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Joseph Teasdale, head of tech at the research firm Enders Analysis, said some pro-competitive interventions by regulators, such as curtailing its ability to make its search engine the default, could threaten Google’s position in search.

“Google controls various surfaces—things like Chrome, Android, Google Assistant—and in the past the ability to make Google the default or only search engine on those surfaces helped maintain its dominance. This tying of Google search to other Google surfaces has been a focus for regulators,” he said.

But Teasdale said he doesn’t believe these interventions ultimately would have much of an effect on its search market share. “At this point Google search is genuinely preferred by users,” he said.

However, the fact that Google already faces intense antitrust scrutiny could make it harder for the company to strike back when competitors try to encroach on its territory.

But Prosieben CEO Bert Habets has talked down the possibilities of a merger, stating that the company needs to be “in control of our own destiny.” And according to François Godard, Senior Media and Telecoms Analyst at Enders Analysis: “The pieces of the puzzle are not together to launch a takeover.” This could spell bad news for Prosieben shareholders, “who would love to see an auction for their stock,” especially with the aforementioned cut to their annual dividend.

There are several reasons why a takeover is off the table. Aside from the regulatory intervention that has prevented European mergers over the past year, MFE has neither the resources nor unified management to pursue the acquisition, though further collaboration with ProSieben is a more likely outcome. “MFE always said that they wanted to create some sort of cooperation with the Germans without necessarily buying them,” says Godard.

Gareth Sutcliffe, senior games analyst at Enders Analysis, told IGN any divestiture “is likely to be face-saving as opposed to impactful”, adding: "Long-term access contracts are a better solution and have been accepted elsewhere.

"The question is really how would a divestiture benefit the UK market or consumer, especially if it’s related to cloud gaming? The CMA should pivot towards a long-term commitment from Activision and Microsoft to stay and invest more systemically in the UK games industry. No other regulator has requested or achieved that."

Gareth Sutcliffe, head of games industry at Enders Analysis, said the British regulator had been backed into a corner. “The CMA had no choice but to blink and negotiate,” he said. “Their decision is an outlier, putting the UK games industry at risk and having a chilling effect on UK plc.”

“Meta’s failure to launch Threads in the EU is more to do with making a point about European regulation than the business case for launching,” says Niamh Burns of Enders Analysis, a media research group based in London. Burns notes the setup of the new app, which involves bundling Instagram and Threads to create a “captive audience” (users set up Threads using their existing Instagram accounts, and you can’t delete your Threads account without deleting Instagram) “is the kind of thing European regulators hate.”

“This week’s ruling strengthens regulators’ hands when it comes to Meta’s core business,” says Burns. “It is significant in terms of enforcement powers, even if it is not yet clear how it will be interpreted to impact Meta’s wider data practices. Meta’s business model could be under threat here.”

At the heart of the new crisis is an advertising slowdown that is battering the commercial TV sector. Enders Analysis expects the ad market to fall by 10pc in the first half of the year.

Tom Harrington, of Enders Analysis, says: “Given its structure and role, Channel 4 is going to find itself in difficult spots, but there are times when it could probably have been a bit more street smart.”

“Channel 4 has had fewer new shows break through in recent years than its direct competitor,” says Harrington. “Essentially they rely, to a greater extent, on older content.”