In Shanghai, Taiwan, Tokyo and Berlin, Sharp Friday launched what it called an 8K Ecosystem dubbed “Horizon Broadened.” Calling it a “core strategy,” with the help of Foxconn, Sharp pushed 8K cameras, content editing, storing, and transferring and broadcasting. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou referred to 8K manufacturing when he announced the company’s $10 billion investment in a Kenosha, Wisconsin, plant in July (see 1707270018). Sharp also said it will participate in construction of a Foxconn global R&D center for future display technology in Shenzhen, China, where it will test 8K + 5G applications.

Ofcom gave additional advice to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport secretary of state on Fox's proposed buy of Sky, as that department required earlier this month (see 1708080041), the U.K. department said Friday. It said Ofcom would release its advice "in due course."

When the U.K. leaves the EU, new arrangements will be needed to govern the free flow of personal data between the two jurisdictions, said a paper from the British government's Department of Exiting the European Union Thursday. It said a new data exchange model "could build on the existing adequacy model, by providing sufficient stability for businesses, public authorities and individuals" and help regulators on both sides continue to cooperate and communicate. The department said regulatory cooperation between the two sides is important because the general data protection regulation, which will become effective in nine months (see 1708210030), will continue to apply to U.K. businesses and provide "greater ongoing certainty." The agency said the U.K., set to replace a 1998 data protection law, wants both sides to recognize each other's frameworks early on after the exit is complete and to ensure data flows with other countries "with existing EU adequacy decisions" can continue.

Mexico's Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones and Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica OK'd AT&T's buy of Time Warner, AT&T said in a news release Tuesday. It said the companies still expect the deal to close by year's end. AT&T said the deal requires antitrust approvals in 19 countries, and it has been OK'd in 16, with approvals pending in Brazil, Chile and the U.S. Public Knowledge said Tuesday the statement by Brazilian antitrust authority Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) that the deal might need to include asset sales "reinforces U.S. consumer concerns presented to the Department of Justice and should help convince them to reject the merger in the United States.” PK said it agreed with CADE that New AT&T would be able to drive up prices for video and broadband services and would have the capacity and incentive to discriminate against competitors and coordinate with other dominant providers to hurt competition. AT&T said CADE's superintendency referring the case to its board for review is a step toward conclusion, and the deal wouldn't have anti-competitive effects.

Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., backed Comsat's FCC bid to become "accounting authority of last resort" settling accounts between earth or coastal stations and ships engaged in international maritime mobile communications (see 1707130014). Posey told the commission he agreed with its decision to cease being the default accounting authority, but questioned the adequacy of transition plans and said he shared U.S. Coast Guard concerns. Relying "solely on an outreach effort to migrate all current users to a new accounting authority has many downsides," he wrote in a letter posted Tuesday in docket 98-96. He said the outreach would require "coordinated, overly complex and extremely labor intensive" efforts, "unnecessary expenditure" of government dollars, possibly delaying the commission's exit and disrupting "life-saving communications services" in some cases. Posey suggested the FCC simply designate Comsat as the replacement, the "obvious and less burdensome solution." Comsat is the only party to volunteer for the role even though there have been multiple opportunities for others, he said, noting “issues of maritime safety are of paramount concern” to his constituents, given his district’s “location and demographics.” The FCC is reviewing the letter, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is asking for input by Oct. 2 as it builds its 2017 notorious markets list. The list identifies “online and physical marketplaces that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting,” USTR said in Wednesday's Federal Register. The 2016 list identified counterfeit marketplaces including Taobao and The Pirate Bay (see 1612210068).

Inmarsat wasn't talking about Ligado during a 2015 consultation with U.K. spectrum regulator Ofcom, as aviation and aerospace interests incorrectly asserted in June filing (see 1706210030), but instead about concerns about professional wireless mics, Inmarsat said in a docket 11-109 filing posted Wednesday. It said it continues to support prompt FCC action on Ligado's license modification applications. The Inmarsat filing, along with comments by Metro Aviation (see 1707250065) show the aviation industry isn't in lockstep against its proposal, Ligado emailed. "Our proposal is the product of significant collaboration and compromise with many stakeholders, and we are confident the Commission will make a decision based on fact and the public’s interest."

The U.K. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) asked Ofcom for a new review of Fox's proposed buy of Sky. The DCMS said in an update Tuesday that the July announcement it was leaning toward referring Fox/Sky for further investigation (see 1707200001) prompted comments that raised new evidence or commented on Ofcom's assessment. DCMS said it set an Aug. 25 deadline for Ofcom to report on those new points. Fox didn't comment.

Technology-related trade barriers that prevent U.S. companies from selling products and services abroad should be a government focus, the Information Technology Industry Council responded (release here) to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative request for comments about trade agreement violations and abuses. Comments were sought after an April executive order. Data localization, cloud computing restrictions, regulations on online service providers and customs, copyright issues and surrender of source code, encryption keys and IP were among barriers U.S. companies face overseas, said ITI. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the 1996 Information Technology Agreement "an outstanding example of a trade agreement that lowers tariffs, benefits U.S. exporters and American workers, and promotes innovation" in the U.S. It said the ITA expansion agreed to by 53 World Trade Organization members in December 2015 "will multiply [ITA] benefits" when implemented by 2019, but more "vigorous enforcement" of all agreements is needed, "a goal that sometimes receives only lackluster support in practice."

Intel cleared the last regulatory hurdle in its bid to buy Mobileye, the autonomous-vehicle components supplier, when the Korea Fair Trade Commission approved the deal Monday, Intel said in a Tuesday announcement. Buying Mobileye will enable Intel to deliver “world-class end-to-end solutions” in autonomous driving “at a much lower cost, faster time to market and complete single solutions that our customers are asking for,” said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich in March when announcing the $15.3 billion cash acquisition (see 1703130015).