TOP NEWS
* Poland's Law and Justice party, or PiS, considered buying news channel TVN24 from Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., Telecompaper reports, citing Newsweek Polska. However, the PiS chairman reportedly heard a "No" from Scripps Networks representatives when both sides met. Scripps Networks unit TVN SA said there are no plans to sell TVN24.
* The Guardian warned its employees of losses worth up to £90 million by April, as management expressed hopes of a turnaround in the next two years, London's The Daily Telegraph reports. The British newspaper is reportedly planning staff layoffs, office size reductions and scaling back overseas plans to cut costs.
UK AND IRELAND
* Chairman Mike McTighe of British Telecom's infrastructure unit Openreach admitted that the telco underinvested in broadband for several years, The Daily Telegraph reports. McTighe reportedly said he would push for more investments "in the ground" to boost internet connectivity across the U.K.
* Google Inc. blocked access to U.K.'s National Health Service after mistaking the amount of traffic received as a cyberattack, The Register reports. The organization, which has more than 1.2 million staff, has been advised to use a different search engine. Google is a unit of Alphabet Inc.
* Dido Harding will step down as TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC's CEO in May, after seven years in the role. Harding will be replaced by Tristia Harrison, managing director for TalkTalk's consumer segment, according to a Feb. 1 news release.
* Openreach appointed Brendan Barber and Edward Astle as members of a newly formed board that will take charge of the strategy, investment and service delivery of the infrastructure company, according to a news release. The new board will also have an independent majority, wherein the appointments have been discussed with Ofcom.
* Former Sky plc executive Matt Grest joined the British Broadcasting Corp. as its director of platform, taking responsibility for the access of Sky's channels via web and mobile, Advanced Television reports.
* The director of media engagement for BBC North Charlotte Lock has been appointed as the broadcasting company's marketing and audiences director for radio and education, Broadcast reports. Lock's new position is a combined role for the TV and radio marketing positions that were previously held by two separate directors.
* London Evening Standard Editor Sarah Sands joined BBC as the editor of Radio 4's agenda-setting "Today" program, London's The Guardian reports. Sands will replace Jamie Angus, who was appointed deputy director of the BBC World Service.
* All3Media Ltd.'s international arm appointed former BBC Worldwide Ltd. executive Amreet Kaur Chahal as the sales manager for its recently opened Singapore office, TBIVision reports. Chahal will be in charge of sales of formats and finished programming across Southeast Asia and India.
* Sky Sports teamed up with the England and Wales Cricket board for the live broadcast of women's domestic cricket in the U.K. beginning in August, Advanced Television reports.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Germany's Zulassung und Aufsicht der Medienanstalten found programming and advertising violations across three German TV channels, reports DWDL. Channels Sport1 GmbH and Anxie SD have violated advertising rules, while German commercial broadcaster Sat.1's program "Akte" was mentioned to demonstrate content violations.
* Zattoo Europa, the Internet TV provider with offices in Switzerland, has rolled out a Restart function in Germany to allow its users to view current TV shows from the start, according to German news site Inside Handy. Zattoo subscribers will be able to enjoy the feature among 50 channels.
* German media company Ringier Axel Springer Media AG published youth magazine Noizz in Germany, following the rollout in Serbia, Poland and Slowakia, reports Der Standard. The magazine is aimed at younger readers and connects urban with digital content.
FRANCE
* Orange SA CEO Stéphane Richard stated that 80% of the population of French Guiana will be covered by 4G by the end of the year, L'Express reports. Orange will invest €35 million to deploy 1,900 km of fiber optic submarine cable to be in operation by late 2018 to serve French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
* French publications Le Figaro, Elle, Paris Match, La Voix du Nord and Télé 7 Jours are joining the SFR Presse app, Le Figaro reports. Marc Feuillé, CEO of the Figaro group, said that the objective is to test this new distribution channel to see if it generates new user patterns.
* Vivendi SA appointed Marie-Annick Darmaillac as vice president of corporate social responsibility and will report to Frédéric Crépin, member of the management board and general counsel of the Vivendi group, according to a news release.
* Agnès Rosoor joined TF1 Group as general manager of Téléshopping and president of Top Shopping, where she will be in charge of telesales and e-commerce, according to a news release. She reports to Régis Ravanas, executive vice president of advertising and diversification.
NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG
* The number of customers with a TV subscription from provider KPN NV increased by 4,000 in the last quarter of 2016, reports TotaalTV. The increase of customers is small compared to other periods. However, KPN has seen an increase of customers who combine fixed and mobile services, De Telegraaf writes, quoting KPN's CFO Jan Kees de Jager.
* Fiber-optic provider Eurofiber will enter into a partnership with Holland FinTech, a company working on digitisation in the financial sector, according to Telecompaper. Eurofiber will act as a technology partner for Holland FinTech, which serves as an independent platform for sharing financial technology expertise.
* Phillip Vandervoort will leave his position as chief consumer business officer at Belgian provider Proximus at the end of February, writes Knack.
* Cloud and IT service provider Internedservices will be continuing its operations under the name KPN Internedservices, after KPN's acquisition, reports Telecompaper.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Swedish biometrics company Fingerprint Cards said it has acquired U.S. company Delta ID for $106 million. Delta ID has developed an iris scan system for use in mobile phones, laptops and vehicles.
* Telia Co. AB said it has acquired Swedish tech company Fält Communications, a market leader in the Nordics for mobile platforms on buses and speed cameras. Fältcom has 40 employees and preliminary revenues of 83 million Swedish kronor in 2016.
* Nokia Corp. said that its content delivery network Velocix has been deployed by entertainment group Sky in the U.K. The CDN will help enhance Sky's video and data services by caching content closer to customers in localized cloud data centers, Nokia said.
* Finnish telco Elisa Corp. said that it deployed 700 MHz 4G network commercially in base stations in Finland, and said that the move is the first step towards future 5G services.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* Swisscom AG-owned Fastweb SpA filed an appeal with the Court of Justice of the European Union, seeking to invalidate the merger of VimpelCom and CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.'s Italian units, Telecompaper reports, citing Il Sole 24 Ore and Cor.com. Fastweb reportedly cites the absence of a fully transparent market test by the European Commission to check whether the offered concession will be able to compete on the Italian market.
* IBM Italia CEO Enrico Cereda will succeed Nicola Ciniero as president, Telecompaper reports. Ciniero previously served as CEO of the IBM Corp. unit from May 2009 to December 2015.
* European managed services provider Claranet will launch operations in Italy, Telecompaper reports. Fabrice Tetu, the former CEO of Claranet-acquired French company Diademys, will head the Italian unit, which will be based in Milan.
* Vodafone Group Plc unit Vodafone España SAU will outsource the maintenance of its fixed and mobile networks to Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., along with a portion of its converged network, Telecompaper reports. If approved by the works council, the deal will commence from March 22, and will see about 230 Vodafone employees transferred to Huawei.
* Deutsche Telekom AG-controlled Cosmote SA raised its investment for new generation networks by €200 million, bringing the total amount to €1.5 billion, Reuters reports. The investment covers 2017 until 2020, and will be spent on optical fiber installations to improve fixed and mobile services.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Mobile TeleSystems PJSC hiked the per-share price range for its previously announced share buyback program to 270-290 Russian rubles from 253-283 rubles, Telecompaper reports. The Russian mobile operator intends to buy back 9.3 billion rubles of shares under the program.
* Hrvatski Telekom is planning to slash 100 full-time jobs from various departments as part of cost-cutting measures, Telecompaper reports, citing Novi List. Affected employees at the Deutsche Telekom unit reportedly have the right to severance pay.
* Si.mobil secured approval from the Slovenia government to change its name to A1 Slovenija, Telecompaper reports, citing STA. The mobile operator, owned by América Móvil SAB de CV's Telekom Austria Group, first revealed the name change in November 2016.
* Svyatoslav Gorban stepped down as chief marketing officer of Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar, Telecompaper reports, citing BizLigaNet. Pricing department head Pavel Daniman will take over Gorban's duties on an acting capacity.
FEATURED NEWS
Scripps unit TVN scores deal for Warner Bros. content: In this monthly Eastern Europe Video Spotlight feature, S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a roundup of news related to over-the-top, video-on-demand and other online video initiatives in different Eastern European markets.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Economics of Internet: Broadcast network OTT video catalogs expand in 2016: CBS may still be the only major U.S. broadcast network with a direct-to-consumer OTT subscription offering but 2016 saw ABC, The CW, FOX, and NBC substantially expand their ad-supported OTT catalogs at their primary owned and operated sites.
Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription.