James said "The traditional analogue landline signal is carried over copper - that's what it is. And so if you go to fibre, you have to do something else and [voice over internet protocol (VOIP)] is the obvious thing."

He added that customers should not notice a drop in quality compared with the PSTN system, "They should be at least as good, possibly better."

Douglas said booming ecommerce during the pandemic had spurred digital advertising, while revenue from print newspapers “has fallen dramatically over 10 years, so there’s not so much left to fall off”. “Investors are starting to think maybe there is something there . . . and you could not say that two years ago."

Joseph said the chasing pack had attracted new users during the pandemic, but he did not foresee Facebook “losing significant market share” any time soon. “Other businesses will have an element that is better than Facebook: TikTok has a killer young audience and Twitter’s ads are cheaper, but Facebook is an irresistible force and an immovable object has yet to appear in its path.”

Francois believes those savings are limited. He points out that in Spain, DAZN content is also available via "traditional linear channels".

"Look at the price of satellite channels today, it's no big savings, and online video is expensive because you need servers everywhere," he says.

This is a particular issue for sport because it is live and "everybody's watching at the same time", which increases the demand on the servers that are essential to relaying the live pictures into people's homes.

Francois assures that the Argentine star's departure "will not help" Barça and will help PSG, but believes that "the impact on the popularity of the leagues will be very small." Thus, he added that "marginally it can increase the interest by the Ligue 1, but the number one problem of this one is the lack of interesting competitors for the PSG."

 Finally, the French analyst appreciates a positive effect on Messi's departure, "this departure may force LaLiga to analyze its own collective problems, especially the weakness of the 18 youngest."

Karen described Vodafone’s decision as “inevitable”. She said the likely expectation was that rival operator Virgin Media O2, plus virtual network providers such as Tesco Mobile and Sky, would now follow suit on re-introducing roaming charges.

Karen said that the change in stance was “inevitable” because mobile operators were already exposed to up to €75 of monthly wholesale charges for roaming traffic per customer, which is likely to rise from next year. This is because the EU’s cap on wholesale charges will no longer apply to UK operators from January. She said that EE and Vodafone’s move made it “that bit easier now for O2 to follow that lead."

Karen said the move was "inevitable" as it exposed operators to up to €75 in monthly wholesale charges per customer.

She now expected Virgin Media O2 and virtual network operators such as Tesco Mobile and Sky to revive roaming charges.

"Free EU roaming has become a highly politically sensitive issue and the operators have been somewhat reluctant to be seen to be reintroducing charges," she added.

"There was a lot of negative press around O2 when it was simply introducing a fair usage cap which brought it into line with other mobile operators, and even more for EE as the first operator to announce the reintroduction of EU roaming fees back in June."

Tom said “A minority of people have been annoyed by the [BBC’s] reduced coverage. The BBC made a pragmatic move. If they had carried dozens of simultaneous streams it would be costly, but the reality is not many people would have watched them, particularly with the time-zone issue. Of course the BBC would want to have everything, but times have changed.”