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Last week, ITV enjoyed a rare boost on the stock market as rumours swirled that bidders were circling. But for City viewers, this is a repeat episode. Analysts have for decadesidentified ITV as an undervalued asset ripe for the plucking. Yet no such deal has materialised. “It is the longest-running saga,” said Claire Enders, the boss of media advisory firm Enders Analysis. “It has been spoken of for beyond 20 years.”

Enders said: “She has a lot of sympathy and understanding from everybody in this industry.” And Jonathan Shalit, the boss of talent manager InterTalent Rights Group, said: “She’s built the best commercial streaming platform in the UK. She’s crafted a real A-list of commissioners and programme makers at ITV. I think she’s an exceptional individual.”

“He has overseen the first UK commercial launches of 3G (at Three UK), 4G (at EE) and 5G (at BT/EE), surely a unique triple. Among his other achievements he managed that rare thing, a (rightly) widely-regarded-as-successful large scale telecoms merger/integration with BT and EE, a deftly handled exit from BT Sport, and has navigated seemingly endless regulatory pricing rule changes with ease,” said James Barford, Head of Telecoms at Enders Analysis in a LinkedIn post.

“The dominant tech player doesn’t get out competed,” says Joseph Teasdale of Enders Analysis. “They become redundant as new tech comes along.”

Francois Godard, senior media analyst at Enders, cautions that such mergers and acquisitions are not always straightforward. “We’ve seen it’s not so easy to build European coalitions that work,” he says, citing RTL’s sale of Channel 5 in 2010, or Mediaset which he says is “doing fine in Italy and Spain” but was “never able to build synergies.”

This makes it difficult to say whether The Rings Of Power will ever make a profit, according to Tom Harrington of media researchers Enders Analysis. 

'Given the structure of the streaming model, it is almost impossible to robustly attribute profitability to any single piece of content, unless a massive volume of incremental sign-ups that go straight to the show can be identified or there is a clear link between viewing of the program and other revenue streams. 

'Given the wild costs of Rings Of Power, subdued viewing figures (at least in the US and the UK), and the perennial inability of Amazon to create pathways between Prime Video and shopping, it's highly unlikely that Amazon is getting a strong return on its investment in the show.' 

“The Telegraph is a slightly odd commercial prospect because it has been in the Bardo – the place between death and rebirth – for years now,” Alice Enders, head of research at media analyst firm Enders Analysis, tells City AM. “Lloyds effectively took control of it in mid-2023, since when there has effectively been no owner.”

“The regulatory hurdles for any potential proprietor of a national news outlet are huge,” says Enders. “Ofcom takes these public interest tests super seriously. They take time. The Secretary of State and the regulator will need to make a decision, not just on the nominal owner, but also the individuals or institutions that are backing him or her.

“Indeed, the first aspect of that process will be Ofcom taking a very close look at the source of money that Efune – or whoever the successful suitor is – has compiled to make a bid.”