Hollywall Entertainment bought online video distributor OpenVision Networks, it said in a news release Thursday. Financial terms of the cash and stock acquisition weren't disclosed. Hollywall said OpenVision will operate as HollyVision, with founders Sherman Davis and Leroy Gordon managing it and reporting to Hollywall CEO Darnell Sutton. By acquiring OpenVision, “Hollywall will now offer news and entertainment seekers a one-stop venue with the greatest ease of access to a world of outstanding content, either free or at competitive rates, from television, movies, radio and video games," Sutton said in the release. As "the first virtual, mainstream international cable network," HollyVision will provide 24-hour free basic service available online, while its Key Lime Pie set-top box will allow for viewing of its content on TVs, the release said.

Sony will pay about $212 million to buy Israeli-based chip maker Altair Semiconductor to boost its presence in the LTE components market, Sony said in a Tuesday announcement. Altair, which has a work force of about 220 and subsidiaries in the U.S., China and Taiwan, owns LTE modem chip technology and related software, Sony said. Altair’s modem chips “stand out for their low power consumption, high performance and competitive cost,” it said. LTE is expected to play “a pivotal role” in IoT interconnections, it said. Through the acquisition, Sony’s goal is to expand Altair's existing business, but also to move forward with R&D on new IoT “sensing technologies” and develop “a new breed of cellular-connected, sensing component devices,” it said. “With the markets for wearable and IoT devices expected to continue to expand, Sony aims to deliver component devices that feature both sensing and communication capabilities, as well as new LTE solutions that leverage the strengths of these component devices.”

Spotify bought Cord Project and Soundwave to "further boost [its] existing strengths in developing engaging and innovative music experiences," Spotify said in a news release Wednesday. Both businesses will join Spotify's product development team, said Spotify, which didn't disclose the purchase price of either deal.

The Office Depot and Staples boards voted to waive their merger agreement termination date of Feb. 4 and extend it to May 16, the companies said. The extension is to allow for the completion of ongoing federal district court litigation with the FTC (see 1512210025), they said Wednesday. The FTC filed a complaint last month charging that Staples' $6.3 billion buy of Office Depot violates antitrust laws. The combination would create a firm with a dominant share of the business-to-business office supplies market and would "significantly increase market concentration," with Staples, post-deal, controlling more than 70 percent of the market, said the complaint. The next-largest competitor would own less than 5 percent of the market, said the complaint, which cited Amazon Business and W.B. Mason as companies that would be negatively affected. Office Depot and Staples said they're also working to extend financing terms of the deal and expect to execute the extension agreement when terms are finalized. Staples and Office Depot signed a definitive merger agreement in February.

Broadband customer churn data from when Netflix was being throttled in 2014 shows Charter Communications after buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable "will be able to have its cake and eat it too: hurt competitors of its video business without hurting its broadband business," Dish Network said in its latest salvo of opposition to the proposed set of deals. In a filing Wednesday in docket 15-149, Dish -- which has staunchly opposed FCC approval of the deals -- submitted a heavily redacted Charter, BHN and TWC churn rate analysis by William Zarakas of economics consulting firm Brattle Group to argue the companies didn't suffer worse churn rates due to past throttling. "Even if we assume that most broadband customers understand the reason for a poor broadband experience -- a very large assumption -- switching is most often impossible because there is no reasonable broadband alternative in the marketplace," Dish said. It also repeated arguments it made in the past that post-merger Charter would have plenty of opportunity and motive to form a de facto duopoly with Comcast -- especially since major Charter shareholder John Malone "has been described as 'keen to see the industry consolidate, noting that cooperation would complement mergers.'" In a statement, Charter said, given Dish's "past history of manipulating government regulations to improve its business, it is not surprising [it] is opposing Charter’s pending transactions. Dish’s claims are without merit. The information on which Dish relies, as well as documents filed with the FCC that Dish ignores, demonstrates Charter’s recognition that [online video distributors, or] OVDs[,] are a complement to its growing broadband business. There is no better partner for OVDs than Charter; we provide fast broadband speeds at a better value, with no data caps, no usage based billing, no modem fees, and no annual contracts.” Charter also pointed to comments Tuesday by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings during the company's Q4 2015 earnings call (see 1601190069) in which he said Charter/TWC/BHN "would be a tremendous positive for the [over-the-top] industry because Charter has agreed to a multi-year strong net neutrality policy, something no one else has publicly agreed to. That means that we, Hulu, Amazon and others can compete on an open basis." Charter increasingly is responding to critics. In a blog post Tuesday, Charter said red flags raised by Incompas (see 1512070025) were "incorrect and illogical." The trade group "makes the classic merger analysis mistake of confusing harm to New Charter’s competitors with harm to competition," Charter said. "Aren’t lower prices good for consumers and competition? [Under Incompas' logic] mergers would be good if they result in higher prices because that would encourage investment by new entrants. That kind of spin does not pass the laugh test." Charter also said since TWC already buys programming for BHN, adding Charter to the buying group means an extra 4 million subscribers, or about 4 percent of the nation's multichannel video programming distributor marketplace -- "not an overwhelming increase by any measure," and smaller than Comcast or AT&T.

Ericsson plans to acquire entertainment metadata and content supplier FYI Television, Ericsson said in a news release Monday. The deal is meant to boost Ericsson's content discovery capabilities and is expected to close in Q1, said the release.

Garmin completed its buy of PulsedLight, a privately held optical distance measurement technology. PulsedLight’s sensor boards complement Garmin’s core competencies of location and positioning, said Garmin CEO Cliff Pemble. Garmin will retain the PulsedLight office and its design associates based in Bend, Oregon, it said. Garmin brings to PulsedLight the resources and manufacturing expertise to integrate its technology into new devices that serve multiple markets, PulsedLight President Dennis Corey said.

Harman said it’s buying auto cybersecurity firm TowerSec. Harman will integrate TowerSec’s technology into its security framework, which will “ensure that we remain one step ahead to protect existing and future connected systems,” said Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal in a Tuesday news release. “While we have been partnering with HARMAN as a supplier, now we will leverage the Company’s scale, network and deep connected car domain experience to meet the demands of our target markets, including providers of gateways,” said TowerSec CEO Saar Dickman.

Set-top box company Arris finished its $2.1 billion takeover of Pace, it said in a news release Monday. Arris said last fall it expected to close on Pace in early 2016 (see 1510190008), and the Justice Department closed its review last month without imposing any conditions (see 1512020017). Arris said its operational and worldwide headquarters would remain in Suwanee, Georgia.

The FTC rejected “without making a counteroffer” Staples’ proposal to divest up to $1.25 billion worth of "commercial contracts" to win agency approval of its deal to buy Office Depot, Staples said in a Monday statement. Staples “is still willing to continue negotiations with the FTC to reach a settlement that addresses FTC concerns,” the chain said. But Staples also will pursue the Office Depot buy through litigation and “is confident in its legal position and looks forward to a full and impartial judicial review of the matter,” it said. FTC representatives didn't comment. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in the District of Columbia granted in a Dec. 8 order the FTC’s motion for a temporary restraining order barring the merger.