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Comcast is using London's Tulchan Communications to handle its $31B bid to acquire British TV broadcaster Sky, a bid 16 percent sweeter than Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox's offer for the 61 percent Sky stake that it doesn't own.
Calling Sky "an outstanding company," Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts said the Philadelphia-based parent of NBCUniversal plans to use it as a "platform for growth in Europe."
The satellite TV company has 23M customers, mainly in the UK, Italy and Germany. "Sky has been a consistent innovator in its use of technology to deliver a fantastic viewing experience and has a proud record of investment in news and programming," said Roberts in a statement. "It has great people and a very strong and capable management team."
Comcast will retain Sky's London headquarters. The deal would boost Comcast's international revenues from nine to 25 percent.
Tulchan's founder Andrew Grant and partners Tom Murray, James Macey-White and Graeme Wilson work Comcast's Sky bid.
Brunswick Group's London office (Jonathan Glass and Andrew Porter) and New York outpost (Justin Dini and Laurie Hays) handle investor outreach for 21st Century Fox.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
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USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
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