Francois said as streaming services proliferate, "Content is king, but the interface is queen."

Francois said As part of their deal, HBO and Sky also co-produce shows together like “Chernobyl” and “Catherine the Great.” Even after the current agreement expires, they may want to continue that partnership.

Joseph said “Facebook Marketplace and Dating are not huge commercial products, they aren't strategically central to Facebook, and they operate in competitive markets.However, there's a sense at competition authorities that they dropped the ball on things like Facebook's acquisition of Instagram, because they underestimated how complex and fast changing online markets are. Even if these investigations don't come to anything, they reflect a new determination not to let any potential abuse go unexamined.” 

There is doubtless an element of wishful thinking in some business plans, and a round of consolidation to come. James Barford at Enders Analysis argues that often they are based on the assumption that BT’s Openreach will not roll out in the same areas.

Jamie said “Conceptually they’re quite different – one is rolling news coverage across the day, the other opinion-led discussion with more emphasis on prime time – so the two aren’t in direct competition. But they do sit very close to one another in the EPG, within the same genre, and will compete for a declining quantity of overall broadcast viewing.”

Claire said “This is absolutely the right time to be considering a sale. A deal fever has descended on the media sector and barely a day goes by without a mega merger.”

She added “It’s hard to imagine Channel 4 ever being as remotely as valuable [as] the benefits it provides. It churns out millionaires and production companies that go on to work for Netflix, Disney and Amazon Prime."

Julian said “At the end of the day, you are talking about removing two fixtures between two of the best four teams in the competition."

Tom said “It’s one of those things that if you don’t watch them you assume no one else does, but actually the audience for the Sony Movie Channel is quite big."

He added “I’d say about 70% of their audience is over 55. That’s pretty old. But the audience has been stable over the past few years. And one thing about an older audience is that they’re less likely to be recording, watching it later and fast-forwarding the ads.” 

James said “The big change over the past couple of years is pressure on Huawei. Even in countries where there is no formal ban, you’re going to be thinking twice."

Tom said “Being the fifth, sixth or seventh-biggest content creator is not enough. People will take only a few services — there has to be consolidation.”