Karen Egan of Enders Analysis, however, believes there are good reasons to allow the merger: "The negative financial spiral of [Three] and, to a lesser extent, Vodafone, indicates that the market is too crowded. Compared to 2015, the revenues of mobile operators , in real value, are down 20%," she underlines.

Karen Egan, an analyst at Enders Analysis, added the regulator had been “rather hawkish” in recent months, pointing to its decision to block Microsoft’s $69bn (£54bn) takeover of Call of Duty video games maker Activision.

Karen Egan, head of mobile at Enders Analysis, said: “They are certainly making a strong case for merger approval, focusing on the benefits of the quality of a combined network, and wanting to emphasise that they will continue to offer a range of tariffs, including social tariffs.

“We think that there is a very strong case for approval with traffic up tenfold since the last mobile merger was proposed and revenues down by 5 per cent over the same time. The economics of sub-scale nationwide operators is not viable any more. Whether the CMA will be convinced is another thing. It is going to be a long and tortuous road to approval, taking around 12 to 18 months.”

Karen Egan, head on mobile at Enders Analysis, said the companies were "certainly making a strong case for merger approval".

However, getting there "is going to be a long and tortuous road", she said and could take up to 18 months.

Ms Egan added that the "CMA's hawkish approach to mergers of late is not encouraging", after the competition watchdog blocked UK approval for Microsoft's proposed $69bn takeover of Call of Duty-owner Activision Blizzard.

François Godard, at Enders Analysis, does not see this as a change in Netflix's strategy. “It is above all experimental. I doubt that the group will start betting hundreds of millions in sports, when it has other less risky growth engines in its offer with advertising, in subscriptions linked to the end of password sharing, in games… he explains. This is very different from the case of Amazon, which seeks regular programs to retain its customers and encourage them to consume on the e-commerce site."

“Berlusconi really went into politics to defend his media interests and establish Mediaset as the dominant operator in Italy,” said Enders’ Godard. “You would have to call that a success from a broadcasting and a lobbying point of view. Private broadcasting exploded in the 1970s without any legal framework, and he was brave in buying companies and being the best of the entrepreneurs. Then, when the state threatened to establish legal order, he managed to move into power and protect Mediaset.”

Consolidation has been the name of the game in the recent past, but Godard believes the group ultimately has struggled with the global transition to digital, instead relying more heavily on advertising while rivals diversify.

“They made some really good commercial decisions with their converged products,” said Karen Egan, an analyst at Enders. “But the big strategic question mark — and I think the question mark’s getting bigger every day — is Nexfibre.” She said it would have to speed up its build up from about 100,000 homes a quarter to 300,000 if it is to hit that target without a deal.

“The show’s going to be 35 years old this October and it’s had presenters come and go,” says Alice Enders at Enders Analysis. “The point is that it’s the format that drives the audiences.”

Douglas McCabe, analyst at Enders, said newspaper stewardship “is not the same as widget factory management . . . For some proprietors, influence and relevance are important factors alongside commercial success.”

McCabe added that since 2018 the newspaper had “expressed quality digital publishing nous, with lower story volumes but impressive impact. Its digital subscription model, and product development, have been well executed.”

According to François Godard of the research company Enders Analysis, the landscape has changed quickly.

“Discovery already had sports in Europe and were seeing this as an opportunity to upgrade their business model,” he says. “If you have something high profile like Premier League and Champions League rights you can go direct to consumer [with Discovery+], which is where everyone wanted to go. Now companies like Disney are not only cutting costs on content but they are willing to consider licensing it too. Now you must look at [the content it will get from] BT Sport alone: does it make sense and how can it make a profit? It’s not that it’s impossible but it’s something that’s long term and it will depend a lot on relationships with third parties, like Sky, selling it to consumers for you.”