Homepage

Gill Hind, the director of TV at the media advisory firm Enders Analysis, estimates that the £400 million savings figure will have to rise further. “The licence fee has been completely squeezed over the last ten, 12 years,” she said. “So in reality, between 2010 and 2022, they’re on about 30 per cent less in real terms, and over that period they’ve had to make a huge number of cuts. The BBC, like a lot of companies, has some sort of fat, but they’ve pretty much cut all of that out.

“We reckon it will end up having to save more than £400 million, because the number of licence fee payers is going down. So when you’re at that level, and if you’ve done a huge amount of cuts, you then get to the stage of: where do you cut next?”

“King have done a masterful job in keeping Candy Crush relevant and enticing,” said Gareth Sutcliffe, equities analyst at Enders analysis, “there is no reason to doubt that AI will provide a useful angle to attract and retain audience.”

“The broader issue is King’s lack of portfolio diversification and inability to replicate such a successful franchise. The eventual new owners, Microsoft, will be right to expect more,” he added.

But Canal+ has not given up on Ligue 1: if the call for tenders fails, the group could negotiate over the counter. Or even, in the event of failure, continue to offer Ligue 1 but as a distributor, thanks to its contracts with the Qatari channel BeIN Sports and the British platform Dazn (pronounced “da zone” ). “The contract with Dazn is a spare wheel for Canal+” , deciphers François Godard, of the Enders Analysis firm.

Claire Holubowskyj, senior research analyst at media research service Enders Analysis, said: 'Amazon working with other AI companies isn't new, but this is a big lean in.

'Amazon approaches AI at all levels, from the chips to the software, so this new investment is simply putting their money where their mouth is.'

Top-flight French football still fetches far less revenue for its TV broadcast rights than other European leagues. “The Bundesliga and Serie A take 50 per cent more, La Liga almost twice as much and the Premier League almost three times,” wrote Enders Analysis in a recent note. “Ligue 1 wants to break with its recent history of failed tenders, declining revenues and soured relations with incumbent Canal+,” Enders added.

Murdoch has long opposed the BBC and ABC in Australia, but has failed to bring them down. He has invested heavily in journalism, including investigative reporting – the Times/Sunday Times recently broke the story of allegations on the conduct of Russell Brand, together with Channel 4’s Dispatches. We anticipate that Murdoch, soon to become chair emeritus of News Corp, will remain as attached as he has always been to the UK titles.

Claire and Alice Enders are the founder and director of research at Enders Analysis