In 2003, the Competition Commission imposed the CRR remedy as a condition of the proposed merger of Carlton and Granada to allay advertiser fears that the new ITV plc would use its market power to leverage higher airtime prices on ITV1 CRR made it possible to stop the ITV1 premium from rising and yet the ITV1 premium has risen almost without a blip since 2003. This note asks why The answer it seems has less to do with the negotiating muscle of ITV Sales than with the enduring USP and relative inelasticity of demand for ITV1 airtime and demand elasticity for the rest, while CRR has become increasingly irrelevant

Sky Deutschland is reaping the benefits of its re-launch using BSkyB’s model, with an improving content offering and quality of user experience, plus a favourable environment for household consumption in Germany.

2012 results came in very close to our forecasts and we predict that Sky Deutschland will break even at EBITDA level in 2013 and turn cash flow positive in 2015.

The competitive context is benign and the horizon is clear until the next Bundesliga auction in 2016. But, in the meantime, cable, IPTV, FTA and OTT players are committed to widening their pay offers, which may put pressure on Sky’s subscriber growth and content costs.

Netflix continues to expand its global base on foundations that look slightly less shaky than a year ago as the establishment shows signs of becoming more positive to the upstart in its midst

There has been much talk of the OTT cord cutting threat to pay-TV platforms, yet the real threat lies more with certain broadcast TV channels, especially those specialising in children’s and archive entertainment series

Still, the Netflix brag that it releases the public from the managed dissatisfaction of traditional TV with instantly available drama series like House of Cards is definitely over-the-top and we anticipate niche impact in the UK

Highlights of 2012, which saw double digit EBITA growth for the third year running, included ITV outperformance of the advertising market, strong organic growth in ITV Studios and a large increase in Online, Pay & Interactive revenues The outlook for 2013 suggests that EBITA could see double digit growth for the fourth year running. This is due to a number of factors that may include the bonus of extra NAR as BT launches BT Sport in the summer, arguably the biggest TV media event in recent years For the longer term, two key challenges in the Broadcast & Online sector are the retention of the ITV main channel audience share in an increasingly converged digital landscape and ITV’s ability to grow its online presence and drive new revenue streams

BT Group’s acquisition of ESPN’s television business in the UK and Ireland marks an important step in cementing BT Sport’s position as the number two premium sports provider from the moment of launch.

The acquisition also raises the stakes, leaving BT with the strategic challenge of what distribution to opt for on the satellite and cable platforms to mitigate the high costs of BT Sport, but without overly sacrificing its USP for strengthening customer retention and building demand for high speed broadband on its own platform.

Crucial to BT’s success with BT Sport, yet obscured by the intense focus on the impending sports contest between BT and Sky, is how BT exploits YouView and multicast, all part of the bigger picture.

In 2006, the EU Commission forced the Premier League to sell TV rights to at least two separate broadcasters. The explicit purpose was to encourage the return of some matches to free-to-air channels and to stimulate competition, driving down prices and encouraging more people to watch football on TV The regulatory intervention has had none of the intended effects. Instead, insisting on multiple buyers has inflated the price of watching football and dragged many over-adventurous companies into bidding against pay-TV incumbents The only beneficiaries of the EU’s actions have been the players, whose salaries continue to rise exponentially, capturing all the extra money that broadcasters have paid

Slides from the presentations by the following speakers at the Media & Telecoms: 2013 & Beyond conference on 15 January 2013: •Anthony Wood, CEO, Roku •Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA •Thomas Hesse, Chief Digital Officer, Bertelsmann

Enders Analysis co-hosted its annual conference, in conjunction with BNP Paribas and Deloitte, in London on 15 January 2013. The event featured talks by 14 of the most influential figures in media and telecoms, and was chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette.

Tough economic conditions may have blunted DTH growth in the traditionally strong Christmas quarter, yet the Q2 2013 results show the underlying business to be in good health: highlights including strong multi-product and ARPU growth and impressive cost efficiencies

As a result, Sky has managed to deliver a sharp increase in operating profits, whilst simultaneously building its content strengths and retaining its technology focus on product improvements and innovation

The product diversification promises to benefit Sky less in terms of direct new revenue streams than in building customer loyalty and stickiness, important too for maintaining ARPU growth

Enders Analysis co-hosted its annual conference, in conjunction with BNP Paribas and Deloitte, in London on 15 January 2013. The event featured talks by 14 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 nine of those speakers: Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP Tim Davie, Acting Director General, BBC Dan Cobley, Managing Director, Google UK & Ireland Michael Tobin, CEO, Telecity Group Liv Garfield, CEO, Openreach Dido Harding, CEO, TalkTalk Group Victor Zhang, CEO, Huawei UK & Ireland Cindy Rose, Executive Director of Digital Entertainment, Virgin Media Q&A: Dido Harding, Victor Zhang and Cindy Rose Ed Richards, CEO, Ofcom