Roy Hodgson: TV rescheduling over Christmas will take its toll on Crystal Palace squad December 14, 2017 Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has bemoaned “harsh” fixture re-scheduling for TV that requires his side to play three Premier League games in six days over the Christmas period. The Eagles host Arsenal on Thursday 28 November, two days after most clubs play on Boxing Day, in an 8pm kick-off on Sky Sports. Hodgson’s men [...]
UK’s top accounting watchdog wants more powers from parliament following KPMG-HBOS probe November 30, 2017 The top accounting watchdog in the UK has called for accountants to be held to higher standards when auditing companies, after a probe into KMPG’s audits of HBOS in the run-up to the lender’s collapse failed to find the accountant guilty of misconduct. Read more: KPMG has been cleared of wrongdoing over its 2007 HBOS [...]
Leaping into a decision on a new broadband Universal Service Obligation would be a mistake November 29, 2017 The government is currently offering a £1.1bn package of measures to support the market delivery of digital networks underpinned by full fibre broadband. A key pillar of that plan, under the Digital Economy Act 2017, is to create a new broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO), which is geared towards everyone in the UK having access [...]
Rio Tinto caves in to shareholder pressure and scraps appointment of Tory chief Sir Mick Davis November 26, 2017 Mining giant Rio Tinto has scrapped plans to appoint the chief exec of the Conservative party as its new chairman, according to reports. Frontrunner Sir Mick Davis is “no longer in the running” to replace Jan du Plessis after a shareholder revolt. City sources told Sky News over the weekend several institutional investors had drawn [...]
Tory rural broadband promise under threat: BT Openreach talks close to collapse November 19, 2017 A Tory pledge to deliver better broadband to 1.4m rural homes is under threat of being delayed by years. Talks between Openreach and the government to agree on a £600m investment by the BT infrastructure arm are close to collapse, according to reports by the Sunday Telegraph. If an agreement with Openreach over its voluntary [...]
SSE teams up with Thames Water to lay fibre broadband in London’s Victorian sewer network November 14, 2017 A leading broadband provider believes it has hit the ideas jackpot in the battle to boost Britain’s broadband internet: it wants to lay fibre optic cables in London’s vast sewer network. Energy giant SSE, which has an established broadband infrastructure offering, has teamed up with Thames Water. It plans to tuck fibre cabling 10 metres [...]
Manchester City and Amazon: Why online video platforms want more sports documentaries November 12, 2017 Sports industry chatter has been dominated in recent times by the ever-looming prospect of tech giants such as Amazon, Facebook or YouTube outbidding traditional broadcasters for live rights and, in doing so, upending the consumption habits of fans. Yet while developments have undoubtedly been made in the digitalisation of live sport, neither Sky nor BT’s [...]
Ford VP Stephen Armstrong and BT Group chief executive Gavin Patterson warn over Brexit transition deal ‘certainty’ November 6, 2017 Bosses of Ford and BT have today ramped up their warnings over the need for clarity on Brexit, identifying early next year as the point of no return for a transition deal to be struck. Steven Armstrong, vice president of EMEA for Ford, said although the auto firm was “the poster boy” for globalisation it [...]
DEBATE: Can we blame tech companies for helping Russia spread fake news during the referendum campaign? November 6, 2017 Can we blame tech companies for helping Russia spread fake news during the referendum campaign? Olivia Utley, news editor at Reaction, says YES. The argument, which was widely accepted before the UK referendum, is that a split in Europe and a revival of European nationalism was in Vladimir Putin’s interests. It was widely believed – [...]
BT pension deficit could reduce by £4.4bn as expectations of an interest rate hike mount October 23, 2017 BT’s troublesome pension black hole is set to reduce by billions of pounds as expectations of an interest rate rise mount, analysts said today. Previously, consensus opinion has been that BT’s retirement deficit would swell from £8.7bn to around £11bn. But in a report by RBC Capital Markets, analysts said BT’s shortfall could halve to [...]