Weekly news round-up: First 6K 360-degree live video delivered & Softbank drops Huawei

6K 360 live video successfully delivered
The world’s first 6K tiled 360-degree live sports stream was of a high-profile basketball game in the German Bundesliga. According to Broadcast, the rapid evolution of 360-degree technology has the potential to push boundaries, either with a VR headset or using a tile-based stream, on a tablet. Tiled streams use technology developed by Tiledmedia. 

Softbank replaces Huawei as espionage fears rise
Japanese telecoms giant Softbank is to remove Huawei equipment from its network, replacing it with 4G technology from the Chinese company’s rivals including Nokia and Ericsson. The decision comes, according to the Telegraph, amid mounting security concerns surrounding the Chinese firm. 

EU concerns over Vodafone’s takeover of Liberty Global
The European Commission has raised concerns about Vodafone’s proposed €18.4 billion acquisition of Liberty Global’s German, Czech, Hungarian and Romanian subsidiaries. Broadband TV news reported the concerns that the deal would eliminate competition between merging companies in the fixed-line and TV market, leading to cost rises for consumers. The Commission has until May 2019 to reach a decision. 

Orange announces 5G & new smart speaker plans
Orange has announced plans to install 5G in 17 European cities - including France, Spain, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Romania - in 2019, ahead of its commercial release in 2020. The company also unveiled plans to launch a new smart speaker called Djingo, which will be developed with Deutsche Telekom, TVBEurope reported.

Australia passes a law to police Facebook and Google
In a preliminary report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACC) has urged scrutiny of the market power from Facebook and Google and recommended a regulatory framework more typically applied to media firms. The probe into the firms’ influence comes a year after initial media reforms pushing for greater transparency to tackle the spread of fake news and bias promotions, reported Reuters.

European golf tour goes digital
Discovery and the European Tour have announced a new partnership that will see GOLFTV continue to expand its portfolio and move towards becoming the established ‘digital home of golf’ for fans around the world. According to Advanced Television, the partnership will bring coverage of the European Tour and Ryder Cup together under GOLFTV, the global live and on-demand video streaming service launching in January 2019.

Amazon video predicted to make $1.7bn
Analysts have estimated that Amazon’s Prime Video offerings, which allow customers to subscribe to third-party streaming services like Starz and CBS All Access, will generate an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue this year. The service is only three years old and currently available in the UK, US, Germany and Japan and is predicted to grow to $2.5 billion by 2020 according to the Hollywood Reporter. 

Canada grants bail to Huawei CFO
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou was granted bail on Tuesday, 10 days after her arrest in Vancouver at the request of US authorities. Wanzhou’s arrest over national security concerns has since sparked a diplomatic dispute, Reuters reported.