Weekly news round-up: Fox’s ongoing battle for Sky & iPlayer records 20m views for World Cup

The ongoing battle for Sky 
The ongoing battle for Sky continues, with NBC Universal owner Comcast bidding £14.75 a share of Sky on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times. It is a bigger offer than that from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, which earlier that day made an increased offer of £14 per share, reported the BBC. The bidding war has pushed Sky’s share price to £15.45, valuing the company at £26.7 billion, according to the FT.

BBC records 20m viewers for World Cup
The England versus Sweden World Cup match on 7 July saw the BBC peak audience reach 20 million viewers, despite warnings viewers may suffer delays in their feed. According to Rapid TV News, the BBC Sport website recorded 3.9 million people watch the quarter-final live, while 19.9 million viewers watched the broadcast on linear TV. The figures are slightly down on the ITV coverage for the previous game against Colombia at 24.4 million.

Ericsson rebrands as MediaKind 
Ericsson’s Media Soltuions business has rebranded to embody the concept that media should ”inspire and unite humankind”. Ericsson announced the news at an event in London on Tuesday and plans to drive the next-generation live and on-demand mobile and multi-screen experiences. 

Facebook fined for data scandal
Following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, the information commissioner announced Facebook has been fined £500,000 for lack of transparency and failing to protect users’ information, according to The Guardian. Facebook was found to breach on two accounts the Data Protection Act. The investigation also found that Aggregate IQ, a Canadian electoral services company, had “significant links” to Cambridge Analytica and “may still retain” data about UK voters.  

Netflix introduces smart downloads 
In a bid to improve the user experience and makeit easier to view content, Netflix has launched the ‘smart download’ feature that will automatically download a new episode and delete it once it’s been viewed to download the next available episode. According to Advanced Television Netflix wants to give customers control over their entertainment experiences without fear of impacting storage or using data as it only activates when connected to wifi.  

AT&T invests in Magic Leap but demonstration disappoints
AT&T has taken a strategic investment in augmented reality (AR) company Magic Leap and confirmed it will be the exclusive distributor of the first Magic Leap product which has been described as a “lightweight, wearable computer that will enrich real world experiences with digital content” reported Tech Crunch. However, the first demonstration of the futuristic headset that projects holograms onto the real world has been dubbed a disappointment from observers who say the hype did not match the display, according to the Telegraph. It reported that the one-minute demonstration - the first public showcase - eft viewers questioning the years of research and investment.