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.
Our research is independent and evidence-based, covering all sides of the market: consumers, leading companies, industry trends, forecasts and public policy & regulation. A complete list of our research can be found here.
Canal+ is listing in London amid earnings and revenue growth and having shown a capacity to partner with global streamers in its core markets.
Investment in local 'tentpole' content—films, series and sports—ensures Canal+’s appeal to consumers and attractiveness to aggregation partners.
Significant growth and synergy opportunities lie in the turnaround of MultiChoice (in Africa), Viaplay (in Scandinavia) and Viu (in South-East Asia).
Gill Hind, director of TV at Enders Analysis, says: “Quite clearly, ITV as a company is undervalued and ITV Studios is undervalued compared to its peers ... It’s a very strong production studio, not just in the UK but globally.”
But analysts question the benefits of cross-border broadcasting mergers and the ease of hiving off ITV’s production business, given it sells many of its shows to the channel.
Hind describes the prospect of a takeover as “interesting”, but adds: “I’m still slightly sceptical about whether it will go ahead.”
Last week, ITV enjoyed a rare boost on the stock market as rumours swirled that bidders were circling. But for City viewers, this is a repeat episode. Analysts have for decadesidentified ITV as an undervalued asset ripe for the plucking. Yet no such deal has materialised. “It is the longest-running saga,” said Claire Enders, the boss of media advisory firm Enders Analysis. “It has been spoken of for beyond 20 years.”
Enders said: “She has a lot of sympathy and understanding from everybody in this industry.” And Jonathan Shalit, the boss of talent manager InterTalent Rights Group, said: “She’s built the best commercial streaming platform in the UK. She’s crafted a real A-list of commissioners and programme makers at ITV. I think she’s an exceptional individual.”
Market revenue dipped into marginal decline in Q3, as both ARPU and sub growth weakened, both partly driven by the continued altnet onslaught
Backbook pricing effects will be of marginal help in the short term, but new customer pricing competition is still fierce, and households are still cash-strapped
In the longer term, pressure from the altnets should wane substantially as their roll-outs slow and they consolidate towards a wholesale model (or fail)
“He has overseen the first UK commercial launches of 3G (at Three UK), 4G (at EE) and 5G (at BT/EE), surely a unique triple. Among his other achievements he managed that rare thing, a (rightly) widely-regarded-as-successful large scale telecoms merger/integration with BT and EE, a deftly handled exit from BT Sport, and has navigated seemingly endless regulatory pricing rule changes with ease,” said James Barford, Head of Telecoms at Enders Analysis in a LinkedIn post.
“The dominant tech player doesn’t get out competed,” says Joseph Teasdale of Enders Analysis. “They become redundant as new tech comes along.”
Francois Godard, senior media analyst at Enders, cautions that such mergers and acquisitions are not always straightforward. “We’ve seen it’s not so easy to build European coalitions that work,” he says, citing RTL’s sale of Channel 5 in 2010, or Mediaset which he says is “doing fine in Italy and Spain” but was “never able to build synergies.”
Service revenue growth flat-lined at -1% this quarter. The operators’ year-to-date net adds remain in negative territory while the MVNOs have taken more than 1 million
The accounting treatment of the new, absolute, in-contract price increases will provide something of a boost to some operators this year, but worsen the trend next year, particularly for BT/EE
The likely Vodafone/Three merger will be the primary theme for the industry in 2025 and beyond, putting upward pressure on capex levels industry-wide
