Competition probe hits Sky Movies August 4, 2010 SKY will face an investigation by the Competition Commission into the dominance of its pay-TV movie service. Ofcom has requested the probe after raising concerns over the prices Sky is able to charge for new releases and the lack of consumer choice. The Competition Commission will have a maximum of two years to investigate the [...]
Citigroup puts Egg up for sale August 3, 2010 CITIGROUP is gearing up to sell British internet banking firm Egg, kicking off a bumper period for asset sales as banking giants across the world move to slim down. Citi Holdings, home to the bank’s non-core operations, is believed to have plans in place for an auction to sell Egg in the next month for [...]
ITV to make its first foray into pay TV August 3, 2010 ITV BOUNCED back to first half profits after a “hugely successful” World Cup, announcing a raft of changes to its business model. It reported a £97m profit after limping to a £105m loss in the first half of 2009. New chief executive Adam Crozier says the beleaguered broadcaster – which saw its share price fall [...]
ITV reports £97m profit as it moves into pay-TV August 3, 2010 ITV said it will move into pay-television through a deal with Sky to launch high definition versions of its some of its digital channels. The broadcaster unveiled the plans as it announced a half-year profit of £97m. ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD, and ITV4 HD will launch as part of Sky+HD’s subscription package of channels in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 2, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LIVERPOOL FC AUCTION ATTRACTS GLOBAL INTEREST Global interest in the auction of Liverpool Football Club intensified on Monday with prospective bidders emerging from Hong Kong and the Middle East. Chinese sports entrepreneur Kenneth Huang has made an approach to Liverpool’s bankers Royal Bank of Scotland and US-based Wachovia seeking support for a deal, [...]
ITV August 1, 2010 IT will be tempting to think that ITV has turned the corner when it reports interims this week, which are expected to show advertising up 20 per cent. Recovery kings Archie Norman and Adam Crozier have only just arrived, but some of their magic appears to be rubbing off. It’s probably a coincidence. Britain has [...]
Sky smashes expectations as HD fuels surge in demand July 29, 2010 BSKYB is in touching distance of achieving 10m subscribers after announcing it made a net gain of 90,000 customers in the fourth quarter. In a strong set of results the subscription TV giant announced that demand for its HD content has surged, with 429,000 users signing up in the last three months. Adjusted revenue for [...]
BT profit climbs by 17pc despite tough trading July 29, 2010 BT shrugged off difficult trading conditions in the wake of government cuts to match expectations in its first quarter. The telecoms giant, which last month declared war on Sky with its entry into the lucrative Premier League subscription market, reported first quarter revenue of £5bn, down four per cent on the year before. However, rigorous [...]
Sky TV July 29, 2010 BACK in 1989, if you had predicted that Sky TV would become more successful than BT, you’d have been laughed out of the room. Rupert Murdoch’s Australian chutzpah was considered no match for the state monopoly that BT was handed on a plate, and which it squandered away over the following years. You’d have been [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES ICBC SAYS IT WILL RAISE £4.26BN Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest lender by market value, said yesterday it planned to raise up to £4.26bn in a rights issue in Hong Kong and Shanghai to shore up its capital base. The rights issue is the latest in a string of [...]