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

BSkyB’s 17.9% shareholding in ITV is likely to lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the all-TV market, according to the provisional findings of the Competition Commission (CC) investigation announced on 2nd October 2007

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has confirmed receipt of a formal request from ITV plc for a review of the Contract Rights Renewal (CRR) remedy and will announce its decision whether to proceed before the year is over

Apple has now launched downloads of 28 US TV series in the UK, hoping to drive demand for portable video watching on iPod or for home viewing via Apple TV

Channel 4's digital diversification strategy is a topic we first considered in 2002. At that time, we urged Channel 4 to husband its resources to meet its public service remit and maintain audiences on its terrestrial service, rather than diversify into new digital satellite channels. If anything, the progress of time has reinforced our conclusion that Channel 4's digital diversification strategy is risky. The risks for Channel 4 are greater than for the BBC, since Channel 4's public service remit is funded by advertising alone

Rising audiences for Cuatro in a booming TV advertising market have unexpectedly lifted Sogecable earnings in H1 2007, encouraging confidence that Cuatro will achieve breakeven in 2008, if not in 2007

On 27th July the BBC will open access to the iPlayer to UK internet users, en route to a hard launch later this summer. This PC-based application allows the user to download BBC TV content after broadcast to view on the PC for a limited time, and provides a TV-like display on the PC. Delays to the launch will mean the iPlayer enters a field already crowded by other broadcasters, including Channel 4's 4oD service, ITV's broadband portal, Sky Anytime, as well as content aggregators such as Joost and Babelgum (both currently in beta)

True to its reputation for innovation, France’s No. 2 ISP Free has launched TV Perso, a user-generated video-on-demand service, to its 1.5 million TV-over-DSL subscribers. Users will contribute uploads, emulating YouTube’s popular web-based model, as well as live broadcasts

Virgin Media’s Q1 top line results were again mixed, with a growing number of customers leaving as competition intensifies, despite the rebrand to Virgin. But it could have been worse; most higher-spending customers are remaining

Strong FY Q3 2007 results across all parts of Sky’s increasingly diversified portfolio testify to the success of its multiple product and service strategy as it makes the transition from a high price, high value to low price, high value business