The Zune will compete with the iPod Video – but not the mini, nano or shuffle that have built Apple’s player market share. The Zune’s USP of Wi-Fi capability (to share tracks locally, not download) is just a gadget, not a must-have selling point

The UK newspaper industry is being engulfed by a 'perfect storm'. Overall advertising has been in a cyclical downturn since mid-2005, and public sector recruitment in particular has been weak, while readers desert newspapers (even free ones) for the internet, to which they are drawing spend on classified and display advertising. We view classified advertising in print media as being in permanent decline, anticipating an overall drop from £4 billion in 2006 to £3.5 billion by 2011

Last week Google hit the headlines on the back of forecasts for its UK revenues for 2006 which we expect to reach £920 million, up 90% on 2005, cited as proof of a structural shift away from broadcast media to the internet

Orange UK’s converged mobile and broadband brands and ‘free’ broadband offer has not proved a big hit with consumers, with Orange reporting just 25,000 DSL net additions for the September quarter, likely to be below 5% market share

The level of net broadband additions in France declined in Q3 2006 to 539,000 net adds, down 8% on a year-over-year basis, as narrowband migration reaches completion due to exceptional levels of promotional activity induced by the ‘land grab’ for customers

This report examines recent developments in the UK residential market for broadband internet access. We consider past trends and the outlook over the next five years for the total market volume, market shares, prices and margins

In a fit of pique over increasing subsidies, Vodafone UK is dropping Carphone Warehouse (CPW) as a distributor, and moving exclusively to Phones4U with lower subsidy levels and volume guarantees, while Orange is reportedly also considering its position with CPW

The Carphone Warehouse (CPW)’s £370 million acquisition of AOL UK’s internet access business is set to quadruple the size of CPW’s UK broadband customer base, enabling it to become the third largest player in the market after NTL and BT, with approximately 2 million broadband subscribers

Neuf Cegetel will make an initial public offering (IPO) on Euronext Paris on 25th October. Proceeds of about €847 million are expected (if the ‘green shoe’ option is fully exercised and the price is set in the mid-range), of which about €250 million will be fresh money to finance the acquisition of AOL FR and other properties, and the rest mainly to founder Louis Dreyfus and exiting shareholder Suez. SFR (controlled 56/44 by Vivendi/Vodafone) will maintain its stake at 40.6%. The resulting float should be 20.3% of equity

Ten years of fierce and implacable rivalry between Canal+ Group and TPS, the two French pay-TV operators, is expected to end in November 2006, when they close their merger deal and Canal+ France emerges. This report examines the strategic rationale for pay-TV consolidation in the French TV market, where digital terrestrial TV has recently launched and where TV-over-DSL is rapidly being deployed, as well as the potential for the currently low pay-TV margins to rise