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BSkyB: “Fair price is £9.50”

Fidelity Investments, one of the smaller investors in BSkyB, says a fair price for its holdings would be 950p (€1.1) a share, and letting it be known that News Corp should dig deeper into its pockets and pay a big premium over the offer price of 700p already on the table. BSkyB’s share price was […]

March 7, 2011By Chris Forrester

Google: We haven’t given up on TV

Matt Brittin, Managing Director, UK and Ireland for Google, has conceded that the Internet giant’s initial effort at entering the TV market was less than successful. “We haven’t given up; we know it was a first attempt,” he told delegates at the FT Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference in London. Google reportedly asked TV set […]

March 3, 2011By Colin Mann

ITV reports £286m profit

ITV has reported £286 million (€337.5m) of pre-tax profits for 2010 as advertising revenue has surged back. The equivalent figure was £25 million last year. Net advertising revenue rose to £1.5 billion, up from £1.29 billion a year earlier. The company’s strong position – net debt will have more than halved to about £300 million, […]

March 1, 2011

Liberty marches on, UPC Romania sale?

International MSO Liberty Global revealed quarterly revenue up 17.8 per cent following on good growth in Germany and Poland, and confirmed its European expansion ambitions. “Over 80 per cent of our business is now squarely focused in Europe… we remain well capitalized to pursue additional consolidation opportunities in our core European markets,”  said president and chief executive […]

February 25, 2011

News Corp nears BSkyB remedy

News Corp is nearing agreement with UK regulators over a remedy for concerns about its bid for satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting, reports the Financial Times citing people familiar with the process. Discussions have taken place with the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT), with News Corp reportedly now closer to satisfying objections that combining […]

February 25, 2011By Colin Mann

Sky Deutschland confirms more losses

As expected, Sky Deutschland has confirmed greater losses for the year (to December 31st 2010), despite managing to grow sales revenues impressively up 8 per cent (to €977.8m) with Q4 revenue well ahead of 2009’s effort at €263.7 million (€230m in 2009). But the headlines will be the widening losses, with EBITDA loss at €268.6 […]

February 24, 2011By Chris Forrester

Kroes: “Get on with satellite broadband”

Neelie Kroes, European Commission VP for the Digital Agenda, has issued an urgent call to twenty one EU countries to rapidly introduce all the legislative measures necessary to allow the pan-EU deployment of mobile satellite services that could be used for high-speed Internet, mobile television and radio or emergency communications to EU consumers and businesses. […]

February 18, 2011

Virgin resurgence continues in Q4

Virgin Media Inc (the UK operator is listed NASDAQ) has announced strong results for 2010 the year and quarter ended December 31, 2010. Revenue growth across all areas was up 5.8 per cent to £3.876 billion (€4.60bn) with Q4 over £1 billion, up 6.6 per cent. Operating cash flow – a key measure for indebted […]

February 17, 2011

Google TV: We are not about cord cutting!

In a ‘read my lips’ moment here at Cable Congress, Donagh O’Mally, Head of Partnerships UK, Ireland and Benelux for YouTube, declared: “Google TV is not about cord cutting. Anyone who cancels pay-TV to get Google TV is going to be disappointed.” That promise didn’t entirely convince all members of the following panel on ‘How […]

February 16, 2011From Nick Snow @ Cable Congress

Liberty: Ziggo is better fit than KBW

Confirming CEO Mike Fries’ declaration yesterday that Liberty Global is on watch for acquisitions, Shane O’Neill, Chief Strategy Officer, took the opportunity of the Investor panel to confirm they were appraising KBW, but also that, given the choice and the right price, “Ziggo [the Dutch operator] is a much better fit for us.” Mixed news […]

February 16, 2011Nick Snow@Cable Congress