BSkyB and ESPN set to carve up Premier League Setanta rights June 21, 2009 BROADCASTERS were last night putting the final touches to bids to acquire the live media rights to the English Premier League which have been revoked from troubled firm Setanta. BskyB and Disney-owned ESPN are expected to carve up the 46 football matches between them after Setanta’s board failed to find a last-ditch solution, putting it [...]
Hewitt expands BT role June 18, 2009 FORMER trade and health secretary Patricia Hewitt will become BT’s new senior independent director, the telecoms giant said yesterday.Hewitt, who takes up the new role next month, is expected to be a key contact for major institutional shareholders. The MP for Leicester West, who retires from Parliament at the next general election, has sat on [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 18, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GLENCORE WEIGHS UP FLOATATIONGlencore, one of the world’s largest private companies had held preliminary talks with bankers about an initial public offering as it reviews its partnership structure, to a person familiar with the company. While an IPO is not is not considered imminent, a move into the public spotlight would mark a [...]
BT may roll out superfast internet June 17, 2009 BT is to examine expanding its superfast broadband network to cover 90 per cent of homes after ministers published plans to subsidise the roll-out of high-speed internet access across the country, the firm said yesterday.
ITV favourite joins BT board June 17, 2009 TONY Ball, the chairman of Germany’s largest cable TV operator and frontrunner for the job of ITV chief executive, has been appointed as non-executive director at BT. The appointment of the former BSkyB boss – who has spent the past four years turning Kabel Deutschland into Germany’s fastest-growing high-speed broadband provider – came a day [...]
Economy fears hit oil, miners and banks but defensives fly June 16, 2009 THE FTSE 100 closed 0.1 per cent higher yesterday, recovering only a small part of Monday’s sharp falls as strength in defensive stocks was countered by falls in oils, miners, and banks. At the close the FTSE 100 was up 2.56 points at 4,328.57, rallying slightly after hitting a six-week closing low on Monday when [...]
Dan Marks quits BT Vision June 9, 2009 Dan Marks, the chief executive of BT Vision, has walked out on the company after becoming too “frustrated” with rival BSkyB’s dominance of Premiership football, after five years at the helm.
Founders of Setanta plan last ditch bid June 9, 2009 SETANTA founders Leonard Ryan and Michael O’Rourke are understood to be locked in talks to table a last-ditch bid that could see them buy out the ailing firm’s other investors, which include Doughty Hanson, Balderton Capital and Goldman Sachs. It is also thought that Setanta has recently offered stakes of up to 30 per cent [...]
Wednesday looks for 20m June 2, 2009 SHEFFIELD Wednesday’s chairman Lee Strafford has just appointed US banking advisers to help him flush out a £20m investment for the Championship football club. Strafford, who co-founded PlusNet before selling it to BT in 2007 for £67m, has just returned from the US where he and Wednesday chief executive Nick Parker met a number of [...]
Hermes plans hedgie overhaul May 31, 2009 Hermes, the asset management giant which runs the BT pension fund, has demanded a more transparency and fairer fee structures in the hedge fund industry. Following a tide of calls for the sector to demystify as the credit crunch has rumbled on, the pension manager said it wants to set up a committee to push [...]