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Aggregate losses amassed by the dozens of so-called altnets rolling out full-fibre networks across the UK hit £1.5 billion at the end of last year, up from £1.3 billion in 2023, according to the latest figures compiled by Enders Analysis. Financing and operating costs remain “stubbornly high” and most firms have struggled to achieve the scale required to generate a sufficient return.

“It’s difficult to see a scenario in which retail altnets generate cash returns, even before interest costs on their debt,” Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders Analysis, said.

François Godard, a senior media analyst for Enders Analysis, said: “Paradoxically, increased fragmentation of TV coverage leaves Sky in a stronger position. They have by far the biggest sports subscriber base and are in the unique position of creating ‘all-in-one’ bundles.”

“An increase of 25% would be a huge success in a market where domestic leagues have been struggling to generate even low one-figure percentage increases,” said François Godard, a media analyst at Enders Analysis.

The French group may even have managed to lower the price, which had reached €480 million for the current cycle. "Maxime Saada [the head of Canal+, editor's note] may have been bluffing when he said he was ready to lose the exclusive rights to the competition," analyzes François Godard, a sports rights specialist at Enders Analysis.

“For current subscribers, it’s not a disaster; they would have continued to get the majority of the matches. For new subscribers, it’s more difficult to recruit them,” explains François Godard. “It becomes confusing when several broadcasters are advertising the same competition.”

"The cited £2bn price tag sounds like an ask from the sellers rather than something that’s likely to be paid in anything like hard currency (equivalent to £700-900 per home passed depending on whether it includes Netomnia’s net debt)

We would be surprised if anyone pays more than £500 per home passed in cash. Nexfibre can build new fibre for that price, and overlay it’s cable network for £100 per home passed. With 50%+ overlap between Netomnia and Virgin Media O2/nexfibre, that points to a reasonable price of <£300 per home passed, or an overall price tag of less than £1bn

Enders Analysis has estimated that an ITV-Sky sales tie-up would hold just over 30% of the UK video ad market.

Overall, it calculated that tech giants Google, Meta and Amazon account for 55% of the total UK ad market but, narrowed down to just video, Sky Media and ITV Media would hold just over 30%, a share that would be “very likely to decline over time”.

A key test in this investigation, Enders projected, would be convincing the CMA that the relevant ad market in which ITV and Sky competes is broader than just the UK broadcasters.

It added: “It would be a missed opportunity for the CMA not to reconsider what the definition of the relevant advertising market may be, and whether some or all of advertising in other video should be included. 

“National broadcasters must grow in order to compete against the global tech streamers, including YouTube.”

Saturday’s leader in the Telegraph op-ed pages called for a fast sale without a reserve price to expedite the process – a sharp contrast with its recent demands for thorough investigation and regulatory examination of the RedBird bid. “Telegraph Media Group’s 2024 performance lands where you might expect a business trapped in a two-year ownership freeze,” said Abi Watson at Enders Analysis. “Its topline was essentially flat - up 1% to £279m - with operating profit broadly unchanged. The deeper issue is structural. TMG still derives 55% of revenue from print, or closer to 60% if you strip out ‘other revenues’ like platform licensing and eCommerce. Digital subscriptions and digital advertising together account for around 40% of core revenues, but they are still not scaling fast enough to offset print erosion - not exactly what any bidder would want to see in a legacy-to-digital transition story.”