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“Salto remains marginal in their economic model”, tempers François Godard, analyst at the London firm Enders. "The future of TF1 will probably be closer to YouTube than to Netflix", he continues, because the historical channels must above all draw a future in the offers financed by advertising. If they want to go back on the offensive, "I don't see how they can do it each on their own, there should be more collaboration between them or possibly with the public audiovisual sector", he believes.

“Bertelsmann's strategy presupposed consolidation at national level in Europe. However, there is none and now M6 is not even for sale”, observes François Godard, however, analyst at the London firm Enders. “Thomas Rabe must react and present an alternative,” he concludes. The long-distance runner does not want to admit defeat. Market consolidation is "a matter of one or two years maximum", he assured the "Financial Times" on Monday. Besides, he has no plan B. This is perhaps the biggest risk for him.

Karen said “Getting approval from the CMA will not be easy. There are concerns about investment levels falling and prices going up if there is a merger. But we haven’t seen any evidence that supports concerns – taking out the duplication costs of a fourth operator actually lowers the cost-base of the industry and ultimately that helps to keep prices low."

She added that while the Vodafone-Three deal would create a “more credible” competitor for EE and O2, “the problem is that everybody knows that so the bigger players won’t cede it."

Francois said “Bundesliga is an inward-looking league. They have not been looking for international opportunities in the way the Premier League and La Liga have done. Their clubs have been less active at building a global fan base than Manchester United or Real Madrid.” 

"Rabe is much exposed, he must come up with something,” said François Godard, at Enders Analysis, who was sympathetic to the rationale for the deals. “This was his play — nobody else’s. This is a failure and you can’t describe it otherwise. You must come up with a plan B.”