BT Sport bags multi-year NBA deal November 28, 2013 BT Sport and the NBA have signed an agreement for exclusive live television coverage of top NBA games in the UK and Ireland. The multi-year agreement begins on 1 December with the Indiana Pacers taking on West Coast rivals the LA Clippers on BT Sport 2. The deal will see up to 200 games shown [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 27 November 2013 November 26, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES RBS faces possible criminal probe The Serious Fraud Office is considering a criminal investigation into allegations Royal Bank of Scotland defrauded companies by forcing them out of business, amid growing pressure on the bank over its treatment of SMEs. The SFO has conducted interviews with former executives of UK firms affected by RBS’s [...]
Severn Trent’s half-year profits fall November 26, 2013 SEVERN TRENT yesterday blamed rising costs for a 5.8 per cent fall in half-year profits, but raised its dividend and reiterated its promise to keep household bill rises below inflation. Pre-tax profits at the FTSE 100-listed water company fell to £141.4m from £150m the previous year, but the firm said that results were in line with [...]
Best of the Brokers for 27 November 2013 November 26, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com HALFORDS UBS has a “buy” recommendation on the bike and car parts retailer and has raised its price target to 530p from 435p. The broker said that Halfords is beginning to improve its specialist credentials but the majority of the turnaround plan is [...]
Severn Trent sees profits slide but keeps bill increases down November 26, 2013 Water company Severn Trent has reported a 5.8 per cent fall in underlying group profit before tax to £141.3m, but says it's on target to deliver its full year expectations. In the six months ended 30 September, reported group profit suffered a 4.2 per cent loss to £255.7m. When it came to the rise in [...]
Sport Comment: BT and Sky TV wars boost English sides in Euro competition November 21, 2013 Concerns that main effect will be to polarise Premier League are misguided, argues Soccernomics author in our exclusive article BT SPORT’S mammoth bid for Champions League and Europa League rights in Britain is more than double the amount paid in the previous round – Sky and ITV paid a combined sum of around £135m per [...]
Sky keen for a wholesale deal with BT Sport November 20, 2013 BSKYB chief executive Jeremy Darroch said yesterday that he is keen to sign a mutual wholesale deal with BT, so both broadcasters can offer their customers access to a full range of live sports. At a Morgan Stanley media conference in Barcelona, Darroch said “We’re keen to get a wholesale agreement, but it has to [...]
London Report: FTSE pares back losses after ECB weighs rate cut November 20, 2013 THE UK’s FTSE 100 was dragged down yesterday by heavyweight stocks such as Vodafone trading ex-dividend, but briefly pared its losses after a report that the European Central Bank was considering negative deposit rates. Bloomberg reported that the ECB was considering a cut in its deposit rate to minus 0.1 per cent from the current [...]
Bottom Line: Crozier’s acquisition spree pays off as viewers rush to tune in November 19, 2013 WHEN BSkyB lost the battle for the next set of Champions League rights to newcomer BT Sport, little was made of the fact that Sky’s partner in the last bid – ITV – had also lost out. While its rivals were squabbling about football viewers, ITV was getting on with things; namely bedding in the string [...]
BT’s Liv Garfield to take top role at Severn Trent November 18, 2013 LIV GARFIELD is leaving BT to take up the chief executive role at FTSE 100-listed water company Severn Trent, the companies announced yesterday. Garfield is currently chief executive of BT’s Openreach division, where she oversaw the telecoms firm’s £2.5bn commercial roll-out of fibre broadband across the country. She starts her new role in spring 2014, [...]