Altnet ARPUs are much lower than those of BT and VMO2, the premium-brand incumbents, but not so much lower than TalkTalk, and they are not rising appreciably over time.

Altnet ARPU is generally much lower than premium-brand incumbents both because their prices are lower, and because of the type of customers that low prices attract. Maturity will not solve these issues.

With incumbent and altnet pricing remaining low, there appears to be little potential for the altnets to meaningfully improve ARPUs, leaving their economics fatally stretched.

Studios revenue growth (+4% year-on-year, to £400 million) balanced advertising decline, which dragged Media and Entertainment down 2% (to £477 million): total revenues were flat YoY. Viewing has been poor to start 2026, but there is a World Cup approaching.

ITV’s total advertising revenue (TAR) was down 1.5% in Q1 to £416 million, with digital ad revenues up 14%. ITV expects Q2 to improve 10% YoY.

With the acquisition of ITV M&E appearing close, the ramifications of the change of ownership for ITV’s output is a nuanced consideration.

Audience needs remain unchanged: creativity, talent, and community are central to building user relationships.

Discoverability, distribution, and formats are evolving rapidly. Technical alignment is key to unlocking user value. New means of scaling, partnering, and monetising need to be considered as AI and IP structures evolve.

Publishers don’t need to be everywhere: the fundamentals of content, brand, and curation are still key with no one-size-fits-all route to success. Agility and experimentation are crucial as the ecosystem continues to evolve.

Big tech platforms are extending their advertising lead by deploying existing AI strengths to expand functionality and offer advertisers streamlined performance.

A cohesive model for chatbot advertising is still elusive. While in the process of defining its positioning, it currently impacts discovery more than search.

Scale no longer guarantees agency advantage: value capture is shifting away from providing services and towards owning the processes, tools, IP, and media.

VMO2’s broadband and mobile segments both worsened in Q1 to decline at 3–4%, with altnets hitting the former and an over-publicised price rise change hitting the latter.

Subscriber trends however improved on both, with the broadband base notably reaching near stability as altnet pressure gradually recedes.

2026 will still be a tough year for the company, with service revenue/EBITDA guidance of a 3–5% decline for both looking realistic, but momentum thereafter is likely to be much improved

Disney's Entertainment revenues rose 10% year-on-year to $11.7 billion in Q2, part of a company-wide lift of 7% (to $25.2 billion), with parks remaining resilient despite headwinds. New CEO Josh D'Amaro has begun to outline his vision for the company.

Corporate reorganisation has created a unified marketing vertical, while interactive entertainment and gaming has finally been brought under Entertainment and into the core of Disney's content creation engine.

In the UK, the impact of Disney+'s near-blanket availability to Sky subscribers has so far been muted, indicating that there are few shortcuts to growth in a mature streaming market.

The low price, low quality vicious cycle in UK mobile is becoming ever more apparent in both revenue pressure and in network quality surveys.

Policymakers meanwhile demand better quality, coverage and resilience which will be tough to deliver without a more robust revenue outlook.

Without radical change, the government’s affordability priority looks set to win out over its growth one, driving the industry towards (self-reinforcing) sub-optimal outcomes for both consumers and growth.

G.Network and Gigaclear have emerged from debt distress to (seemingly) carry on as before, with sales processes having failed, and a reset that may end with a not-dissimilar outcome.

The altnet consolidation game appears to be in stalemate as VMO2/nexfibre seeks approval for its Netomnia acquisition, but this will result in continued cash burn, with which investors may lose patience.

Altnet pricing is broadly staying low, as they balance the need to maintain subscriber momentum and conserve cash, resulting in continuing pricing pressure on the ISP incumbents.

Q1 saw Netflix continue to display revenue growth, up 16% YoY (to $12.3 billion), with UCAN (+14%), EMEA (+17%), LATAM (+19%) and APAC (+20%) all contributing strongly.

Netflix has thrived in a decade where TV content has been increasingly siloed. With TV appearing to be moving towards more liquid viewing environments, increased direct competition will disadvantage primary TV destinations.

HBO Max’s launch has so far proceeded as expected, although its decision to not commission locally raised eyebrows: this is in contrast to Netflix, whose UK originals continue to garner the most viewing globally.

UK mobile coverage/quality significantly lags that of its European peers; this really matters, for both consumers and the wider economy, and for both existing services and a range of potential new ones.

Improving coverage will likely require a variety of techniques, from antennas in space to antennas inside shopping centres, and fully utilising the entire range of available spectrum, from sub-1GHz to mmWave.

Network quality competition sparked by the VodafoneThree merger and network rebuild could drive improvements from all three operators, but significant government help is required to ensure this.