Claire Enders was interviewed on BBC Radio4’s Today Programme on 21st Century Fox takeover of Sky. Claire said “I think it’s very likely that even if there is a plurality investigation that this will go through, and it will go either very fast – i.e. it will be concluded within six months because there is no plurality investigation, or it will take another few months after that, so it will conclude, say, within a year. It is a different situation, and the entities have been structured differently. And, of course, Rupert Murdoch is no longer at the fore of managing any of these entities.”

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on Rupert Murdoch’s latest move to seize full control of Sky. Murdoch has played the long game in calculating that the UK political and media landscape has been transformed in the five years since he previously tried to acquire the British broadcaster. Claire said "the entities involved are substantially different. Yes, the Murdoch family is still in control but the role of the family has changed”.

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on print advertising revenues, which have fallen sharply since the turn of the year, and could fall by as much as 20 per cent in 2016, according to Enders, while Google and Facebook have become more dominant. Douglas said that “there was a period where it looked like digital might start to offset the decline in print, but a lot of the trends have got worse. Convergence has become divergence.”

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the future of newspapers. The dramatic events of this summer such as the UK’s referendum vote to leave the EU, and Donald Trump’s unconventional march on the White House boosted circulations across newspapers, from The Guardian and the New York Times to the Daily Mail. However, the surge was temporary and the outlook for print advertising has gone from bad to worse. Douglas said that print newspaper ad spending in the UK, for instance, is set to fall by £135m to £866m this year, even steeper than the £112m drop in 2015. He added “These are big numbers. This is not advertising that is going to come back.”

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the UK’s biggest joint advertising sales operation. Newspaper groups are moving further towards establishing a sales operation to combat the sharp fall in print revenues. National newspaper publishers met this month and agreed an extended period of research into how they can work together more closely and share costs. However, even if newspaper owners signed off on the joint sales plan, it would be unlikely to launch before 2018 as publishers seek to avoid intervention from regulators which would cause further delays or kill the idea altogether. Claire said “People have to think long and hard about a CMA process that will delay the activation of costs sharing and cost cutting measures that are essential for the industry to have a long-term future.

Thomas Caldecott was quoted in an article on the parent company of the Telegraph Media Group which has paid its owners a dividend of £150 million while swinging to a big loss, heightening speculation that its owners, Sir Frederick Barclay and his twin brother, Sir David, may be preparing a sale of the newspaper group. Thomas said the Telegraph group was financially robust. However, it had been forced to cut costs and was arriving at a point where it could not extract overheads without compromising the quality of the product.

Alice Enders was quoted in an article discussing the UK's possible post-Brexit trade arrangements with the EU, saying “All of this can be done without any mess or fuss. There can be a transitional period of post-Brexit tariff-free trade between the UK and the EU until a formal free-trade arrangement is finalised — this is the wholehearted wish of EU companies reliant on supply chains involving the UK. “There is much precedent for such an arrangement from the EU side. And this would not involve the UK continuing with unchecked migration from the EU or substantial payments into the EU budget.”

Ms Enders was absolutely not in favour of Brexit: this is dispassionate analysis, not politically motivated wishful thinking.

Toby Syfret was quoted in an article on the war for content in broadcasting. Last week, public service broadcaster Channel 4 bought the rights to screen The Great British Bake Off, the UK’s most popular TV show, for a reported £75m over three years. The deal reflects how competitive the market for watchable programming has become. Toby reckons that Channel 4 should make a modest profit on its rumoured outlay if more than 5m viewers regularly watch the show.

Tom Harrington was quoted in an article on the BBC, ITV and other traditional broadcasters who will struggle to attract A-list stars if Netflix and the major streaming giants continue to outspend them on shows. Tom said that the streaming giants are still in their relative infancy and so are splashing out vast sums in a bid to outcompete traditional broadcasters. He added that, as younger viewers turned in increasing numbers to streaming services, terrestrial channels may start to target an older audience with their programming, catering to the ageing demographic of those who prefer traditional scheduled TV.
Further, he said that “what’s happening right now is that it is early days for streaming services and they are rushing to fill their arsenal with programming, you will see a lot of the major talent, the proper movie stars, on the streaming channels, as they are rushing to snap people up. If it’s a head-to-head money-wise [for the biggest names] then the traditional broadcasters will lose.” He added, however, that the current levels of spending from Netflix and Amazon on original series were unsustainable in the long term and that the BBC and ITV could still trade on the “cachet” and prestige of appearing in a flagship prime-time series on terrestrial TV. Tom explained that there is “a lot of life left” in traditional TV schedules, but added: “Watching linear TV is going down, mostly among younger age groups, where streaming is going up... So TV shows may be targeted at an even older demographic.”

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article which confirms Telegraph Media Group is not for sale rebuffing expressions of interest from potential buyers in the past six months. “The Telegraph is better placed than most. It has a large subscriber base and circulation seems reasonably robust. Newspapers, even great and profitable newspapers, are not quite the prized assets they once were, but the Telegraph is a powerful voice in the British political and cultural landscape.”