YouView presses ahead with plans for 2011 launch November 10, 2010 BBC-backed online TV service YouView stepped up preparations for its launch next year by officially approaching content providers who want to join the venture. YouView, which will support video and audio streaming as well as web-based apps, is discussing the technical implications of uploading content from disparate providers to a single platform. Richard Halton, chief [...]
Battle for £120m Bluewater stake November 7, 2010 A BATTLE for a £120m stake in the Bluewater shopping centre is in the offing, with some of the world’s largest pensions and sovereign wealth funds competing to invest. The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP), and Oxford Properties, property arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System [...]
BT pension deficit slashed by £3bn by new inflation measure November 5, 2010 BT’S mammoth pension deficit will fall by £2.9bn thanks to a change that will link pension payments to the Consumer Prices Index inflation meaure instead of the Retail Prices Index. The fall in deficit, which stood at £9bn in 2009, will immediately have an impact on interest payments made by the telecoms giant. It will [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 4, 2010 BT UBS rates the telecoms group a “sell” with a 12-month target price of 120p. The broker forecasts a four per cent fall in revenue when BT announces its quarterly results next Thursday, and believes the company’s huge pension deficit will remain the primary focus. It also predicts that the firm will have made moderate [...]
EU will probe News Corp’s bid for BSkyB November 3, 2010 NEWS Corp has officially notified the European Commission about its intention to take full control of BSkyB. Business secretary Vince Cable will now be among those who decide whether the £8bn buyout will be allowed to go ahead. The Commission now has 25 working days to conduct an initial probe, after which it can launch [...]
The dining scene is hotting up this winter November 3, 2010 AGAINST the odds perhaps, but 2010 has been a cracking year for restaurant openings in London. From the old-fashioned cool of Soho’s Dean Street Townhouse to Pierre Koffmann’s return to glory, the cosy joy that is Polpo to Daniel Boulud’s Knightsbridge bistro, there’s been plenty to love. And if anything, the openings are accelerating. The [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 2, 2010 Ernst & Young The accountancy firm has hired Samantha Keen to join its restructuring practice as a partner, working with the liquidations and strategic exit routes (LASER) team. Keen has over 18 years of experience in the insolvency and restructuring arena, and has recently focused on advising clients about solvent reorganisation and legal entity rationalisation [...]
Ministers to reveal high speed rail link winner October 31, 2010 THE government is this week set to unveil the winner of a contest to buy the high-speed rail link from London to the Channel Tunnel for up to £2bn. Ministers will pick one of four consortia vying for the 68-mile line, used by Eurostar trains between London St Pancras, Paris and Brussels as well as high-speed [...]
WI-FI HITS UNDERGROUND October 28, 2010 CUSTOMERS will be able to log on to the internet from their laptops or mobile phones at Charing Cross Tube Station from 1 November through BT Openzone. The trial, which will test how the service works and look at customer take up, will include live Transport for London service updates available to all wi-fi users [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHAT WILL ONE NEW CHANGE MEAN FOR THE CITY? October 28, 2010 MARK WEBSTER | BT “It means I won’t have to spend my weekends shopping, as I can do it all in my lunch break. It’s interesting to see such a large project in these economic times, but from the crowds today it seems like it will be used.” JANDRE ELS | REDSTONE “It’s quite a [...]