Claire said a deal baked into an inflationary rise of 2.5pc a year “would be a very good day for the BBC, Richard Sharp and Tim Davie”, adding that it would be a £25bn deal.

She added “I think we are in some kind of suspense. And the simultaneous disappearance of Dowden and media minister John Whittingdale is not a good day for the BBC. Those two were very heavily involved in that negotiation."

Douglas said “It’s not a business that you go into to make money. Making money from newspapers is hard enough. Making money from TV news is even harder.”

Tom said “I think the fact that they have been umming and ahing about launching this channel, and had apparently recently decided that it wasn’t for them, is instructive as to how viable it could be. News is expensive and hard, and as GB News shows, the audience for an alternative viewpoint to the BBC, Sky, ITV etc is smaller than some think – basically it seems that more people like to read and talk about GB News than actually want to watch it.”

He added “There are obvious synergies for News UK, and opportunities to promote it across the print brands, and the talent onscreen could be attractive. But it will be a challenge to stand out against better funded and established operations – other than by skewing to a particular political direction, which of course then alienates a section of the audience.”

Julian said The players’ motivation is perhaps a little more calculating than that. “Twitch is the Generation Z platform. It skews very young, and quite male. It is quite a different audience to traditional broadcasters.” Llanos offers a precious route into that audience: His interview with Dybala, for example, attracted more than 100,000 live, largely teenage viewers.

He added “Twitch has much more of a community vibe. It’s much more interactive.” 

Tom said Persuading Broccoli to exploit the wider Bond IP seems to be Amazon’s best bet. "You could see James Bond TV on Amazon. You could have the exact same people from the movie in a 10-hour series, maybe following the adventures of Moneypenny. That would get greenlit and funded and help bring in a different audience, while keeping the main brand intact."

Francois said "Amazon has had a very pragmatic approach to [sports TV rights] and so far their spending has only been going in one direction, and that is up. Across countries they have been increasing their exposure and buying more important rights."

"Will [the US Open final] change their view in the UK market? No. Tennis works very well for Amazon, not because it triggers subscription sales for Tennis coverage, but because it is a big event that draws awareness of the broader Prime service so people will buy more products."

Demand is rippling out from the south-east, a trend encouraged by yet more incentives from local film bodies. Streaming services are moving into cities where national broadcasters have long been required by government rules to make some content, says Tom Harrington of Enders Analysis.

Francois said the markets make a bitter observation: consumption on fixed and mobile networks is soaring, but the incomes of operators are hopelessly stagnating, due to the fierce competition that reigns. "It is the consumer who wins."

And nothing seems to help. “Investors were betting on several catalysts: consolidation, 5G, fiber monetization… list Carlos Winzer, senior vice president at Moody's. For the moment, none has produced the desired effects. And the Stock Exchange does not have the patience to wait. The generous dividends paid by some operators to limit the damage are not enough."

Francois said "Soccer is a very solid business in absolute terms, in Europe there is no real competitor for it, and the quality of the spectacle is possibly as good as ever."

He added "Ten years from now there will be millions of fans willing to spend money on football, and there will be video services willing to spend billions to broadcast the games, and advertisers willing to stick their names on their jerseys. I'm not sure you can say the same of many other sectors of the entertainment."

Joseph said there is ample evidence of the financial benefits of charging commissions. In 2019, Google’s parent, Alphabet, drew an estimated 20 per cent of operating profits from Play, even though it was just 10 per cent of revenue. Apple bundles the App Store into “services”, a category that accounts for one-fifth of revenue, one-third of gross profit margin, and almost all margin growth.