Netflix is making steady progress with the global expansion of its streaming business, which now makes up 20% of total revenues, but is still far short of its long term vision of 70-80% share

Building a large presence in Europe is vital to long term success. The signs are that Netflix is steadily growing its UK and Ireland base, and performing even more strongly in the Nordics and possibly also in the Netherlands

We are reaching the most critical point of Netflix’s European journey, as it contemplates entry into the key markets of France and Germany. Germany looks the more obvious first choice, with rumours of a September launch, but ideally Netflix will want an autumn launch in France too, if it can handle the extra strain on budgets

The ongoing digital migration and the resulting audience fragmentation have led to rating losses at RTL and ProSieben, but with the latter retaining its younger viewers. From a low base global operators are gaining share

Leveraging their high market shares within a benign economic environment means RTL and ProSieben are in a position to withstand the increasing competition. ProSieben has been more active in developing diversification businesses – on which we have mixed feelings

The main extra growth prospects are in the distribution fees charged to TV platforms for HD channels, allowing a progressive shift to a mixed funding model

As we expected, Canal+ won the broadcast rights to the Ligue 1 top three weekly games in 2016-20 and beIN Sports have the seven remaining fixtures Sensibly, the two competitors avoided a bidding war but ended up paying 28% more than the 2012-16 agreement – the first substantial increase since 2005 The new contract will help Canal+ sustain pricing and marketing. Meanwhile, even if it completely lost the ongoing Champions’ League auction, Canal+’s football prominence would remain

Amazon has entered the increasingly crowded digital entertainment TV device marketplace, one which could be strategically more important for the ecommerce giant than tech rivals Apple and Google

The frictionless integration of entertainment and ecommerce on TV represents a bigger consumer milestone than competitor services are offering, and Amazon’s brand has huge appeal, though at present it has less market traction for streaming than it does for other products

Content owners and broadcasters remain the real TV gatekeepers, with integration of TV and digital a service-level pipe dream for now, and so Amazon will likely have to accept being one of many, rather than the runaway winner as it is in books

The core US long form streaming subscription business, so vital to Netflix prospects of long term global as well as domestic success as competition increases, shows no sign of slowing, while guidance points to Q1 2014 as another strong quarter Although market research indicates a positive brand image, boosted by Netflix’s entry into original content commissions, Netflix cannot afford to slacken in its efforts to build its subscriber base due to strong upward competitive pressures on content obligations Content delivery is the other big cost challenge. There is no guarantee that the recent deal with Comcast will last, as the leading ISPs contend with conflicts of interest that arise from wishing to support the traditional model of linear TV but also to exploit the potential of long form online video

A key milestone in the UK’s Local TV initiative, London Live is also the country’s first integrated TV, newspaper and digital service, providing a unique prism through which to glimpse aspects of the future of its news, entertainment and advertising industries. 

History does not point to a successful outcome, but rapidly evolving consumer behaviour and technologies legitimately position London Live as a genuinely new, favourably timed proposition – albeit with no guarantee of even relatively modest success.

In the rollout of Local TV, London Live is alone, with neither its success nor its failure providing more than very limited guidance for the rest of the country’s local TV services; but it is nonetheless a major London media launch.

The French Professional Football League (LFP) is to auction its 2016-20 broadcasting rights next month, one year earlier than expected. The anticipated auction (and short notice) increases pressure on rival LFP broadcasters – a failure to renew their existing rights deals would unsettle their position for over two years

Due to uncertainty over the future ownership of Canal+ and the political background of Al Jazeera’s beIN Sports we believe that both would prefer to maintain the status quo: the top two weekly games on Canal+ and the other eight on beIN Sports

The LFP rights are precisely packaged to prevent this, and to force the two to compete at least for one lot. As the market leader Canal+ has more to lose, while beIN Sports could sustain its current complementary positioning with fewer games

Slides from the presentations by the following speakers at the Media & Telecoms: 2014 and Beyond conference on 4 February 2014: James Purnell, BBC; Dido Harding, TalkTalk; NIcola Mendelsohn, Facebook; John Paton, Digital First Media; Mike Darcey, News UK; Ashley Highfield, Johnston Press; Michael Comish, Tesco

Enders Analysis co-hosted its annual conference, in conjunction with BNP Paribas and Deloitte, in London on 4 March 2014. The event featured talks by 13 of the most influential figures in media and telecoms, and was chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette.

This report provides edited transcripts of the talks given by seven of those speakers: James Purnell, BBC; Dido Harding, TalkTalk; Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook; John Paton, Digital First Media; Mike Darcey, News UK; Ashley Highfield, Johnston Press; Michael Comish, Tesco

Slides from the presentations by the following speakers at the Media & Telecoms: 2014 and Beyond conference on 4 February 2014: Andrew Griffith, BSkyB; Thomas Rabe, Bertelsmann; David Dyson, Three UK