Following Virgin Media's announcement that it will provide its customers with a new set-top box which would combine the internet and television on one screen (Virgin boss boasts better TV than Sky), the FT observed that "rivals including BSkyB and YouView, are rushing out similar services, but Virgin said its offering was the first of scale".

Having warned that questions would be asked over the reliability of the technology, as "Virgin has had problems over customer service" the FT asked Toby Syfret for his view. He said: “This is a chance to produce something that is user friendly and encourages video usage... But seeing is believing, so we will have to wait to see if it works.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3975a6f8-fd3c-11df-b83c-00144feab49a.html#axz…

In an article which revealed that Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary has told BT that the government would not provide it with a “blank cheque” (BT warned over broadband funds) the FT explained that a fund of £830m (drawn from the BBC licence fee over the next seven years) will be made available to extend the high-speed broadband network. Although the fund is open to other broadband operators, BT claims that the fund would enable it to extend its high-speed network to 90 per cent of UK homes. BT is spending £2.5bn on its network to reach two thirds of homes by 2015.

Ian Watt was asked for his view. He said that he expected BT to be the company that secures the largest portion of the £830m, partly because it was best placed to provide significant additional funds of its own to expand superfast broadband to rural areas.

In an article which indicated that Apple may be struggling to maintain quality control over its App Store (Japan publishers accuses of App Store of piracy, the FT revealed that the Japanese Book Publishers Association is claiming that "Apple had failed to address numerous private complaints about the handling of bootlegged works, many of which are Chinese translations".

Benedict Evans was asked for his view. He said: “From Apple’s perspective, there are 300,000 applications on the App Store and 50,000 book apps – they can’t check all of them... They have a scale problem but not a willingness problem.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/57879f8c-0793-11e0-8d80-00144feabdc0.html#axz…

In an article which heralded a competitive environment for data tariffs (3 unlimited data tariff challenges market) the Financial Times observed that 3, the UK's smallest mobile network operator "is seeking to double its subscriber numbers over the next five years and regards its new unlimited data tariffs as an important driver of growth".

When asked if 3’s move could enable it to poach customers from rivals, James Barford said that unlimited data tariffs were attractive to consumers, but they risked being “uneconomic” for operators if downloading surged on their networks.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40d8ffc4-0888-11e0-80d9-00144feabdc0.html#axz…

With evidence available for the first time of the take-up of the online subscription service for the Times and Sunday Times (Experts doubt Times paywall data) the FT suggested that the subscriber statistics published by News International were unreliable and even had been described by analysts and commentators as “chicanery”."

The article revealed that although News International had claimed that "105,000 “digital products” of The Times and The Sunday Times had been sold since the paywall went up in July, of those, more than 50,000 related to people currently paying monthly subscriptions for an iPad edition, for content on Amazon’s Kindle or in weekly £2 payments through the website".

Douglas McCabe was asked for his view. He said: “The numbers seem to demonstrate people are more inclined to pay for convenient on-the-move news services [the tablet], rather than desktop access.”

Following the decision by the business secretary, Vince Cable, to refer to Ofcom's adjudication in the public interest, the proposed bid by Newscorp for the remaining 60.9 per cent of BSkyB that it does not already own (Ofcom weighs case in interests of the public) the FT suggested that the regulator's view will be determined largely by a perceived loss of plurality resulting from Newscorp's consolidation of media ownership.

Chris Goodall was asked for his opinion. He said that “Plurality is an anticompetitive construct." He added that its function is to "prevent market forces being the sole determinant of the provision of news and current affairs because we have decided as a society that we would rather have a wider choice of opinions and information to listen to, read or watch on television.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/98d332c6-e84e-11df-8995-00144feab49a.html

Commenting on the six year funding settlement for the BBC announced by the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, (BBC deal offers comfort to rivals) the FT emphasised that the broadcaster was forced to accept a long-term freeze of its licence fee while assuming additional spending, equivalent to 10 per cent of its current income. The article reiterated the BBC's assertion that planned efficiency savings will cover the consequent shortfall in funding of £628m by 2016-17. Toby Syfret was asked for his view.

The FT covered the announcement of BSkyB's first quarter financial results (BSkyB keeps focus as Murdoch prowls) and observed that its sales had increased by 15 per cent to reach £1.53bn; its customer numbers were rising in line with a 10m target; and that its pre-tax profits had increased by 24 per cent to reach £230m. The article concluded that the "contrasting fortunes of the BBC and BSkyB amplify the concerns expressed by some media analysts, who have urged the government to investigate the proposed News Corp bid".

When asked for her view Claire Enders said BSkyB would continue to become more powerful, while the BBC would weaken over the coming decade.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/935564a4-dda9-11df-8354-00144feabdc0.html?ftc…

Reporting on the first set of results published by the mobile phone operator, Everything Everywhere, created from the merger of the Orange and T-Mobile businesses in the UK (Everything Everywhere - disappoints analysts), the FT reiterated the operator's ambition to establish a 3G network to cover 99.6 per cent of the UK population by 2014.

James Barford was asked for his view. He said that Everything Everywhere’s planned network would offer “far better coverage” than the existing 3G infrastructures belonging to O2 or Vodafone.

In an article which questioned the future for print media devoted exclusively to women readers (Women's magazine sector is bullish about the future. Digital options grow but glossies are also confident about their survival in print), The Guardian concluded that women's magazines appear to be in surprisingly good shape.
Douglas McCabe was asked for his view. He said: "The female space is a lot more resilient than almost every other print media that we can think of... Print magazines simply suit the kind of content that is centre stage in those titles – fashion, beauty, great photography. While there is a lot of online content of that nature, it's a limited substitution. That doesn't mean the industry is without problems, although the upmarket titles are better placed than ones further down the pecking order."