Ofcom’s decision to hold a consultation on Sky’s pay DTT proposal will prevent its launch before Q1 2008 at the earliest and could be delayed to 2010 if Ofcom’s current investigation of the UK pay TV market ends, as seems increasingly likely, with a referral decision to the Competition Commission

Emap, the consumer and business-to-business (B2B) publisher, appears ripe for a break-up. This report examines the health of the group's principal consumer magazine and radio assets, as well as its B2B assets. The latter, in our view, could prove particularly attractive to media-hungry private equity, based on recent valuations of business media assets. The consumer magazines segment is under pressure from circulation declines, and Emap’s digital strategy for its titles has yet to bear fruit. Meanwhile, Emap’s radio division has not been spared the market's overall decline

This presentation expands on our report on Classified Advertising in Print and Online [2006-58], by examining the online classified market segments of recruitment, property and automotive, and their likely development to 2011. We anticipate the value of the UK classifieds market could be worth about £5.5 billion in 2011, compared to about £4.5 billion in 2006. We however expect exponential growth in online classified ad volumes, placing pressure on prices of all classifieds. Although disruptive effects on the classified supply chain are anticipated (e.g. estate agents, car dealerships), we believe these will be harder to break than new entrants might believe

Broadband penetration and Internet usage in continental European countries are catching up with the US and UK, but consumer e-commerce and internet advertising spend still massively lag behind. Online advertising is growing more rapidly in Germany and France than in the UK, driven by rapid take-up of paid search by advertisers

Steep drops in US and UK recorded music sales dragged EMI’s group revenue 15.8% lower for FY 2006/07. EMI’s underperformance of the sagging recorded music industry highlights the scale of the challenge facing any prospective new owner

The three most listened to radio stations in London all belong to the BBC, for the first time since commercial radio started in 1973

Trinity Mirror’s recent optimism about the market for newspaper advertising “stabilising” is questionable, and we expect 2007 to be another year of decline, although less pronounced than in 2006

Warner Music Group reported a mild revenue decline in Q2 FY 2006/07, despite continued steep declines in CD sales in the US and elsewhere, by outperforming other CD suppliers, gaining from rising downloads and ringtone sales, persistent strength in music publishing, as well as favourable currency movements

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

Scottish Media Group’s decision to sell its Virgin Radio business has been prompted by the need to pay down group debt and the management’s decision to refocus on the turnaround of its ITV service. This report outlines our views on the management pronouncements made on the success and performance of Virgin Radio and, therefore, its value to investors. We consider that management has exaggerated the potential value of this asset to investors