From Greece to Scotland via BT and EE: What got us talking this week February 6, 2015 It was all Greek to us this week Specifically, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who visited London as part of a Europe-wide charm offensive to support his plan for solving the small matter of the country's giant debt. Free market think tank Adam Smith Institute gave its backing to his debt restructuring [...]
Premier League set for £4bn in TV auction bids and Sky and BT prepare for battle February 5, 2015 Today marks the closing of the deadline for bids in the multi-billion pound auction for the UK TV broadcast rights of the Premier League. The three seasons to 2019 of the most-watched football league in the world will certainly see BT and Sky battle it out for the coveted rights. But with the added possibility [...]
Analysts split on Premier League fallout for Sky February 5, 2015 WITH BIDS for the Premier League’s TV rights in, analysts were split this week over the potential damage or lack thereof that either winning the same package of games or losing games to BT could have on Sky. “The Premier League rights auction has been a major overhang on the Sky share price but potentially [...]
BT set for a year of scrutiny on £12.5bn EE deal February 5, 2015 BT has sealed its deal to buy mobile operator EE in a whopping £12.5bn transaction. The British telecoms giant said the deal will likely face a year of investigation by the UK’s merger and regulatory authorities completing sometime next year. The transaction will combine BT’s more than 10m retail customers and EE’s 24.5m mobile [...]
BT deal and oil resurgance lead to late FTSE rally – London Report February 5, 2015 THE FTSE 100 recovered from earlier losses, as a late rally yesterday in crude oil prices boosted energy stocks and telecom firm BT Group advanced after its strategic acquisition of mobile operator EE. The UK Oil and Gas index rose 1.2 per cent after crude jumped about 5 per cent on falling output and rising [...]
Vodafone exceeds expectations with strong UK growth February 5, 2015 Vodafone is doing better than analysts had expected, both in the UK and beyond. The figures During the three months to 31 December, group service revenue for the UK telecoms company was £9,789m. Once merger and acquisition activity and foreign exchange rates had been accounted for, this was a 0.4 per cent decline compared [...]
BT share price soars after agreeing deal to buy mobile network EE for £12.5bn February 5, 2015 BT's share price soared today after it agreed terms to buy mobile phone network EE for £12.5bn. The deal, which will give BT access to EE’s 31m customers and the largest 4G network in Europe, will be paid in a combination of cash and ordinary BT shares, issued to both Deutsche Telekom (DT) and Orange. The transfer [...]
BT agrees deal to buy mobile network EE for £12.5bn February 5, 2015 BT has agreed terms to buy mobile phone network EE for a massive £12.5bn. The deal, which will give BT access to EE’s 31m customers and the largest 4G network in Europe will be paid in a combination of cash and ordinary BT shares, issued to both Deutsche Telekom and Orange. The transfer of shares will mean [...]
Sky staves off the cold winter once again as profits and customer numbers rise February 4, 2015 The City cheered Sky yesterday as – despite increasing competition in sport, huge amounts of industry consolidation occurring all around it and a mobile offering due to launch behind those of rivals – the firm continues to grow. With the former exclusively UK broadcaster now reporting solid growth across all of its three European markets, [...]
Ofcom refuses Virgin Media’s request to delay Premier League rights broadcast auction February 4, 2015 Ofcom has refused a request made by Virgin Media to delay the auction of Premier League broadcast rights. The high-stakes bidding for the rights to broadcast the UK’s biggest football games will now continue as usual and is expected next week. Virgin Media is not making a bid for the rights, but the auction is [...]