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This report examines the proposed acquisition of GCap Media by Global Radio for £375 million which, if successful, will signal the end of a commercial radio giant that, in its brief three-year existence, succeeded in destroying considerable shareholder value and dragging down the rest of the sector. It will also signal the transfer of the most significant portfolio of commercial radio real estate from public to private ownership. Global Radio, which did not even exist a year ago, would become the dominant player in a sector that will have seen three of its largest groups – GCap, Emap Radio and Chrysalis Radio – all change hands from public to private ownership within a year

Broadband market growth continues to fall and was below 20% for the first time in Q4 2007. Household penetration hit 56%. BSkyB dominated net additions, increasing its market share to 7.8% after 18 months of operation

Reported revenue growth among operators in the top 5 European markets continues to be adversely affected by the regulatory ‘triple whammy’ of regulation (termination, roaming and Bersani), with reported growth of 1.3% comparing to underlying growth of 5.6%

Mobile advertising has progressed well in recent months in terms of expanding trials, building experience and case study evidence, and selling the medium to advertisers

UK commercial radio revenues increased by 7.1% in Q4 2007 year-on-year, driven by strong growth from national advertisers, while full-year 2007 revenues increased by 2.8% to £598.2 million

The Digital Dividend resulting from analogue switch-off and digital switchover (DSO) is shaping up into Ofcom’s spectrum sale of the century. It comes at a time when the TV broadcasting industry is coming to see the progress from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) as fundamental a step change in broadcast picture quality as was many years ago the shift from black and white into colour. This report examines the Ofcom proposals, the financial costs to the commercial PSBs and the implications of Sky’s Picnic proposals for the successful achievement of Ofcom’s plan

Tiscali SpA has publicly invited bids for its businesses, the largest of which is the UK’s fourth largest ISP, a key player with 12% broadband market share

Iliad will be challenged to meet its target of a steady EBITDA margin of 36% in 2008 despite further cuts in mobile termination charges due to the continued drift of the subscriber mix to higher cost (for Iliad) full telephony packages. Some benefit to cash flow could result from reduced charges for one-off LLU services to be mandated by regulator ARCEP

BT announced on 8th April that Ian Livingston, currently CEO of BT Retail, will replace Ben Verwaayen as group CEO on 1st June. The Managing Director of BT Retail’s Consumer division, Gavin Patterson, will replace Ian Livingston at the helm of BT Retail. We expect John Petter to take Gavin’s place at the Consumer division