City watchdog in investment banking probe: What will the FCA do and who’s involved? February 19, 2015 Big investment banks may be too dominant in some areas of the industry, limiting competition and hurting companies and consumers, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned yesterday. Prices are not always transparent enough to allow firms to compare banks effectively, the FCA said. The watchdog has received complaints that shares in major deals are allocated to [...]
Ukip The First 100 Days: 1,000 complaints over Farage “what if” TV documentary made to Channel 4 and Ofcom February 17, 2015 A television show about Ukip has prompted more than a 1,000 complaints after being broadcast on Channel 4 on Monday night. The fictional documentary, which imagined the first 100 days of a Ukip government if the party were to sweep to power in May's General Election, received 731 complaints Ofcom has said. Another 250 complaints were [...]
Ukip The First 100 Days: Channel 4’s Farage “what if” TV documentary has already attracted 19 complaints to Ofcom February 16, 2015 Can you imagine a Ukip future? Now you don’t have to. In what’s being called a "fictional docudrama" – aka a "mocumentary" – a new television show will take the hypothetical situation of Ukip sweeping to power in the next election and run with it. The show, due to air at 9pm on Monday night [...]
MacKenzie set for sports radio February 9, 2015 MEDIA entrepreneur Kelvin MacKenzie is in the running to launch a new national sports radio station to steal the crown of his former enterprise Talksport. MacKenzie, best known for editing The Sun newspaper at its peak, is teaming up with his Talksport co-founder Jason Bryant to launch SPORTS Radio next January. It will enter the [...]
Fifty Shades of Grey: Surge in adventurous shoppers looking for sex toys, lingerie and bondage gear February 5, 2015 Retailers are preparing for a surge in sales of lingerie, sex toys and bondage gear as the saucy film Fifty Shades of Grey hits cinema screens. The hotly-anticipated film adaptation of the best-selling erotic book by E.L James, timed for release over the Valentine's Day weekend, is spurring retailers to stock up on titillating products [...]
Ofcom refuses Virgin Media’s request to delay Premier League rights broadcast auction February 4, 2015 Ofcom has refused a request made by Virgin Media to delay the auction of Premier League broadcast rights. The high-stakes bidding for the rights to broadcast the UK’s biggest football games will now continue as usual and is expected next week. Virgin Media is not making a bid for the rights, but the auction is [...]
TalkTalk trips as costs fall slower than anticipated February 3, 2015 TALKTALK was bruised in morning trading yesterday after it revealed an unsuccessful IT project and additional costs from its takeover of BlinkBox would hit its full-year profit forecast. “Two broad things have led us to guide that we will be towards the bottom end of current market expectations,” TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding told City [...]
Virgin Media calls on Ofcom to delay £4bn Premier League TV auction January 28, 2015 Virgin Media last night made an 11th-hour bid to block the Premier League’s multi-billion pound auction by calling on media regulator Ofcom to use its emergency power to halt the bidding which is currently expected to conclude next Friday. Virgin, which met with Ofcom two weeks ago to discuss a separate ongoing competition investigation into [...]
Mobile market activity booms as Sky eyes deal with O2 or Vodafone January 26, 2015 Mobile consolidation is set to be a hot topic again this week as European pay-TV operator Sky has been linked in talks with O2 and Vodafone to launch its own mobile offering on one of their networks. The talks come as BT races to finalise more details around its £12.5bn takeover of EE, which it [...]
As Three’s owner eyes up O2, will more sector consolidation prove negative for consumers? January 25, 2015 Kester Mann, principal operators analyst at CCS Insight, says Yes. A move from four mobile operators to three will undoubtedly raise concerns among UK consumers that they’ll end up paying more for mobile services. Indeed, evidence in other European markets, notably Austria, points to an increase in prices following similar in-market consolidation. Mobile users in [...]