Claire said “This is absolutely the right time to be considering a sale. A deal fever has descended on the media sector and barely a day goes by without a mega merger.”

She added “It’s hard to imagine Channel 4 ever being as remotely as valuable [as] the benefits it provides. It churns out millionaires and production companies that go on to work for Netflix, Disney and Amazon Prime."

Julian said “At the end of the day, you are talking about removing two fixtures between two of the best four teams in the competition."

Tom said “It’s one of those things that if you don’t watch them you assume no one else does, but actually the audience for the Sony Movie Channel is quite big."

He added “I’d say about 70% of their audience is over 55. That’s pretty old. But the audience has been stable over the past few years. And one thing about an older audience is that they’re less likely to be recording, watching it later and fast-forwarding the ads.” 

James said “The big change over the past couple of years is pressure on Huawei. Even in countries where there is no formal ban, you’re going to be thinking twice."

Tom said “Being the fifth, sixth or seventh-biggest content creator is not enough. People will take only a few services — there has to be consolidation.”

Francois said  “The Warner-Discovery and TF1-M6 merger plans have dramatically pushed consolidation up European commercial television’s agenda.  Wave after wave of consolidation in the entertainment industry has progressively dwarfed European operators. In 2010, the revenues of the region’s largest broadcaster, the RTL Group, already amounted to just 20 percent of Disney’s, and by 2020 this ratio had halved. The last decade has seen the emergence of global vertically integrated content producers and distributors, such as Netflix and Amazon, and the spread of this model to Hollywood-based studios, while the likes of Facebook and Google have grown to become direct competitors to TV channels that used to be seen as ‘licenses to print money."

Claire said “Decriminalizing the license fee could cost the BBC 10 percent of its budget, which would force deep cuts in programming and staff. But under the current timetable for reviewing public-service broadcasting in Britain, the fee is safe until 2027"

She added "They’re going to make sure this never happens again. They’re going to make sure the Diana interview is wiped from the annals of history, that they can’t make money from it again.”

Tom said "When that deal comes up it could certainly go behind a paywall - Amazon or elsewhere - as it did with Sky for a bit. Major difference with having it on a big streaming service, however, is that it would cannibalise renting or buying the film online."

He added "At the moment ITV's rights are very limited when it comes to catch-up or live streaming of James Bond, so renting or buying is protected. Amazon might see their value to Prime trumps the foregone revenues there though."

Sanchit said 'As people spend more time consuming online content, having something that is fresh or adds value is more important than ever for streaming platforms."

Amazon understands the quality and depth of content is a really important differentiator. "With a name like MGM, it would add a very well-established library that customers can't get elsewhere."

Sanchit said “They may be prepared to pay more because you get people into Prime Video and two or three weeks later they go for fully-charged Amazon Prime with ecommerce, music etc. It makes the entry point to the Amazon flywheel more appealing. With Amazon it is all about subscription growth.”