & communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak praised the deal for its robust multiples. For Liberty, he added, the task will be to sustain its financial growth, but there could be room for other deals.

“Like most of the rest of the cable industry, Liberty Global likely remains mainly about sizeable cash flows (and deployment of those cash flows) in 2019,” Wlodarczak wrote, adding that Virgin Media could be a possible target of Comcast, should Comcast’s bid for U.K. satellite company Sky fail.

Fries was encouraged by Virgin’s performance, but also left the door open should a similar opportunity arise.

“We have a really strategically complete business today in the U.K.,” Fries told CNBC. “We’re happy with it, we’re going to create great value over the long term. If somebody comes up and says they have to own it, we’ll pick up the phone, of course. But at this point, we’re happy.”

Liberty Global shares were hammered on Wednesday, down as much as 10% ($3.15 each) to $28 per share in the wake of a mixed first quarter and the announcement of a deal to sell assets in Germany and Eastern Europe to Vodafone for $23 billion.

The stock began to show some signs of recovery in later trading. It was priced at $29.37 each, down $1.78 per share (5.7%) by the early afternoon.

Liberty Global shares have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past five months, falling more than 20% since the beginning of the year. The stock, which reached a new 52-week low on April 26 – along with several other cable stocks -- seemed to be on the uptick over the past few days, closing at $32.91 on May 7, up nearly 4% for the day and its highest point since March. But that rise was short lived.

Talks between Liberty Global and Vodafone have been ongoing since February. Investors are apparently wary that the deal, which would make Vodafone a strong No. 2 in German cable but would remove a competitor from the market, could face pushback from regulators.

At the same time, Liberty Global’s subscriber softness continues. In the first quarter, the company said it added 66,000 revenue generating units – a combination of fixed voice, video, data and mobile subscribers – a 74% decline from the prior year. Despite that decline, revenue was up 4.2% and operating income rose 4.7%, ahead of estimates.

Pivotal Research Group CEO and senior media & communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak said the sell-off is likely a combination of the transaction announcement and confusion over the deal multiple. He said Vodafone used a different accounting method and came up with a deal multiple that was lower than Liberty Global’s. However, the analyst sticks by his calculation that the price represents about 11 times 2018 estimated cash flow.

And he added, while he considers the sell-off an over-reaction, it represents the current climate for cable.

“The sun rising seems to be an excuse to sell cable stocks,” Wlodarczak said.   

Vodafone’s proposed $23 billion play for Liberty Global operations in Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania won’t be a slam dunk, an industry analyst believes.  

RELATED: Vodafone to Buy Liberty Global Assets for $23B 

Though the deal would position Vodafone to establish a stronger rival to Deutsche Telekom, “we strongly believe that regulators will block or restrict the deal,” Paolo Pescatore, VP of multiplay and media at CCS Insight, explained in a research note. “Vodafone and Liberty Global have a relatively solid presence in the fixed-line and TV markets, so any move would cut the number of companies in both segments.” 

But Pescatore also stressed that the proposed deal is beneficial to both sides, as it will enable Liberty Global to dispose of what he views as non-core assets and help it strengthen its position in other markets, including the United Kingdom. Likewise, the deal will bolter Vodafone’s convergence initiative, as nearly 30% of European service revenue now comes way of its fixed-line business, and has parallels with its previous acquisitions of Kabel Deutschland in Germany and Ono in Spain.  

Thought the proposed deal “is not a game changing move,” it would reinforce the notion that operators need to own both fixed and mobile networks in the 5G era, Pescatore pointed out.  

“The joint venture in the Netherlands’ has laid out the blueprint for both companies to come closer together,” he added.  

Liberty Global confirmed perhaps the worst kept secret in international cable, agreeing to sell its cable businesses in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania to wireless giant Vodafone in a deal valued at about $22.7 billion.

Liberty and Vodafone had been in talks about a deal since February. On Tuesday, The Financial Times reported the two were close to a deal. 

After the transaction is completed, Liberty Global will continue to have European cable operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and Slovakia, reaching 24 million homes and 26 million video, broadband and fixed-line telephony subscribers and 6 million mobile services. In addition, Liberty Global owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture in the Netherlands with 4 million customers subscribing to 10 million fixedline and 5 million mobile services.

“We have a rich history at Liberty Global of successfully developing and reshaping our business to drive innovation, advance customer services and create significant value for shareholders,” Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said in a statement. “This is one of those moments.”

The deal values the Liberty Global assets at a double-digit cash flow multiple and will pump $12.7 billion in cash into the Denver-based company.

For Vodafone, which already owns Kabel Deutschland in Germany and Ono in Spain, the deal solidifies its standing as one of the leading wireline and wireless providers in Europe.

The deal, which is expected to attract intense scrutiny from European regulators, is anticipated to close in mid-2019.

“This transaction will create the first truly converged
pan-European champion of competition. It represents a step change in Europe’s transition to a Gigabit Society and a transformative combination for Vodafone that will generate significant value for shareholders,” Vodafone Group chief executive Vittorio Colao said in a statement. “We are committed to accelerating and deepening investment in next generation mobile and fixed networks, building on Vodafone’s track record of ensuring that customers benefit from the choice of a strong and sustainable challenger to dominant incumbent operators. Vodafone will become Europe’s leading next generation network owner, serving the largest number of mobile customers and households across the EU.”

LionTree and Goldman Sachs are acting as financial advisers to Liberty Global on the transaction. Morgan Stanley, Robey Warshaw and UBS are acting as financial advisers to Vodafone, and Slaughter and May is acting as legal adviser to Vodafone.

Liberty Global, the international cable giant controlled by John Malone, is close to selling a large chunk of its cable assets to European wireless giant Vodafone, in a deal valued at about $23 billion, according to several press reports.

According to The Financial Times, a deal could be announced as early as Wednesday morning and would include Liberty Global’s assets in Germany and Eastern Europe. Later reports, citing people familiar with the companies, said assets in Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania would be involved in the deal.

The transaction would create a strong No. 2 competitor to Deutsche Telekom, which dominates the area. And though it would face intense regulatory scrutiny, the combined entity would create a full quad-play provider of wireless, internet, video and landline telephony.

Vodafone, which has more than 120 million wireless customers in Europe, also has been a player in the cable space. It already owns Kabel Deutschland, the largest cable operator in Germany and Ono in Spain. Liberty Global’s U.K. operations, offered under the Virgin Media brand, are not part of the discussions. 

Last year Vodafone entered into a joint venture with Liberty Global’s Ziggo in The Netherlands to create a quadruple play offering of wireless, video, voice and data.

The two companies haven’t made their interest a secret – they last acknowledged they were in talks in February. 

Like its U.S. counterparts, Liberty Global has struggled with video subscriber losses. Liberty Global lost about 84,000 video revenue generating units in the first quarter, more than five times the 15,000 RGUs it shed in the prior year.  

Vodafone Spain this week introduced Vodafone TV, and will become the first service provider to rollout TiVo’s next-gen user interface/experience.

The new TiVo-powered offering, which includes a set-top with 4K video capabilities, will be launched in March.

RELATED: TiVo Introduces New User Interface

The offering will deliver about 120 TV channels and integrate content from HBO Spain as well as from Netflix. About 20,000 pieces of content will be accessible on the new platform, which also supports a new personalized recommendations engine that is partly based on the customer’s viewing habits.

Vodafone acquired Spanish MSO Ono in 2014.

Liberty Global and Vodafone have named Jeroen Hoencamp CEO and Ritchy Drost chief financial officer of their proposed joint venture in the Netherlands, the companies said Tuesday.

Liberty Global and Vodafone announced the JV in February. The 50-50 partnership, which is still in the regulatory review process, is a combination of Liberty Global's Ziggo Dutch cable operations and Vodafone Netherlands.

Hoencamp is currently the CEO of Vodafone UK. A Dutch citizen,  he has led Vodafone’s UK business since September 2013 and was previously Chief Executive of Vodafone Ireland. In addition, Vodafone named Hoencamp CEO OF Vodafone Netherlands, effective Sept. 1.

Drost has been CFO of Ziggo since September 2015. Over a 17-year career with Liberty Global he has held a number of senior management positions including CFO European Broadband Operations and Managing Director and CFO of UPC Netherlands, Liberty’s predecessor Dutch cable operation. Prior to joining Liberty Global, he was an auditor at Arthur Andersen.

 “Jeroen and Ritchy are experienced business leaders with extensive operational, strategic and merger integration experience," Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao and Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said in a joint statement.We are delighted they will be shaping our companies’ shared mission to create a strong and competitive integrated communications provider serving consumers, businesses and public sector customers in the Dutch market."

Additionally, Liberty Global announced that Ziggo CEO Baptiest Coopmans will remain in that position until completion of the transaction, after which he will join the supervisory board of the joint venture as one of Liberty Global’s appointed directors.  Coopmans has served as Ziggo CEO since November 2014 and successfully led the merger and integration of UPC and Ziggo.

Vodafone Netherlands CFO Carmen Velthuis will remain in her current position until the merger has completed. Vodafone will announce her subsequent assignment at a later date.

 “I am particularly pleased that Baptiest Coopmans has agreed to join the joint venture supervisory board once the transaction is completed," Fries said in a statement. "He is an experienced leader and a trusted member of my executive team whose knowledge of the Dutch broadband and pay TV market will be invaluable. I look forward to working with Baptiest in this new role and exploring other opportunities in the Liberty group.”

Liberty Global chairman John Malone is reportedly close to buying up a local cable operator in Poland in a deal that would consolidate the cable company’s holdings in that country.

According to Reuters, reports in Polish business newspaper Puls Biznesu said that Liberty is close to a deal with cable operator Multimedia and combining it with its UPC Polska operations,. The combined companies would cover half of the country with about 2.2 million subscribers.

UPC Polska is the largest cable operator in Poland. Any deal would have to be approved by regulatory  authorities. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed but reports said the combined company would have annual revenue of about $574 million.

Liberty Global has been aggressive on the deal front – it completed a $7.4 billion buy of Caribbean telecom provider Cable & Wireless in May and has made a big splash in the European cable market in the past, snapping up Virgin Media in 2013 and partnering with Vodafone in February in a 50-50 joint venture to combine their Dutch operations in a deal valued at about $29 billion.

Malone was a big player in U.S. cable consolidation – his Liberty Broadband spinoff owns a 27% interest in Charter Communications and helped fund that cable company’s purchases of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. After that landmark deal, the cable legend has apparently turned at least some of his attention to Europe, with reports saying he would be open to a deal with Vodafone, the continent’s largest wireless company. Talk of a Liberty-Vodafone deal has been common over the past several years – as early as 2014 the wireless conglomerate was reportedly considering a takeover -- but haven’t materialized, largely over valuation issues. That could still be the case although it hasn’t stopped the speculation.

On the domestic side, Malone also has been looking for a suitor for premium channel Starz, which was spun off from Liberty Media in 2013. In February 2015 Malone swapped a 4.5% stake in Starz for a 3.4% interest in movie studio Lionsgate, which fueled speculation that a combination was imminent. In February of this year, Lionsgate filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission noting it intended to start merger talks with Starz, but those discussions were cut off after Lionsgate stock fell hard on disappointing box office from the final installment in the Hunger Games franchise – Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.

At the Gabelli Movies & Entertainment conference yesterday, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht echoed what he has said in the past, that more deals will happen in the space, whether it be between Viacom, Time Warner Inc., Starz or Lionsgate, but it all depends on the timing.

"Once something happens, there are going to more things that happen,” Albrecht said. “…I don't predict any particular occurrence, but I do predict that we will see more activity in the M&A space among the companies I mentioned and more, and young Dr. Malone will be somewhere, you can be sure," Albrecht said at the conference.  

UXP Systems, a Toronto-based company that specializes in multiscreen user experience software and technologies,  said Vodafone Group has picked the vendor’s MINT Digital Experience Engine to unify user-based access to existing services while also setting the foundation for new cloud, over-the-top and “connected life” services.

Vodafone will initially launch the MINT Digital Experience Engine in Germany.

According to the companies, the setup will enable Vodafone users to self-manage services across fixed and wireless, and provide “federated identity across different user aliases” across devices and networks, including the GSMA Mobile Connect standard.

Cable industry pioneers John Malone and John Risley recently made personal investments in UXP Systems, which also counts customers such as Cable & Wireless, Rogers Communications, Telus and CenturyLink.

Fueled by two major deals involving Liberty Global and broadcaster Nexstar Broadcasting Group, media M&A deals were up 69% in the first quarter according to research firm Mergermarket, even as the overall deal climate contracted.

Liberty Global and Vodafone’s $6.97 billion joint venture to combine their Dutch cable assets and Nexstar Broadcasting’s pending $4.6 billion purchase of Media General, helped drive the media segment for the quarter, which finished at 117 deals worth $20.4 billion, a 69% increase from the $12.1 billion last year. The media segment was the only sub-sector that showed gains in the period, according to Mergermarket. In total, about 583 telecom, media and technology deals were made in Q1 worth $85 billion, down 45.5% from the 745 transactions valued at $156 billion last year.

While deal volumes and values across the tech and telecom sectors were down for the year, Mergermarket expects activity to pick up as the growing importance of the Internet of Things, big data, could computing and mobile platforms could drive deals. In the media sector, continued consolidation and the need for scale should also keep transactions high.

“Media in the first half of 2016 could see an increasing trend toward consolidation as the need for cost synergies grows within the sub-sector,” Merger market said in its report.

As expected, Liberty Global and Vodafone have agreed to merge their operations in the Netherlands in a 50-50 joint venture valued at $29.2 billion that will combine Vodafone’s wireless communications assets in the country with LGI’s video, broadband and business services.

The JV will operate under both the Vodafone and Ziggo brands and will create a nationwide integrated communications provider with over 15 million revenue generating units – 4.2 million video, 3.2 million broadband, 2.6 million fixed line telephony and 5.3 million mobile customers.

As part of the deal Vodafone will make a $1.1 billion cash payment to LGI to equalize ownership in the JV.

Liberty Global and Vodafone have been talking on and off about an asset swap for several months, but talks broke down in September, reportedly on valuations. They were restarted in early February, which Vodafone confirmed in a statement, but provided no details.

The venture will strengthen LGI’s Ziggo cable, phone and broadband service in the Netherlands by giving the operators a strong wireless component.  The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

“This powerful combination of the best fixed and mobile networks in the Netherlands will deliver huge benefits to Dutch consumers and businesses,” Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said in a statement. “Throughout Europe, Liberty is capitalizing on the rising demand for lightning‐fast broadband speeds, the coolest digital TV platforms and apps, and seamless 4G wireless connectivity. Soon, both Ziggo and Vodafone customers in the Netherlands will be at the forefront of this new world, and we couldn't be more excited about our partnership with Vodafone. We look forward to working together to develop cutting‐edge converged services for the Dutch market.”

The deal also fuels hopes that the two companies could possibly move forward in the future on a broader combination. But, according to a report in the Financial Times, the two have insisted that the Dutch talks have not included discussions about any other parts of their respective businesses.

Both have pledged that the combined JV will invest in digital infrastructure, entertainment services and productivity for Dutch consumers.

“Together we will be a stronger competitor in the Netherlands, benefiting customers of both companies and the market as a whole,” said Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao in a statement. “This transaction marks a continuation of Vodafone’s market‐by‐market convergence strategy and we look forward to partnering with Liberty Global to create a fully integrated provider in one of our core European markets.”

Vodafone Group has confirmed it is in talks with John Malone’s Liberty Global concerning a joint venture in the Netherlands, one of the European cable giant’s strongholds.

The news of renewed talks come about five months after the pair ended discussions regarding an asset-swap – which most speculated involved their German businesses, one of Liberty’s biggest markets --  in late September. Liberty Global has made several recent moves to boost its Netherlands presence – it acquired the remaining interest it didn’t already own in Dutch cable company Ziggo last year and reaches about 90% of the homes in the country. A joint venture would make sense given that Liberty has been seeking to increase its mobile presence in Europe, offering a quad-play of video, voice, data and wireless primarily through Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreements.

Speculation in the European press has been high that Liberty Global and Vodafone had restarted talks, which prompted the Vodafone announcement.

“Following recent media speculation, Vodafone Group Plc ("Vodafone") confirms it is in discussions with Liberty Global Plc ("Liberty Global") regarding the creation of a joint venture in the Netherlands that would incorporate both companies’ local operating businesses,” the carrier said in a statement. “The discussions are ongoing and do not extend beyond the creation of a joint venture in the Netherlands. There is no certainty as to when or whether any transaction will be agreed.”

European wireless giant Vodafone said Monday that it has ended talks concerning a possible asset exchange with cable pioneer John Malone's Liberty Global.

The talks had been going on since June regarding unspecified assets. In a terse statement Monday Vodafone simply stated that those talks had been "terminated."

Liberty Global is  the largest cable operator in Europe and Vodafone has made deals to acquire cable assets in Germany and elsewhere. Liberty Global also has been aggressively rolling out a wireless product to round out its "quad play" offering, but has been mainly doing so through MVNO agreements with carriers.

Speculation has been heavy over the past several weeks that the two parties were at loggerheads over the valuation of their assets.

European media and telecom giants Vivendi and Vodafone have reportedly approached 21st Century Fox about buying its 39% stake in U.K. satellite company Sky, but backed off after Fox requested a hefty price.

According to several reports in the U.K. press, Vivendi chairman and largest shareholder Vincent Bollore held informal talks with the Murdoch family regarding the Sky stake, but backed off after the controlling shareholders asked for about $28 per share, a 73% premium to its trading price at the time. In addition, those same reports said Vodafone separately approached the Murdochs about Sky, but backed off.

News of the talks sent Sky stock up by about 5% in the past few days, but some analysts doubted that any deal is in the works.

“We believe the simplest explanation (again, if the press reports are accurate), is that Fox was approached, Fox didn't really want to sell, so they indicated a price that was so absurd that no reasonable person would pay it (and if someone was willing to pay it, well, at that price, maybe Fox would sell),” wrote Sanford Bernstein analyst Claudio Aspersi in a note to clients.

Vivendi has long been interested in the satellite company – it reportedly made a bid for Sky back in April but Vivendi later denied interest – and is flush with cash as it has divested several telecom assets to concentrate on its Canal Plus television business.

Vodafone too has been on the prowl for TV assets – it bought Germany’s largest cable operator Kabel Deutschland in 2013   – and could see a Sky purchase as another feather in its growing TV cap. Speculation has also been high that Vodafone and Liberty Global would do a deal – Vodafone confirmed in a terse statement earlier in the month that it was in talks with Liberty Global about certain assets, but was not discussing a takeover.

Other reports speculated that Fox may be trying to drum up interest with its shareholders to make another attempt to buy the remaining interest in Sky, but many believe government opposition to such a deal is still high. Former Fox parent News Corp. had tried to purchase the remaining 61% of Sky back in 2010 for $11.5 billion, but a phone hacking scandal with its U.K. newspapers and government reluctance to strengthen the Murdoch family’s stranglehold on U.K. media forced the company to withdraw the offer. Bernstein’s Aspersi doubted that the family would want to go through that again.

“If Fox is hoping to make another run at Sky in the near-term (in spite of the political opposition which likely remains high), we don't understand why they'd anchor the bid at such a high price,” Aspersi wrote.

U.K. wireless giant Vodafone confirmed that it is in talks with Liberty Global around a possible exchange of assets, but stressed those conversations do not involve a possible combination of the two companies.

In a terse statement Friday, Vodafone clarified what it said were certain press reports that the two were in talks.

"Vodafone confirms that it is in the early stages of discussions with Liberty Global regarding a possible exchange of selected assets between the two companies," the company said in a statement. "There is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed, nor is there certainty with respect to which assets will ultimately be involved. Vodafone is not in discussions with Liberty Global concerning a combination of the two companies."

Just what those assets could be is anyone's guess. Vodafone has substantial wireless assets in Europe, and Liberty Global has been trying to build a wireless business through a series of MVNO deals and acquisitions. Vodafone has also been an aggressive buyer of cable assets -- it outbid LGI for German cable operator Kabel Deutschland in 2013.

Liberty Global chairman John Malone has been hinting recently that a deal with Vodafone would be a good fit, particularly if it involved its Western European assets.

“We’ve looked at that from our side, and there would be very substantial synergies if we could find a way to work together or combine the companies with respect to Western Europe," Malone told U.K. paper The Guardian last month.

Vodafone will push ahead with its plans to rebrand Kabel Deutschland, the German MSO it acquired in the fall of 2013.

Vodafone will drop the KD name later this year, Jens Schulte-Bockum, CEO of Vodafone Deutschland, told German business newspaper Handelsblatt,according to Broadband TV News. Plans for the pending brand change emerged last summer.

“We are currently preparing the detailed plans for this move. The name Vodafone will in future also stand for competence in cable,” the Vodafone exec told the pub.

Among recent activities, Vodafone’s Germany cable subsidiary is working with Cisco Systems to develop a cloud-based video service that will be ready to go during the operator’s 2016/2017 fiscal year. More details are expected to be shared at the IFA conference this fall. 

KD is also a card-carrying member of the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software bundle for cable set-tops and broadband devices. KD was named an RDK licensee in February 2014.