Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the UK newspaper crises, which is driving rivals collaboration in face of fast declining print advertising. Richard Desmond, who owns the Express newspaper group, and Simon Fox, Trinity Mirror chief executive, called on a potential merger. Douglas said “in these challenging times, newspaper owners are having to think the unthinkable. Consolidation is inevitable.”

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the future of ITV, as speculation grows over changes at the top of UK broadcaster. Claire said “this is a watershed year for ITV. This is the year that people realise that peak TV is behind us and while ITV has many different levers of revenue advertising will be tough. Adam has done a great job but the fact is ITV is in play because of the fall in the company’s share price and the value of sterling.”

James Barford was quoted in The Times on UK broadband speeds following Ofcom's "Connected Nations 2016" report. James said "If you look at comparable countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain, we are doing extremely well. We have the fastest broadband speeds, the widest availability of superfast speeds and among the lowest prices", but added more could be done.

Francois Godard was quoted in an article on Vincent Bolloré’s intent on creating a southern European powerhouse in media and content, and Vivendi's Mediaset stakebuilding is another step towards that goal. Bolloré’s move on Italian broadcaster Mediaset has all the hallmarks of tactics honed over four decades of dealmaking: aggressiveness, audacity and creeping control. Francois said “it’s typical Bolloré. It’s very bold, it’s not a straightforward bid to buy a company and he’s obviously betting on dissent among the Berlusconi family.”

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.