Premier League TV rights packages booted into long grass amid “cut-price” concerns March 7, 2018 The Premier League has booted a decision on unsold TV rights packages into next month, as it faces being forced to accept a “cut-price deal” for the remaining 40 games. Sky and BT Sport snapped up five of seven packages on offer for a total of £4.5bn in mid-February. But the remaining two sets of [...]
Access Denied: The fight against cyber criminals March 5, 2018 Cyber-attacks defy borders and jurisdictions and are recognised as a Tier One threat to national security by the UK government. As the world becomes more connected, the attacks are becoming stronger, more frequent and more sophisticated. Nearly half of UK businesses identified at least one cyber security attack in 2016, according to UK government data, [...]
FTSE 100 closes lower as the pound sterling (GBP) rises and company results disappoint February 23, 2018 The UK’s blue-chip index closed slightly lower today as investors picked apart a string of companies’ full-year results. There were a couple of reasons for the FTSE’s decline today though, according to Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at Spreadex. “Primary among them was the fact sterling found itself 0.2 per cent higher against the dollar [...]
BT share price rises as regulators raise wholesale price caps February 23, 2018 BT investors were buoyed this morning by a regulatory announcement on the price it can charge its rivals to use its network. With shares rising almost four per cent, BT was one of the FTSE 100’s biggest gainers. Ofcom said it would not regulate the prices charged by infrastructure arm Openreach on its fastest broadband [...]
Manchester United’s new YouTube channel highlights platform’s influence on football February 22, 2018 Such was the hype surrounding big tech’s supposed interest in acquiring live Premier League broadcast rights that YouTube’s name was inevitably thrown into the mix alongside Sky and BT as a potential bidder in the current auction. Yet Google’s online video behemoth was never interested. Why would they be? As demonstrated by Manchester United’s migration [...]
Life on Mars? Cornwall’s Goonhilly Earth Station gets £8m funding to help find out February 22, 2018 Is there life on Mars? A communications station in Cornwall has been given millions of pounds in funding to help find out. Goonhilly satellite Earth Station, famous for beaming the images of the moon landing across Britain, has landed £8.4m to upgrade its facilities so that it can support contact between earth and missions to [...]
Sky share price rises above takeover offer: English Premier League victory could see Rupert Murdoch bowing out just at the right time February 15, 2018 Investors were clearly happy with Sky’s Tuesday night Premier League result, pushing the company’s shares to nearly £11 a pop during yesterday’s trading. The broadcasting giant’s stock eventually ended the day 7p higher than the £10.75 a share tabled by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. With the majority of Premier League TV rights decided, Sky [...]
Sky and BT Sport pay £4.46bn to share Premier League TV rights for 160 games between 2019/20 and 2021/22 February 13, 2018 After years of extraordinary revenue growth, the Premier League has sold its latest package of live TV games to Sky and BT Sport for a reduced per-match rate. The two media giants will pay a combined £4.46bn to televise 160 matches per season, between 2019/20 and 2021/22. Three years ago, Sky and BT Sport paid [...]
Outraged by Alexis Sanchez’s stratospheric pay? Try rethinking your attitude to capitalism February 1, 2018 Alexis Sanchez has moved to Manchester United on a reported salary of £350,000 per week, rising to £450,000 when his image rights are included, and £600,000 with potential bonuses. While the January transfer window has now closed, football pay has yet again opened a debate which goes to the very heart of capitalism itself. You [...]
World’s richest football clubs 2018: Manchester United hold off Real Madrid and Barcelona in Deloitte Football Money League January 23, 2018 Manchester United have retained their billing as the world’s richest club after they pipped European champions Real Madrid to first place in Deloitte’s Football Money League. United, who benefited from winning the Europa League and lucrative new Premier League broadcast contracts, outstripped Real and Barcelona last season despite the fall in value of the pound. [...]