Cable is cool on NewsCorp BSkyB probe June 27, 2010 VINCE Cable has said there “would need to be a lot of evidence” for him to become involved in NewsCorp’s attempt to acquire BSkyB, in remarks that are sure to alienate anti-Murdoch Liberal Democrats. As business secretary, Cable could announce an investigation into the takeover on public interest grounds. He would then have the ultimate [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF June 24, 2010 Trio handed Team Sky rides CYCLING: British riders Steve Cummings and Geraint Thomas have been included in Team Sky’s nine-man squad for the Tour de France. Former world track champion Cummings makes his Tour debut after riding in last month’s Gira d’Italia, joining Thomas, who was a member of the victorious Olympic team pursuit quartet. [...]
City workers succumb to football fever June 23, 2010 WITH the Budget out of the way in good time, the City’s thoughts yesterday turned to the beautiful game, and England’s crucial third group clash against Slovenia. As the crucial hour approached, bars and pubs filled to bursting point and the employees of more generous firms gathered in communal areas to watch Capello’s squad clinch [...]
Stay focused, urges BSkyB boss Darroch June 20, 2010 BSKYB’S staff have been told by chief executive Jeremy Darroch that they should not be distracted by the near £8bn takeover bid launched last week by the group’s largest shareholder News Corporation. Darroch, who sits side by side on the Sky board with directors who have rejected the bid claiming it does not fully value [...]
The elegant side of the Balearics June 20, 2010 THERE is so much more to Mallorca than sun, sea and the late-night drunken menace of us Brits in Magaluf. The largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands, the 3,275 sq km atoll has mountains, lush vegetation and close to 100 sandy beaches, many of which are secluded because they are up to half an hour’s walk [...]
UK needs more creative destruction June 17, 2010 IT was Joseph Schumpeter, the great economist, who first understood that capitalism is a process of creative destruction. Every day, new firms are born with fresh ideas, talent and technologies; old firms die when they become unable to meet customers’ needs efficiently and fail to make a better use of resources than their rivals. Competition [...]
Sky Sports axed from Freeview June 17, 2010 SKY Sports News, the increasingly popular sports service, is being taken off the Freeview platform and being made available only to pay television customers. Sky has decided to use the popularity of Sky Sports News to further drive its pay television subscribers and expects to use some of the extra revenues it might attract to [...]
High class: where to go for the best views in town June 16, 2010 WITH roof-top bars and outside space in London hard to come by (or just plain wet), top floor views and cityscapes have become the next best thing and a desirable year-round alternative. This week, as one high and mighty new members’ club opens its shiny elevator doors for the first time, another is scrapping its [...]
Sky set to see shareholders June 16, 2010 NICHOLAS Ferguson, the senior independent director of BSkyB, which is facing an outright bid from its largest shareholder News Corporation, has intimated he wants to see some of the larger shareholders in the group to listen to their views about the bid price. Ferguson was travelling yesterday on unrelated business but he will no doubt [...]
This may be news to some, but Murdoch’s move is a good one June 16, 2010 Not all of News Corp’s shareholders jumped with joy at news of controlling shareholder Rupert Murdoch’s plan to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB’s shares it doesn’t already own. Some may feel it is a convoluted attempt to serve Murdoch interests rather than those of the minority holders in News Corp. Others may think [...]