About

Providing outstanding legal support for the international broadcaster Fox Networks Group in its European and African regions, Daniela Guarnaccia, vice president and deputy general counsel, and a team made up of five lawyers and one non-lawyer, is responsible for what Guarnaccia describes as support that is ‘innovative and generous with a creative approach’. Amidst a business environment where the local senior management has undergone recent changes, the legal team has been instrumental in the ‘smooth and speedy transition’ of new key senior business leaders, having held training sessions and assisting them in getting up to speed with the way the business operates. In addition to this contribution, the team has been at the centre of notable deals and results for the company, having settled civil and criminal cases including a trademark infringement case and securing multi-year programming deals with two major studios. A true team of specialists, Guarnaccia emphasises the fact that ‘each member of the legal team is a specialist in certain areas’, which, in addition to forcing them to have ‘regular contacts with the CEO and senior management’ is a testament to the strength in depth the team has. Their specialism and reputation as experts is further endorsed by their participation in industry defining events, the team acted as leaders in the Branded Content technical and investigative table at the local Authority (AGCOM), which resulted in the shared definition of self-regulatory code and guidelines on product placement and branded content agreed between all major broadcasters in the market and saw approval by AGCOM. A key part of Fox’s planning and execution of strategy in the region, the Italian legal department is known to have influenced a process whereby different internal teams meet twice a year to agree on the rights roadmap surrounding programming. Guarnaccia calls this ‘essential to ensure distribution of the channels through key platforms in the territory, this has now been rolled out as a regional process in EU and Africa’ showing the quality and applicability of the team’s work.