Karen Egan from research group Enders Analysis said e&’s public support for Read’s approach before his departure ‘probably prompted Cevian to pull out’. 

But she added that while the activist investors ‘may have given up hope’, other investors would be ‘campaigning hard for a fresh approach’ to recoup the losses in the share price.

‘The board will be under considerable pressure from all shareholders , many of whom will have lost a quarter of their money on Vodafone shares in the past year alone, to appoint a new boss with a more radical vision,’ Egan said.

Tom said "Viewing is narrowing around bigger shows and fewer hits."

Tom said that the shift is being driven by the increasingly sophisticated way in which SVoD services are promoting their programmes, as well as the fact that their content remains permanently available. “The viewing of less relevant content is sometimes inescapable on linear TV,” he added.

He concluded that consumers are paying less for a greater volume of choice, but watching fewer shows.

“It is a scenario that has clear winners—playing to the advantage of those with ‘bigger’ IP and programming that is able to cut through with little marketing as it is already part of the public consciousness—and those that will be challenged: spending increasing amounts on programming that has a declining chance of finding a sustainable audience.”

“This is more than putting the mouse on the treadmill,” Gareth Sutcliffe, of Enders Analysis, amedia research group, said. “It can’t just be window dressing, it needs to be really material and impactful change.”

It is unlikely to be easy for Iger. “This is a CEO who likes to be liked,” Sutcliffe said. “When you’re under a significant amount of pressure, it’s going to be difficult to maintain that level of popularity.”

“They will hang together, those four kids,” says Claire Enders, a media analyst who has tracked the Murdoch empire for decades. “They don’t need the money.”

She expects the future of weak legacy assets, including the newspapers in the UK and Australia, will be the real question for the next generation. “Everyone understands how Rupert feels, but no one else is going to pay for that,” she says.

“Digital advertising is more valuable in the US,” explained Abi Watson, a media analyst at Enders Analysis. “The US is much richer.” Additionally, because the dollar has grown against the pound in recent years, American revenues have become more valuable to UK companies.

“Part of it is a numbers thing,” Watson added. “There are not going to be enough people that you are going to reach in the UK to offset the decline in newsstand sales, even if your business has subscriptions. [US expansion is] a necessity.”

Claire Enders, a media analyst who liaises with the government on broadcasting policy, argued that Channel 4 would reinvest profits made from selling shows into new content. “In a way, it would be more beneficial for Channel 4 to retain and reinvest rights than automatically give them away to producers who don’t all require that kind of assistance,” she added.

Amazon, NBCUniversal, Disney and Discovery have all announced their own ventures in so-called t-commerce, but experts aren’t convinced any of this tech is going to pay for streamers' own programme shopping. “These are all pretty niche opportunities – normal product placement is a nice addition to have, but it hardly drives the businesses of studios or broadcasters,” says Tom Harrington, analyst at Enders Analysis. “This technology feasibly extends that segment a bit but doesn't really combat the real limitations – which are regulation and the audience's tolerance for product placement.” 

“That’s not happening,” said media analyst Claire Enders, of Britain’s Enders Analysis. “The WSJ is the core asset of News Corp.”