17-21 Feb: Your guide to what’s happened this week in the media, entertainment and technology industry.

EU rolls out plans to develop new restrictions big tech firms

On Wednesday, the EU announced its plans to draft legislation to impose tougher limits on major tech firms.

The New York Times reported that the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission outlined a blueprint to both rein in foreign tech firms and nurture homegrown tech giants. 

The EU is targeting developers of AI in sensitive fields like health, transportation, and policing could be subjected to new legal requirements, and considering holding tech platforms responsible for harmful content users post. 

New York drops fight against T-Mobile-Sprint merger

The state of New York dropped its lawsuit against Telco companies T-Mobile and Sprint on Sunday, Reuters reported. 

New York decided not to appeal the fight against the $40 billion merger of the US wireless carriers after the deal was approved by a federal judge in recent weeks.

The merger, which was announced almost two years ago, is set to complete in the coming months.

Chinese tutors host ‘live online e-learning broadcasts’ as Coronavirus threat continues

Professors and tutors in China have been provided with online teaching technology to help deliver online teaching to students at home during the Coronavirus outbreak, Bloomberg has reported. 

Tutors are live broadcasting classes with the use of a writing pad, webcam and laser pointer with remote control. The technology involved enabling tutors to deliver the from-home class broadcasts include: 

  • A computer for lectures set up in video conference mode.
  • A tablet computer
  • High-performance WiFi router or 4G CPE routers are designed to cope with home fiber disconnection
  • A mobile phone used to access the live broadcast platform in case the video conferencing solution collapses.

Ofcom to repay UK Mobile Operators for overcharging

Ofcom has lost its appeal against last year’s ruling by the UK High Court of Justice, which ordered the regulator to repay £218m to mobile operators, The Register reported.

The repayment order was part of restitution for their handling of a licence fee hike to the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum bands, starting a long-running legal battle since 2010. 

Vodafone has pledged to invest the returned fee into improving its national network.

In numbers

£2.3 billion

The value by which the UK entertainment sector is expected to be boosted by thanks to 5G by 2030, according to O2.

$3.11 billion

The revenue AI and graphics chipmaker Nvidia reported its 2020 Q4 financials today announced for the quarter, a jump of 41% from the year-ago quarter. The company’s gross margin improved remarkably year-over-year, moving from 54.7% to 64.9%. 

10 million

The number of new active accounts Roku added during 2019. People streamed 11.7 billion hours of programming via the Roku platform during the final three months of 2019.

$7.34 billion

The estimated revenue ViacomCBS is expected by Wall Street to report in its earnings this Thursday. The earnings report marks the first for ViacomCBS since its merger.

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