Analysts agree that this is a good opportunity for the UK broadcaster. “The future of the BBC at this point as an international player may be to strike deals with [streaming companies],” says Francois Godard, senior media and telecoms analyst at Enders Analysis, the media research firm. Platforms are, he continues, looking for “outside content, third party content, because they are cutting costs.”

Godard also noted the advantages for companies that have produced popular shows to partner with streaming media companies: “Disney has a capacity to leverage, to monetize brands that the BBC doesn't have.” But he added a caveat: “The only worry for me about the BBC is that they find themselves dependent on Disney. Dependent on Disney for the budget of new episodes … and the international brand of Doctor Who.”

This fringe group of “extremely wealthy financiers… in favour of unconstrained profit-seeking”, as tech analyst Joseph Teasdale put it, do however have significant influence. Not least because amongst their count include Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, and Andreessen, who is the co-founder of a $35bn venture capital firm az16

James Barford, head of telecoms research at Enders Analysis, said any acquisition would be “very small” from BT’s perspective but that the FTSE 100 company was “likely interested in bulking up its presence in the refurbished/recycled smartphone market, an area that all of the operators have taken more interest in recently”.

Rupert’s standing-down manoeuvre looks like a strategic ploy to improve optics on Wall Street ahead of a $2.7bn Smartmatic defamation suit against Fox News, says Claire Enders, a media analyst. “I don’t think anything has changed about Mr Murdoch’s life. This was a market, stock-driven event.”

The deep-pocketed Marshall, a chief investor in GB News and founder of the opinion-based website UnHerd, is on a mission to influence British political debate. “Sir Paul Marshall will bid with his whole heart for the Telegraph,” says Enders. “He is really deeply interested in having an impact on conservatism.”

Tom Harrington, head of television at media consultants Enders Analysis, questioned whether the line-up would retain enough of Netflix’s early-adopters, who first signed up for The Crown and innovative award-winning series like House of Cards and Stranger Things.

Mr Harrington told i: “The Crown is limping a bit to the finish line in terms of critical resonance but its viewing remains very strong. The gap it leaves is an important one.”

He said Netflix should explore a Crown spin-off, in the way that the hit historical drama series Bridgerton spawned a prequel, Queen Charlotte.

James said BT shareholders were now “exposed to much less risk than they once were”. He added that this was because the funding deficit was “much less volatile than it used to be, as the pension trustees have hedged most of the fund assets to match future payout obligations, and also much lower due to BT’s ongoing payments reducing the deficit”.

This is a way to save money by “outsourcing moderation costs to users [allowing Musk to] avoid paying professional fact checkers by getting the punters to add context and vote” according to Joseph Teasdale.

However, overall Teasdale “likes” community notes. He told City A.M. notes are “a nice middle ground between doing nothing about false or misleading posts and simply removing them.”

He pointed out the “problems with a central platform applying content policies designed on the West coast of the USA to products that people all over the world rely on for information”. 

“I’m sure community notes are open to abuse, if enough users organise against  a given tweet or opinion,” Teasdale agreed.

Karen Egan, a senior telecoms analyst at Enders Analysis, said the Spain deal will be taken as a positive sign that Della Valle is “delivering on her promises” and that it “helps to demonstrate that she is delivering deals in a way [her predecessor] did not manage to”.

Enders Analysis' Karen Egan said the multiple of 5.3 times core earnings was well below other recent deals, and was disappointing in the context of Vodafone's history in Spain, where it had paid 7.2 billion euros to buy Ono in 2014.

But she said Della Valle was under pressure to deliver a deal, and Zegona's track record in Spain made it somewhat uniquely qualified to take on the challenge.

Karen Egan at Enders Analysis said: “While the pragmatism of the move will be applauded, the valuation may be viewed as disappointing by some.”

She said this partly reflected the “intensively competitive” market in Spain, the uncertain outlook — with MasMovil, the country’s fourth-biggest operator, awaiting clearance from the European Commission for a joint venture with Orange — and Vodafone being a “keen seller”, as Della Valle was “under pressure to deliver a deal where her predecessor did not”.

Egan added, however, that Zegona’s “track record” in Spain made it “somewhat uniquely qualified to consider taking on such a challenge”.