To draw in competitors to Canal+, French football Ligue 1 broadcasting rights are being tendered in 12 lots, offered in three sequential auctions (non-premium Fans matches, Premium, highlights)

Just as digital switchover (DSO) has finally begun, TV broadband convergence is beginning to make its mark in the UK following the launch of hybrid broadcast reception and IPTV services over DSL. In this context, UK DTV Homes Platform Forecasts: 2003-2017 updates our long-term DTV platform homes forecasts from 2006 (UK DTV Platform Growth [2006-40]), covering the digital satellite (DST), cable (DCT) and terrestrial (DTT) platforms

Emap’s sale last week of its consumer magazine and radio divisions to H. Bauer, the German privately-held publisher, for £1.14 billion is nothing short of miraculous given declining consumption and advertising trends in those business sectors currently, and for 2008

After two quarters that have fallen short of earlier guidance, TF1 Q3 results have at last met more subdued investor expectations of marginal growth in flagship TF1 channel advertising revenues in a total market expected to increase by about 4.5% in 2007, chiefly due to digital growth

Telecoms subscriber growth has improved sharply but this has been achieved at the expense of ARPU growth; revenue continues to decline

Apparent weaknesses in its Q3 2007 results notwithstanding, Premiere has a good chance of meeting its FY 2007 guidance targets of €1 billion in revenues and €80-100 million in EBITDA after recovering marketing rights to live televised domestic football

Uncertainties over football rights from September 2009 remain and doubts persist about long-term growth in a market where 95% of homes receive 30+ free-to-air (FTA) domestic TV channels. Even with News Corporation’s extra know-how, climbing from 3.53 million (end of Q3 2007) to 4 million direct subscribers will take some push, while 5 million looks a distant dream

The pay-TV business is performing well, helped by the ‘halo’ effect from broadband; we view the unexpectedly sharp drop in operating profit as a temporary result of record quarterly take-up of Sky+

School’s back and strong computer sales drove Apple’s Q4 FY2007 revenue to $6.22 billion, up 28.5% year-on-year

ITV plc set itself the annual target of 3-5% revenue growth up to 2010, then 5% to 2012, in its strategy presentation on September 12th 2007. Within the overall business growth target, ITV set itself a further three sub-targets. Two of these, the doubling of production revenues (currently in the region of £600 million per annum) by 2012 and the fivefold increase in online revenues from about £30 million in 2007 to £150 million in 2010 raised a good few eyebrows to judge by reactions afterwards; but the third target of 38.5% adult SOCI (share of commercial impacts, or ‘eyeballs delivered to advertisers’) by 2012 has drawn almost no attention

For the radio industry, the transition from an analogue broadcast system to a digital one is not going particularly smoothly. Data from the latest RAJAR audience survey, the first to track platform usage, showed that listening to digital radio stations remains stubbornly low. While the television industry has an agreed roadmap that includes a firm date for complete analogue switch-off, the radio industry has yet to determine such a date and appears mired in Ofcom consultations over the future shape of the commercial radio sector. This report examines the progress made so far towards ‘digital’ in the radio sector, and it explores the issues that require solutions if the industry’s migration is to prove successful

On 4th October Ofcom issued its consultation document on Sky’s proposals to provide a broader and more comprehensive range of programming by replacing its three free-to-air channels on Freeview with its Picnic hamper of five pay-TV services, including the Sky Sports 1 and Sky Movies SD1, as part of a flexible digital television, broadband and telephony service