Forbes reports: “Live Nation has at least temporarily avoided a legal tangle with the U.S. Department of Justice by agreeing to a five-year extension of a consent decree that prohibits Ticketmaster, owned by Live Nation, from threatening to withhold tours from venues that switch to competing ticketing companies, like AEG-owned AXS.”
The Verge reports: “And just like that, we’ve reached the final issue of the year — and also, somehow, the decade. As is tradition around here, let’s close out the year with some predictions from you about where platforms and democracy are headed in 2020 and beyond.”
gamesindustry.biz reports: “Today, a new Global Esports Federation has been announced with backing from Tencent and board members from multiple international esports companies and organizations.”
Billboard reports: “Cox Communications was found liable for the piracy infringement of more than 10,000 musical works by a U.S. District Court jury in Virginia on Thursday (Dec. 19), awarding $1 billion statutory damages to plaintiffs Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI.”
Hollywood Reporter reports: “France’s competition authority on Friday said it has fined Alphabet ’s Google €150 million ($167 million) for suspending advertisers that placed allegedly deceptive ads.”
Variety reports: “ViacomCBS has reached a deal to acquire a 49% stake in Miramax from Qatar-based owner BeIN Media Group for a total of $375 million. The deal calls for ViacomCBS to pay $150 million in cash up front, plus a commitment to invest $45 million a year for five years to fund new film and TV projects and working capital.”
The Verge reports: “Facebook has acquired the Spanish cloud gaming company PlayGiga, which previously offered its services across Italy, Argentina, Chile, and Spain. The purchase was confirmed by Facebook to CNBC, following reports last week from Cinco Dias which claimed that the deal was imminent and was valued at €70 million (around $78 million).”
Billboard reports: “Chinese tech companies including social media giant Tencent were ordered by regulators on Thursday to clean up how their apps handle user information or face possible penalties.”
Hollywood Reporter reports: “Xperi Corp. and TiVo Corp. said Thursday that they have entered a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock entertainment technology deal with an enterprise value of approximately $3 billion.”
TechCrunch reports: “Most in tech would agree that following the launch of Alexa and Google Home devices the ‘Voice Era’ is here. Voice assistant usage is at 3.3 billion right now; by 2020 half of all searches are expected to be done via voice. And with younger generations growing up on voice (55% of teens use voice search daily now), there’s no turning back.”
