Public service broadcasters are in a position to plan for the long term with commercial licences renewed for ten years, an updated prominence regime via the Media Bill and a government broadly supportive of the BBC.

With the Premier League and EFL rights secure to the end of the decade, Sky can plan for the future from a position of strength.

Relationships between Sky and the PSBs have improved markedly recently, and as all can now plan for the long-term, this should provide further opportunities to cement relationships for the benefit of the broadcasting ecosystem and viewers.

Netflix had its second-biggest quarter ever for net subscriber additions—up 13.1 million to 260 million, behind only Q1 2020—with the streamer's 'paid sharing' initiative the key factor. Meanwhile, Netflix's expansive deal with WWE moves it definitively into the live streaming market, although perhaps not yet sports

The universality of Netflix's non-English content is overstated but it did mitigate the reduced volume of new US content due to the strikes. With a continuing bleak US production outlook, this is not a card most competitors hold

Netflix's ad business is making gradual progress, with the streamer's suite of games now a target for further monetisation

The value of the domestic rights of major European leagues is falling due to the declining competitive intensity between broadcasters.

The Premier League’s new rights deal extends its lead, while Serie A faces a 10% fall in revenue next season and Ligue 1 struggles to get a flat fee.

Sky and DAZN have cemented their status as Europe’s top football broadcasters. Amazon has refocused to one game per week.

The Premier League will earn 3.5% more per year from its domestic rights for 2025- 29 than today, enough to maintain the gap with rival competitions.

Sky will pay 7% more for as many as 70% more games and cement the prominence of its Premier League coverage, while the Saturday 3pm slot could host the Women’s Super League.

TNT Sports secures its premium profile and Amazon shifts its focus to the Champions League.

Mobile service revenue growth dipped to 5.6% this quarter as the impact of Q2’s price rises began to wane, and the prospective lower price rises look set to slow growth to 2% by the end of 2024.

Bargain-hunting in the sector continues with the MVNOs still taking the lion’s share of net adds, to the detriment of the MNOs.

EE is offering keenly priced convergence and family plans with its new platform—another challenge for the other MNOs who don’t share the same incentives.

Interest in women’s football is unprecedentedly high, with record attendances, TV audiences and importantly participation.

Investment into the Women’s Super League is critical to the long-term success of the game. Strong broadcast partnerships must continue to play a vital role.

WSL viewing is low but increasing. Currently, it is a cost-effective filler for Sky, and good for the BBC’s profile. Rights value should rise but the WSL needs broadcasters more than they need the WSL.

CEO Bob Iger has announced that Disney is now in a "building" phase—indicating that the strategic turnaround is complete—however, upcoming breakeven of  streaming products owes much to cuts on programming spend

With the rest of Hulu soon to be acquired, Disney looks as if it is pulling out of India—this will make the company's presence outside of the US even more peripheral

In the UK, Disney+'s advertising-supported tier is now live, however, there are forces at play that limit Disney's ability to execute its tiering strategy as effectively as its biggest streaming competitor

BT continued to perform well financially in Q2, with revenue and EBITDA growth remaining robust, and full year cashflow guidance nudged up.

ARPU growth remained robust across fixed, mobile and Openreach, but subscriber growth was weaker, especially in mobile and Openreach, and this will become more of a concern if it persists.

Maintaining growth across retail divisions will be a challenge as the price rise effect wanes, especially in weak economic conditions, and while Openreach’s FTTP roll-out is going well, full success is still not assured.

With a difficult price rise adjustment now behind it, VMO2’s subscriber momentum is much improved, in part aided by accelerated network expansion.

Backbook pricing remains under pressure on the fixed network with revenues down 1.2% in spite of sizeable price rises and footprint expansion—upcoming OTS may exacerbate this issue.

VMO2 has thus far only countered the downside of the UK’s fibre revolution. A new approach to branding and expansion of its addressable market are upside opportunities—with the ultimate potential to even deliver improvements on its previous position.

Unable to match Netflix, financially-pressed Hollywood studios are cutting content output and reassessing the DTC model

Price rises are being forced through, however for challengers this is asking a lot from subs, who don’t see an improvement in product or usage

The corporate landscape is fluid—loss-making DTC platforms and revenue-plunging linear channels are candidates for M&A