Strong FY Q3 2007 results across all parts of Sky’s increasingly diversified portfolio testify to the success of its multiple product and service strategy as it makes the transition from a high price, high value to low price, high value business

UK broadband market growth fell to 3.2 million net additions in 2006 from 3.8 million in 2005. With 47% of UK households already on broadband, new entrant unbundlers (BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse) are racing against the clock of a maturing market to sign up customers

The spat between Virgin and Sky over cable carriage of Sky basic channels has generated much blogging, mostly supportive of Virgin, although neither party appears to be gaining from the ‘zero sum game’ dispute

Using a little understood provision of the merger rules, the government has asked Ofcom to take a look at the Sky stake in ITV, just in case the OFT did not come up with the right answer the first time round. As a result of the intervention, Ofcom will decide whether the share purchase reduced the number of separately managed broadcasters in the UK. Since this is almost exactly what the OFT is already doing, it is impossible to see how Ofcom could reach a different conclusion to the OFT. In this sense, the intervention has little point

Hostilities between Sky and Virgin have intensified during the course of cable’s re-launch, Sky’s announcement of its pay-DTT plans, and bilateral negotiations over channel carriage fee payments on the satellite and cable platforms

Strong second quarter subscriber figures, including 432,000 gross additions, the highest in six years, attest to a strong and improving product offer. To reach the core target of 10 million subscribers by 2010 will, however, require poaching many cable customers

Three sources of downside risk for Trader Media include: a sluggish car market impacting on print and online ad volumes; the decline of print ad volumes as a result of the shift to online and resulting compression of Trader’s operating margins; Trader’s powerful competitors in the online ad market, especially eBay

Trader’s valuation could be 10 to 11 times 2006 profit of £120 million, although a minority stake makes it difficult for a private equity investor to get in, slash the expensive print-based cost structure, and get out quickly