* Google LLC and Facebook responded to the Russian government's allegations of interference due to circulating political advertising during regional elections held at the weekend, Reuters reports. The Alphabet Inc. unit said it supported responsible political advertising in compliance with Russian laws, while Facebook said the advertisers and not the company itself were responsible for complying with the election rules.
* Nordic Entertainment Group AB's streaming platform Viaplay AB will launch in Iceland during the first half of 2020. The subscription video-on-demand service will be available through direct subscriptions and via third-party partnerships.
* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.'s businesses in Poland and the Czech Republic have not been significantly impacted by uncertainties resulting from security concerns over the use of the company's equipment, Reuters reports, quoting Radoslaw Kedzia, Huawei's vice president of central Europe and the Nordics.
PAN-EUROPEAN
* Richard Allan is stepping down as Facebook Inc.'s vice president of policy solutions due to personal reasons, The Information reports, citing confirmation from the social media company.
* Investor George Soros is conducting discussions about a potential sale of his stake in British ultrafast broadband venture Hyperoptic Ltd., London's The Telegraph reports, citing sources. Hyperoptic is said to have tapped LionTree to supervise a possible partial or full sale of the business.
* Netflix Inc. has commissioned Lightbox Entertainment for the feature documentary "Tell Me Who I Am," TBI Vision reports. The original content will premiere at BFI London Film Festival and will launch on the streaming platform on Oct. 18.
* ITV PLC has commissioned three-part psychological thriller series "Too Close" from Snowed-In Productions, in association with Liberty Global PLC unit All3media International Ltd.
* AMP International is working on British revenge thriller "Don't Leave Me," which will be directed and produced by Hadi Hajaig, Deadline reports. The film has begun shooting this week in London.
* U.K.-based Phabrix Ltd. has completed nine months of HDR technology trials with British Telecom's BT Sport in preparation for the launch of BT Sport Ultimate, which will offer support for HDR, UHD and Dolby Atmos.
* The British Broadcasting Corp. is bringing about 10 million hours of archive clips available on a new archive site, bbc.co.uk/archive. The broadcasting company's archive site currently has over 1,700 published videos.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* Torsten Beeck, the former social media manager at German news magazine Spiegel, has joined Facebook's media partnerships team, Meedia reports, citing Beeck's updated Twitter bio.
* Swiss telecoms group Swisscom AG has announced Dominik Müller as the new CEO of Swisscom Broadcast AG. Müller takes over from Jean-Paul de Weck who is retiring after 12 years with Swisscom.
* Germany's federal government, or Bundesregierung, plans to increase pressure on internet companies with the help of expert advice, reports Reuters. Achim Wambach, a chairperson of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy said that additional rules were required to regulate internet companies from favoring their own products.
FRANCE
* Iliad's Free has filed a legal claim against Altice France SA for €216 million before the Paris Commercial Court over the acquisition of Virgin Mobile in 2014, Univers Freebox reports citing Letter A. Free alleges Numericable's illegal practices prevented it from acquiring Virgin Mobile. Altice Europe owns Altice France.
* Globecast partnered with Ad Insertion Platform in Europe to expand server-side dynamic ad insertion capabilities on its TV Everywhere OTT video platform. Financial details were not disclosed.
* Free added subscription video-on-demand service Action Max to its FreeBox bundle, Univers Freebox reports. The action film platform published by Mediawan SA offers unlimited access to a regularly rotating catalog of about 50 films.
NETHERLANDS,
* Global Telecom Holding SAE shareholders approved VEON Ltd. unit VEON Holdings BV's offer to acquire substantially all of the operating assets of Global Telecom Holding. VEON also confirmed that the second settlement payment of $82.3 million relating to outstanding tax liabilities of Global Telecom Holding and its Egyptian subsidiaries has now been paid to the Egyptian Tax Authority.
* Trade unions of Belgian provider Proximus have urged the telecom operator to immediately cut off all contact with current CEO Dominique Leroy, who announced last week she is switching to Dutch competitor KPN NV, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.
* Dutch media magnate John de Mol said he would ask a court to rule in the case he filed against Facebook earlier this year about fake bitcoin advertisements, reports Reuters. According to de Mol, it had become impossible to reach an agreement with Facebook over measures to stop fake ads.
* Belgian company EVS Broadcast Equipment SA has appointed Serge Van Herck as new CEO, effective immediately. Pierre De Muelenaere, chairman of the board of directors, who has been appointed CEO ad interim of the company since July 2018, will remain in his position until Dec. 31.
* KPN has rejected the criticism by the works council of its subsidiary XS4ALL Internet BV, which accused KPN of mismanagement and destruction of value at XS4ALL. According to KPN, the criticism is unfounded and "not in the interest of the companies, the customers and the employees."
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Tony Jebara, an executive from Netflix, has joined Spotify Technology SA as vice president of engineering for personalization, Fortune reports. Jebara will help improve Spotify's recommendations to users using artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies.
* Telenor is pulling out as owner of terrestrial TV distributor RiksTV, leaving TV2 and public broadcaster NRK as the only owners, according to Norwegian commercial public broadcaster TV2 . TV2 and NRK will own 50% each of RiksTV, which has about 250,000 customers.
* CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.'s Three Denmark said that it has launched a new mobile broadband solution, which will give users a stronger signal. The solution combines an outdoor antenna with an indoor router, which the company said can significantly amplify the 4G signal in the home.
* Nokia Corp. said that it has transferred more than 4.5 million of its own shares to participants in its employee share purchase plan of 2018, in relation to a recent board resolution. After the transfer, Nokia holds nearly 25.8 million shares.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* Facebook and its photo-sharing platform Instagram blocked the social media accounts of Italian neo-fascist groups Casapound and Forza Nuova, as well as some of their activists, for violating the platforms' hate speech policies, Reuters reports. Casapound leader Simone Di Stefano has denounced the decision.
* Spanish telecom giant Telefónica SA teamed up with European vehicle inspection company Dekra Auto and the Andalusia regional government to create an open innovation testing and certification center for 5G-based vehicle-to-everything technology, Telecompaper reports.
* Telefónica SA intends to offer voluntary redundancy for up to 20% of its staff in Spain, Reuters reports, citing a source. The offer will be given to employees aged over 53.
* Euskaltel SA's regional unit R Cable rolled out fiber broadband services with speeds of up to 500 Mbps in Tromino locality in Pontevedra province, Telecompaper reports.
EASTERN EUROPE
* Russian national operator Rostelecom PJSC paid 250 million Russian rubles for its acquisition of St. Petersburg-based company Telecommunications Service, which owns frequencies in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band that could be used for 5G services, Telecompaper reports, citing Cnews.ru.
* Mobile TeleSystems PJSC is teaming up with Enterprise Singapore, the Skolkovo funds and Sistema PJSFC unit Sistema Asia to support the implementation of products developed by Singapore-based startups in the Russian market, Telecompaper reports.
* Former HBO Europe executive Gabor Krigler created Joyrider Television, a Budapest-based production company that will focus on working with established writers across Europe, TBI Vision reports. The new company will also develop in-house content.
FEATURED NEWS
Data Dispatch EMEA: Roku's UK expansion pits it against country's TV gatekeepers: The connected TV software company is bringing its smart TVs to the U.K., where it will have to compete with several established players.
M&A Replay: EC clears Canal+ Group, M7 Group deal; Romania approves Telekom Romania stake sale: The European Commission cleared CANAL+ Group's acquisition of pay TV and free-to-air operator M7 Group SA, while the Romanian government approved Deutsche Telekom AG's planned sale of its stake in Telekom Romania Communications SA to Orange SA.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Global Multichannel: Spain's La Liga rights challenges at home and away: While the latest round of La Liga TV rights deals featured a legal spat between the league and Spanish football's governing body as well as a disappointing sales process, La Liga is sowing the seeds for global expansion.
Economics of Internet: State of German OTT video: Subscription: The streaming video market in Germany is on a strong growth trajectory, reaching 14.6 million subscriptions in 2018 and further strengthening its position behind the U.K. as the second-largest market by revenues in Europe.
Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.
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