Telecoms Rise Amid Deal Intrigue -- Telecoms Roundup

Shares of telecommunications companies rose amid deal intrigue.

Cable broadcaster Discovery Communications is in talks to combine with rival Scripps Networks Interactive, which produces HGTV and other television channels, as the companies seek greater scale to compete with digital newcomers.

Univision Communications, the owner of the dominant Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S., has been fielding interest from potential bidders after the media company's initial public offering was delayed, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson could be contending with company-specific issues that are hurting growth, according to one brokerage. "Ericsson's networks sales were down 9% year-over-year in both the first and second quarter versus Nokia's Mobile Networks down 1% year-over-year in the first quarter," according to Credit Suisse analysts. "Based on our capex analysis at leading telcos, we actually see signs of low-single-digit decline (U.S. picking up, EU declines moderating, Japan and Korea starting to grow, Brazil/Russia stabilizing after weak 2016, with China being the major region where LTE declines are accelerating)."

-By Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2017 17:56 ET (21:56 GMT)