In Brief: TVN24's threat of removal; Softbank & GUS; Orfe & Cefarm

Poland's only 24-hour news channel, TVN24, is running the risk of being removed from several cable operators' packages, because its charge of zl.0.80 per connection is perceived as too high. The three cable operators threatening to reject a new deal with TVN24 are Aster City, Vectra and UPC Telewizja Kablowa, with 200.000, 400.000 and 1 million subscribers respectively. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 26) ... Software producer Softbank has signed a deal with the Central Statistical Office (GUS) for the modernization of its Wide Area Network (WAN). The price of the transaction is zl.2.8 million. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 37) ... Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek has decided that pharmaceuticals company Orfe may rejoin the negotiations on the purchase of Cefarm. Cefarm, owner of almost 60 pharmacies in Warsaw, registered a zl.5.6 million profit last year. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4) M.T.K.