NEW YORK: PwC’s latest report on merger and acquisition activity in the American media business projects that “foreign buyers armed with cash, particularly from China,” will be increasingly active in the film and content sector this year.

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SANTA MONICA: SPACES, a new virtual reality company founded by two former DreamWorks Animation executives, has raised $3 million in initial funding, with Comcast Ventures leading the financing round.

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BALI: Shane Smith, co-founder and CEO of VICE Media, talked about the new VICELAND channel and reaching Millennial audiences at the APOS convention in Bali this morning.

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BALI: Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos weighed in on the ups and downs of the platform’s international expansion at a session at APOS in Bali today.

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Amid heightened security around the Palais, a reported 11,000 media executives from across the entertainment ecosystem convened in Cannes last week to network, screen, sell and buy.

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CANNES: The Channels Talk at MIPTV this morning, moderated by World Screen’s Anna Carugati, featured programmers from CBC, Telewizja Polska, Mediaset, TV2 Denmark and Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne talking about their drama needs.

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NEW YORK: Comedy Central has greenlit nine series for its Discover channel on Snapchat across a range of formats, including animation, sketch, stand-up, reality television and late night.

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NEW YORK: Sonar Entertainment has tapped David Ellender to fill the newly created position of president of global distribution and co-productions.

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OTT usage is picking up in Europe, particularly in the U.K. and France, but the penetration rate of subscription streaming services still lags well behind the U.S., according to new data from Parks Associates. The OTT Video Market Tracker found that just 30 percent of broadband homes in the U.K. and 17 percent in France pay for subscription OTT service. This compares with 64 percent of American broadband homes.

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DEFY Media's fourth-annual survey of the media habits of 13- to 24-year-olds has found that they spend 12.1 hours weekly watching video on social and free online sources, ahead of subscription streaming services at 8.8 hours and cable/satellite TV at 8.2 hours.

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