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The move comes as the UK’s “altnet” fibre sector, which has sought to take on established providers such as BT, slashes costs as many players face higher interest rates and intense competition. CityFibre had £3.7bn of net debt as of 2025 while Enders Analysis estimates the industry has more than £9bn of net debt.

So is it worth the effort? A report on Apple News in the UK from subscription research service Enders Analysis suggests the answer varies sharply between different types of publisher—but for some, it can offer strong visibility, some revenue and, if leveraged right, even subscriber acquisition.

Apple News+ is the paid version of Apple News, which comes pre-installed on Apple devices and provides users with in-app access to certain paywalled content from partner publishers. Enders estimates 1.7 million people in the UK have access to Apple News+, most of them through the bundled “Apple One” subscription offer. If correct, that would mean Apple News+ has more subscribers than any individual news brand in the UK.

Enders suggested UK Apple News+ generates subscription revenue above £100 million ($136 million) annually, of which half is distributed to partner publishers, distributed proportionate to the share of clicks they generate within the platform.

”Even though their platform has been incredibly successful, it doesn’t have that immediacy and urgency around the content which traditionally TV has thrived on,” says Tom Harrington, head of television at Enders Analysis.

But Harrington says that for Netflix, it’s not clear that Skyscraper Live will drive an increase in subscriptions. He says the streamer is just trying to stop current subscribers leaving.

“For a subscription service, it’s always a battle to retain the people you have. If there’s awareness of this sort of event, and they have more events like this,” he said, “theoretically that makes them a little bit more future-proof when it comes to churn.”

Looks as though the BBC is abandoning public service broadcasting, right? Well, Abi Watson, Head of Publishing at Enders Analysis, believes otherwise, who told us, “It has an obligation to produce creative, high-quality, distinctive content – and that isn’t platform-specific, which does involve the BBC experimenting with new formats, not just recycling linear TV for digital spaces.”

That aside, the other determining factor for the BBC's decision to go ham on digital viewing rests on shifting viewing habits, which Watson also touched on. “Second, it has a duty to reach audiences where they actually are. Viewing habits have shifted materially: around 10% of TV-set viewing in the UK now goes to YouTube, and for under-35s, it’s closer to a quarter," she added.

Francois Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis said: "For 20 years there's been consolidation in the United States." But France remains completely blocked while opening the doors wide to Netflix, he said.

“There never really seemed to be a clear digital strategy at the Standard, with traffic largely driven by Google News and Discover and often by sport-led spikes around clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea,” said Abi Watson at Enders Analysis.

“Folding the Standard’s digital operations into the Independent looks less like a sudden strategic pivot and more like a formal acknowledgement of where the economics now sit.

While London is “underserved” for local news, Watson says many community titles and small independents are “thriving” in the capital, particularly those focused on local politics and neighbourhood issues.

“One open question is what this means for the coherence of the Standard as a product,” added Watson. “With digital effectively moving elsewhere while print continues as a separate entity, there’s a real risk that the two become increasingly disjointed.”

While FMC has driven a lot of mergers and acquisitions activity, “it has almost always been a disappointment”, says Karen Egan, managing director and head of telecoms at Enders Analysis, a leading industry consultant.

Bundling mobile and fixed products into one package has been pitched as a means of retaining customers and reducing churn. The argument is that the more services subscribers take, the less likely they are to leave. Egan is sceptical. “The operator might convince a subscriber to take on an additional product, yet these are the customers that tend to be happy, not the ones likely to leave.”

There can also be a cost to bundling: it usually involves a discount on one or more products, which puts pressure on margins. If the return on FMC is questionable and the cost is real, Egan argues, “it is probably ill advised to pay a premium for convergence”.

Instead of allowing the post-match debate or attention between matchdays to be channeled by media companies, a creator platform deal keeps sports organisers in the conversation. “It’s a way for them to become a partner and to have their say, a bit of their say, in how their material is presented on second screens,” says François Godard of the media research company Enders Analysis

Creators present an efficient and effective way of reaching audiences with a defined message. Godard, however, is sceptical of how useful they might be in driving audience growth for sport. “In our data, we see that the viewership of traditional TV by the 16-to-34 age group has collapsed over the past 10 years, but not in sports,” he says. “That’s because sports is unique. It’s live, and there’s no alternative.”

In a note, Enders Analysis said CityFibre is progressing well on subscriber growth and EBITDA, but noted consolidation has moved more slowly than expected. In a note to clients, Enders added that recent developments point to UK altnet consolidation accelerating in 2026, with CityFibre and VMO2 still the most likely acquirors, potentially easing pressure in the retail broadband market while accelerating wholesale gains.