The satellite TV distribution business suffers from continuous price pressures and a seemingly irreversible and continuous erosion of revenue, blogged Northern Sky Research analyst Carlos Placido. Video distribution and direct-to-home video are a sizable business but "no longer look as the future bread-and-butter business of satellite operators," he said Tuesday.

The Sonos Radio HD streaming service expanded to Austria, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands, the company said Tuesday.

The U.S. and EU should stop squabbling over tech issues or risk having China or another authoritarian government step into the gap, speakers told a Tuesday Information Technology and Innovation Foundation webinar. High on President Joe Biden's agenda for the summit in Brussels next week is discussion of the relationship, including whether the EU should stop attacking America's tech sector and Biden should refrain from giving away too much to make amends to Europe for the previous administration's attitude, said ITI President Robert Atkinson. He accused Europe of deploying a range of tools to hobble U.S. tech giants, such as the Digital Services Act and limits on cross-border data flows, and urged Biden to aggressively defend America while seeking stronger trans-Atlantic ties. The EU and U.S. are at an uneven point, said Atlantic Council Distinguished Fellow Frances Burwell: Europe is active on these issues while it's unclear where Biden or Congress wants to go. The U.S. must pick its battles with the EU and be clear about what it wants, Burwell said. The summit is a great opportunity to reset the EU-U.S. relationship, said President Paul Hofheinz of think tank The Lisbon Council. There are two different forms of government in the world -- democracies and one-party states -- and no one is thinking hard enough about how to regulate the neutral technology that sits between them, he said. The discussion should focus on China, said Center for European Policy Analysis President Alina Polyakova. This year will be important for seeing where and who sets normalization rules for technology, she said. Creating a level playing field for European companies is a top priority for the EU, but that will come from stimulating innovation, not regulation, she said. The "big gorilla in the room" is the Digital Markets Act, which attacks U.S. companies, she said. She urged the EU to rethink its digital agenda, including Privacy Shield and the DMA, and both sides to cooperate more. They potentially can meet in some areas, such as on facial recognition technology and the need for a U.S. federal privacy law, said Hofheinz: "We need to talk to each other humbly, respectfully and honestly." One problem with the U.S. approach is that no official "owns" this issue, which is spread across various agencies, said Polyakova. On the other hand, Europe is more thoughtful, strategic and sophisticated about policy, said Atkinson.

Google will pay 220 million euros ($268 million) and change how its advertising services work, under a settlement with the French Competition Authority, said the agency Monday. This arose from complaints from News Corp., Le Figaro1 group and Rossel La Voix group about Google's DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) ad service and AdX listing platform. The authority said Google abused its dominant market position by giving preferential treatment to proprietary technologies offered under the Ad Manager brand with regard to the operation of the DFP ad server -- which allows publishers of websites and mobile applications to sell advertising space -- and sell-side platform (SSP) AdX, which organizes auctions by which publishers sell ads. Google penalized its rivals on the SSP market and publishers hard-hit by falling newspaper subscriptions and drop in associated revenue, the FCA said. The decision is the first in the world "to look into complex algorithmic auctions processes through which online display advertising works," said FCA President Isabelle de Silva. Google didn't dispute the facts and offered commitments the authority accepted, including giving publishers better access to data on ad space auctions and making Ad Manager more flexible by letting publishers mix and match technology platforms, blogged Google France Legal Director Maria Gomri. Modifications will be tested in coming months before being rolled out more broadly, including globally, she said.

China is “firmly opposed” to the executive order President Joe Biden signed Thursday, bolstering prohibitions on U.S. investments in China’s military-industrial complex, said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday. “The U.S. government uses the catch-all concept of national security and abuses state power to suppress and restrict Chinese enterprises in all possible means,” he said. Presidential EOs have “harmed not only the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, but also the interests of global investors, including U.S. investors,” said the spokesperson. The White House didn’t comment. Biden’s EO prohibits U.S. “persons” from trading in the securities of 59 Chinese entities, effective Aug. 2 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

An EU-U.S. trade and technology council could help Europeans learn from the U.S. about issues like 5G network deployment, said Thibaut Kleiner, European Commission policy strategy and international affairs director. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Wednesday she hopes to announce such a council in mid-June, when President Joe Biden visits Brussels. The council could be a “good tool for delivery,” not just be a “talk shop,” Kleiner said during a German Marshall Fund livestream Thursday. The two sides will likely prioritize existential issues like climate change over marketplace issues, said ex-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, now a Brookings Institution visiting fellow.

Rural Wireless Association officials asked FCC Wireline Bureau staff whether a program to pay for replacement of Chinese equipment in carrier networks includes replacing handsets that aren’t voice over LTE capable and can utilize only 3G technology, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-89.

Daimler will license Nokia's mobile communications patents for an unspecified payment, said the companies Tuesday. They agreed to settle all pending patent litigation between them, including Daimler’s complaint against Nokia before the European Commission. Agreement terms weren't disclosed.

Some Amazon and Microsoft contracts with EU institutions are under investigation for compliance with privacy law, the European Data Protection Supervisor said. It's considering whether the use of cloud services provided by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft under contract to EU agencies, and the European Commission's use of Microsoft Office 365, meet general data protection regulation requirements. The probes are intended to ensure that EU institutions comply with the European Court of Justice decision in Schrems II. In October, the watchdog ordered EU bodies to report on their data transfers to non-EU countries; findings confirmed that institutions increasingly rely on cloud-based software and infrastructure or platform services from large providers, some of which are in the U.S. and subject to law deemed to allow disproportionate surveillance activities by authorities. The EDPS acknowledged that some cloud contracts were signed before the judgment, and that Amazon and Microsoft implemented new systems to align themselves with it. Nevertheless, it said, “these announced measures may not be sufficient to ensure full compliance with EU data protection law and hence the need to investigate this properly.” The goal of the investigation into the use of Microsoft Office 365 is to verify compliance with prior EDPS recommendations on the use of the company's products and services. Microsoft told us it will “actively support the EU institutions to answer questions raised” by the EDPS and is “confident to address any concerns swiftly.” Amazon didn't comment.

Europe must up its game against fake news, European Commission officials said Wednesday. The EC published guidance on how to improve the 2018 code of practice. Recommendations address shortcomings identified in a 2020 review and lessons from COVID-19 disinformation monitoring. The EC wants the code reinforced by: (1) More participation by a wider range of relevant players, such as emerging platforms and the online advertising sector. (2) Demonetization of disinformation. (3) More comprehensive coverage of current and emerging forms of manipulative behavior. (4) Enabling users to better understand and flag disinformation. (5) More fact-checking and better access to data for researchers. (6) Better monitoring of results of the industry actions. The EC urged signers to develop a transparency center. Participants have until fall to come up with a revised draft code. It's needed to make online platforms and others address “the systemic risks of their services and algorithmic amplification,” stop policing themselves alone and prevent money being made on disinformation, while preserving free speech, said Values and Transparency Vice President Vera Jourova. Google and Facebook said they're assessing the guidance and are committed to making the code a success. It “became a true asset in the fight against COVID-19 disinformation and created strong cooperation between regulators and platforms,” Facebook said. “Regionally consistent co-regulatory standards are a crucial element in maintaining an open Internet, ensuring that platforms of all sizes can operate around agreed norms,” emailed Twitter Vice President-Public Policy Sinead McSweeney. “We need platform regulation by legislation and oversight,” not voluntary codes of practice, said European Parliament Member Patrick Breyer, of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and Germany. He's preparing the report by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee on the EC-proposed Digital Services Act (see 2012150022).