The loss of Sky basic channels, strong competition and a maturing broadband market have combined to weaken Virgin Media’s top line results sufficiently to cause cash flow to decline
Rising audiences for Cuatro in a booming TV advertising market have unexpectedly lifted Sogecable earnings in H1 2007, encouraging confidence that Cuatro will achieve breakeven in 2008, if not in 2007
The distribution business was slightly weak despite good like-for-like store sales, due to the lower quality ‘off-the-page’ newspaper advertisement business being successfully cut back by the mobile operators
The release of FY 2007 results on 27th July 2007 confirmed the strong performance of Sky and the success of its multi-product and service strategy over the past year, as reported in its trading update of 11th July
On 27th July the BBC will open access to the iPlayer to UK internet users, en route to a hard launch later this summer. This PC-based application allows the user to download BBC TV content after broadcast to view on the PC for a limited time, and provides a TV-like display on the PC. Delays to the launch will mean the iPlayer enters a field already crowded by other broadcasters, including Channel 4's 4oD service, ITV's broadband portal, Sky Anytime, as well as content aggregators such as Joost and Babelgum (both currently in beta)
Vodafone’s European operations revenue growth dropped, but not as much as various regulatory interventions would have warranted, implying a strong operational performance
Another record quarter of subscriber growth testifies again to the strengths of Sky’s marketing strategy and its successful entry into the telecommunications arena. The target of 10 million subscribers by the end of 2010 looks increasingly likely
TM is now looking at a sales target of £450 million instead of £600 million, though the revised target may still be too high, with the sale taking place at a time when regional newspaper fortunes are at a low ebb
Other results present a mixed picture: some improvements in costs, some progress online, but persisting doubts about TM’s ability to match its competitors over national newspaper sales and advertising revenues
Ofcom’s decision to hold a consultation on Sky’s pay DTT proposal will prevent its launch before Q1 2008 at the earliest and could be delayed to 2010 if Ofcom’s current investigation of the UK pay TV market ends, as seems increasingly likely, with a referral decision to the Competition Commission
The distribution business had a strong year, marred by a longer than usual Christmas hangover in the last quarter, but the early signs for the new financial year are promising
Vodafone achieved its 2006/07 full year targets on revenue and profitability, with solid revenue growth (underlying about 2% in Europe) but dropping margins (by around 2pps in Europe)