The November 12th bids for football rights are a nightmare for Canal+. Its operating margins and cash flow are under pressure, but failure to outbid TPS would mean a probable loss of perhaps 25% of its subscribers. This makes it likely, we think, that TPS will end up buying Canal+ from Vivendi, whoever wins the football rights, at a much lower price than the valuation of €3.5bn suggested recently by Morgan Stanley. Similarly, Vivendi may realise that it will be forced to sell the studio and the record business to Bronfman/Diller for less than current valuations. This potential devastating scenario perhaps explains why M. Fourtou is so keen to buy the rest of Cegetel, rather than selling out to Vodafone. Otherwise he would have little else left to manage. Or perhaps he is simply playing poker with Chris Gent, but running the risk that he ends up over paying. Vodafone cannot lose. It will either buy Cegetel now, or wait for it to fall into its hands when the bankers withdraw support for Vivendi.

This note provides our forecast for the number of UK households able to receive extra television through satellite, cable and terrestrial multi-channel platforms. Though Sky’s performance has been strong this year, subscriber growth has been largely at the expense of cable and digital terrestrial. We expect this pattern – Sky outperformance within a slowly growing multi-channel universe – to continue. We are pessimistic about the prospects for Freeview, the BBC’s new digital terrestrial platform. The programme offering is weak and too directed towards the under 35s, who now largely already have digital television. The technical problems of obtaining better coverage for the service remain severe.

This note shows the mixed evidence on household penetration. Most surveys report a distinct plateau in subscribing household numbers in the UK, particularly compared to France and Germany, where numbers are still growing. Other surveys show a continuing rise in individual users. On balance, we think the data does point to a clear deceleration in the growth in subscribing households. Current penetration is just over 10m homes, or 40% of the UK total.

The UK consumer magazines business has shown steady growth and stable profitability, though some individual participants have suffered from failed attempts at international expansion. The industry has overcome the advertising recession very successfully so far. This is partly because only 30% of revenue is derived from advertising, but also because page rates have continued to be firm. Though profit margins are currently lower than regional newspapers, the sector shows considerable scope for improved returns.

Several factors lie behind this assessment.  The first is that growth of Internet households will slow, possibly to 10%, although expansion will be faster than in the UK or Germany.   The second is that Wanadoo, as the ISP arm of France Télécom, continues to benefit in our view from advantages that other ISPs cannot match, significantly reducing customer acquisition and retention costs, whether on narrowband or on broadband.  Actions taken by the regulator have largely been too little, too late.

This is the third of our regular reports on UK TV viewing. The report contains details to support the following assertions

The operators were hoping that the CC would soften Oftel's seemingly tough proposals (RPI-12% price cap); it seems most likely now that they will actually toughen them, incorporating a one-off cut in the new regime, which we estimate would negatively impact industry EBITDA by just over 10%. The process will, however, be far from over: we predict at least one legal challenge ahead, possibly several, delaying the implementation for many months into next year (EC legislation comes into force on the 24th July 2003 which may delay matters even further).

What prompted EMI to spend about £60 million to acquire Robbie’s next two records and to buy options on the next four? Even for an artist as successful as Robbie Williams, the numbers do not add up. Having sold less than 6 million units of his last album, EMI appears to be gambling that his next two records will sell more than 8 million units each, of which 2 million need to be in the US.

Wanadoo's results for the first half of 2002, detailed in the attached note, show that the company is well on track to make its target of positive EBITDA as the loss margin has been cut by half on the Internet side of the business. The targeted revenue increase of 30% also looks plausible as Internet access revenues have done well in France due to migration of the subscriber base to higher priced broadband packages. Wanadoo hopes to have 1 million broadband subscribers by the end of the year, and is counting on the rollout of a new lower speed (128k) and lower-priced broadband package in mid-October. The French Competition Commission has also permitted the company to again market its broadband packs in FT's network of shops, cutting customer acquisition costs. Margins will improve in mid-October due to wholesale broadband price declines mandated by the regulator ART.

We think that the business is worth about €6bn, rather less than the €7-9bn that the investment banks are projecting. The difference arises because we think that they over-estimate the value of Universal’s music publishing business and expect a faster upturn in recorded music sales. But Universal is clearly strongest of the major music companies and we do expect the company’s margins to recover from the low levels seen this year.

This report looks at whether the extraordinary investment in Korean digital infrastructure has changed consumer behaviour. A combination of the Korean government and the large conglomerates have provided almost universal broadband access, the world’s most advanced 2.5G networks and are just beginning the process of providing ubiquitous digital TV. Alongside the growth in infrastructure, a small number of businesses have begun to develop substantial revenue streams from content. Of particular interest is the growth of multiplayer online games, in which Korea has a world lead.

Music publishing revenues are composed of multiple streams arising from almost all uses of music – radio, TV, live performance, sale of physical formats, use in film/TV soundtracks, sale of printed music etc. Of these, only the publishing revenues derived from the sale of physical formats are in decline. Otherwise, the industry is buoyant as music becomes yet more ubiquitous in everyday life. The latest version of Grand Auto Theft has 80 music tracks on it from major stars, an example of the spread of music into every corner of life.

The last three years have seen huge concentration in the marketing services industry. One source suggests that 56% of the world’s advertising billings now pass through just seven buying groups, up from 32% in 1999. Though the advertising recession in major economies shows little sign of abating, the major groups continue to grow by acquisition, often financed by debt. At the same time, media planning and media buying have moved to the centre of these groups after a century of being little more than a clerical activity at the periphery of their business.

This report provides our analysis of the main factors in the evolution of the global music market in the period 2002-2006.