Enders Analysis provides a subscription research service covering the media, entertainment, mobile and fixed telecommunications industries in Europe, with a special focus on new technologies and media.
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In an article on the appointment of James Purnell to the position of Director, Strategy and Digital at the BBC, Claire Enders was quoted. “It’s kind of peddling back from the paring back of those layers of management,” she commented. “It is an indication that eliminating the deputy director-general and chief operating officer roles were a bit too much.”
The Conservatives have put forward their proposal for a system of press regulation set up by a Royal Charter – an unusual constitutional device used here to avoid the need for statute
Their proposal represents a watering down of Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations in several areas. Questions remain about how independent the resulting regulator would be, and whether the ‘slippery slope’ towards greater regulation is really avoided
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Hacked Off, the campaign group for victims of press abuses, have all expressed concerns about the proposal. Negotiations between the three main parties will eventually produce a solution, but are ongoing
Vodafone’s European revenue growth slowed again in the December quarter, to -4.8% on a reported basis from -3.8% in the previous quarter, with growth excluding the MTR impact also dropping While macroeconomic conditions and the decline in the mobile broadband dongle market are not helping, there also appears to be some competitive weakness, with churn increasing markedly in the quarter The new Vodafone Red tariffs are sound from a strategic perspective, but in the short term they do not appear to be helping subscriber numbers or ARPU
Virgin Media had a very strong Q4, with subscriber net adds improving across all main products, ARPU solid, and margins improving to record levels, with revenue growth set to accelerate in the coming quarters
This was overshadowed by the announcement that Liberty Global is planning to acquire Virgin Media to form the world’s largest cable TV subscriber base
The impact of this acquisition on the rest of the UK market would be minor, as Liberty Global is likely to follow the current Virgin Media approach on content, network and pricing
TalkTalk’s broadband base returned to growth in the December quarter after years of decline, helped by further churn improvements
The company gained a respectable 80k new pay TV subscribers after its Plus TV launch, and the overall Plus/Plus TV base continued to grow
Revenue growth was unchanged at -1.7% in the quarter, but given the timings of price changes we still expect a return to broadly flat or growing revenue next quarter
Enders Analysis co-hosted its annual conference, in conjunction with BNP Paribas and Deloitte, in London on 15 January 2013. The event featured talks by 14 of the most influential figures in media and telecoms, and was chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette.
Slides from the presentations by the following speakers at the Media & Telecoms: 2013 & Beyond conference on 15 January 2013: •Anthony Wood, CEO, Roku •Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA •Thomas Hesse, Chief Digital Officer, Bertelsmann
Tough economic conditions may have blunted DTH growth in the traditionally strong Christmas quarter, yet the Q2 2013 results show the underlying business to be in good health: highlights including strong multi-product and ARPU growth and impressive cost efficiencies
As a result, Sky has managed to deliver a sharp increase in operating profits, whilst simultaneously building its content strengths and retaining its technology focus on product improvements and innovation
The product diversification promises to benefit Sky less in terms of direct new revenue streams than in building customer loyalty and stickiness, important too for maintaining ARPU growth
BT had a very solid quarter, with revenue growth improving, broadband subscriber net additions bouncing back, ARPU robust and cost control still strong
Fibre net adds were particularly impressive, with take-up accelerating from an already high level, with this perhaps now starting to help stabilise ARPU
Progress on TV has been more mixed, with plenty of costs being added but no deals having been made yet to help offset this with revenue