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March 12, 2020GDPR after Brexit – UK citizens must keep protections
Flash Report, ReportsOliver Dowden, Secretary of State (SoS) for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport addressed the Media & Telecoms 2020 & Beyond Conference on 5 March. There was much to be encouraged by in his speech—he reiterated the importance of public service broadcasting, and the positive potential of technology. -
July 23, 2019How could the BBC ever fund the over-75s?
Flash Report, ReportsIn the BBC’s 2015 funding settlement commencing 2017, the Government assumed the BBC would fully fund the subsidy for over-75s to the tune of £750 million from 2020/21. Although the BBC’s settlement contained measures of “mitigation” worth c.£290 million, the BBC would still have faced a gap of c.£460 million to be funded by programme cuts and efficiencies (the BBC has pledged £250 million). Including c.£300 million from the annual adjustment of the licence fee for inflation from 2017 would help. However, this was always required to offset normal salary and cost increases to prevent a real decline in the BBC’s resources.
July 16, 2019Future of UK Public Service Media: EPG prominence to the fore
Flash Report, ReportsOfcom’s recommendations to Government suggest updating EPG prominence legislation to cover connected TVs, and were warmly welcomed by the PSBs. Balancing various commercial, PSB and consumer interests will be key; determining what content qualifies for prominence will be a particularly thorny issue to resolve. Extending prominence to smart TVs and streaming sticks is critical, but implementation will be challenging
November 5, 2018UK Radio’s evolution towards a digital future
Market Outlook, ReportsRadio faces challenges from Spotify and other online audio propositions, while the radio “dial” is challenged by smart speakers and global tech. UK radio broadcasters have risen to the occasion through innovation. New DAB stations have helped radio achieve record audiences and revenues. Combined digital listening is now over 50%, but FM remains the primary platform. The current mix of FM/AM and digital maintains radio’s relevance for the medium term. The long-term future is digital—a wide-ranging sector review is required to determine how to support digital radio’s growth and the question of a future switchover.
May 2, 2018Small Cells Part 1: Leveraging Public Infrastructure
Focus Report, ReportsRecent public infrastructure deals have demonstrated the joint benefits of combining smart city rollouts with mobile networks. Venture expects more infrastructure deals to be completed as governments recognise the clear public policy benefits and Telcos roll out 5G networks faster.
April 5, 2018Facebook’s data breach – an inflection point for internet pri [...]
Focus Report, ReportsAs Facebook has become increasingly popular, marketers have found it far easier to combine our online personas with our offline selves to enable better ad targeting, leading to concerns around how much data do they actually have. However the Cambridge Analytica data breach could emerge as the ‘line in the sand’ moment for not just Facebook but online data privacy as a whole.
March 13, 2018Spectrum reform – a step in the right direction
Focus Report, ReportsRapidly developing wireless and mobile network technologies and consumers’ increasing appetite for data are driving a significant increase in demand for spectrum. With little or no changes in spectrum policy over the past two decades, the Government announced a review into spectrum allocation, regulation and licensing.
February 21, 20185G Update February 2018
Flash Report, ReportsWhile 5G is on track for network rollout by 2020, leading global and Australian Telcos have announced their intentions to launch 5G fixed wireless services from late 2018 onwards. In Australia, 5G remains a key agenda item for the Government, the NBN and the Telco Market.
February 20, 2018Media Sector Update
Flash Report, ReportsIn September, 2017 the Australian Government voted in favour of a comprehensive package of media reforms. Key highlights from the historic reforms include increased requirements to show Australian produced content, a public ownership register of media assets, and additional funding for regional and small publishers. (Full details in Venture Insights’ Media Reform Update report in October, 2017). As we reported, while media reform opens the door for consolidation, we do not believe it will or should result in the M&A frenzy many observers predicted. After all, simply putting two challenged businesses together will not provide sustained respite from strengthening industry headwinds or growth in the absence of robust strategic planning that looks beyond the immediate horizon.$900.00
January 12, 2018Universal Service Obligation – past its sell-by date
ReportsThe Universal Service Obligation (USO) is based on the principles of the analogue era of the Australian Telco market. However, in the current era of widespread mobile usage and increasing penetration of high-speed broadband connections, it is becoming increasingly irrelevant.October 17, 2017News and Facebook
ReportsEven though Facebook is not a producer of news, 6.5 million UK internet users claim to mainly source their news from the platform. Posts and shares by friends in the user's network, in the context of Facebook's algorithm, determine the order of stories in the personalised News Feed, removing the control of the news agenda that publishers have for their websites. Premium publishers operating a paywall (The Times, The Financial Times) have a lower key approach to Facebook than publishers generating advertising revenue from referral traffic to their websites or from on-platform consumption of Instant Articles. The latter will seek to stimulate social media engagement, optimising stories through attention-grabbing headlines, and installing Facebook’s share and like buttons on their websites. Case studies of the news stories that were prominent on Facebook (measured by likes, comments and shares) in the periods leading up to the Brexit Referendum and General Election 2017 votes respectively demonstrate that newspaper brands (the Express for Brexit, and The Guardian for the General Election) achieved the highest reach on Facebook during these periods, despite being ranked below other news brands (BBC in particular) in terms of traffic to their websites
October 10, 2017Australian’s long-awaited media reforms pass
Flash Report, ReportsIn September the Australian Government voted in favour of the comprehensive package of media reforms. Following three months of horse trading between the major and independent parties the reforms passed with only minor and uncontroversial changes to those originally proposed by the Liberal Party.
June 22, 2017Risks to NBN becoming more visible
ReportsNBN’s FY16 results represent a dramatic turnaround however risks to ARPU and connections are on the horizon. Pressure on RSP margins will drive industry to focus on fixed wireless substitution and further market consolidation.
June 21, 2017The Finkel Review – A politically acceptable outcome for no [...]
Flash Report, ReportsThe Finkel review has been released and appears to have come up with a ‘politically acceptable’ solution. However, even if all the recommendations are accepted, the future impact on the electricity market is far from certain. Human behaviour and the declining cost of renewables will have a more profound effect than the Finkel review suggests in its modelling.
June 21, 2017Snowy Hydro 2.0: Good but not enough?
Focus Report, ReportsSnowy Hydro 2.0 has been proposed by the Federal Government to alleviate the Australian Energy Crisis. Will it be the golden solution they hoped for, or should the government consider alternative investments to allow a more effective or timely solution?
May 12, 2017ComCom says no to Fairfax/NZME merger – A short sighted decisio [...]
ReportsThe merger of NZME and Fairfax Media has been rejected by the New Zealand Commerce Commission.We believe that, although the scale of the merged company could hamper competition within New Zealand, NZCC’s decision is short sighted on an international scale and as a result will significantly damage the print media market in New Zealand.
April 19, 2017Slides for Media & Telecoms: 2017 & Beyond Conference
ReportsSlides from the presentations by the following speakers at the Media & Telecoms: 2017 and Beyond conference on 2 March 2017: Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media; Frank Sixt, Hutchison; Andrew Griffith, Sky; Geoff Austin, Moelis & Company; Mike Darcey, News UK; Matthew Kirk, Vodafone.April 19, 2017Media & Telecoms: 2017 & Beyond Conference transcript
ReportsEnders Analysis co-hosted the annual Media & Telecoms 2017 & Beyond conference in conjunction with Deloitte, Moelis & Company, Linklaters and LionTree, in London on 2 March 2017. The day saw over 450 senior attendees come together to listen to 30 leaders and senior executives of some of the most creative and innovative businesses in the media and telecoms sector, and was chaired by David Abraham.
April 12, 2017French election: High tide of populism receding?
ReportsFrance’s first round of the presidential election on 23 April looks set to deliver a run-off on 6 May between nationalist Marine Le Pen and pro-EU, pro-NATO reformer Emmanuel Macron, who holds a 20 point lead in that contest – a much higher margin than last year’s mistaken projections for Clinton and Remain Should Mr. Macron become president and win a majority in the June parliamentary elections, a challenge for nascent party En Marche!, his reformist platform would tackle France’s main economic issue: low employment. The anticipated privatisation of Orange could launch a burst of media and telecom M&ADecember 2, 2016Brexit impact on UK-EU trade in creative services
ReportsBrexit poses direct risks to exports to the Continent of regulated services, such as audiovisual (AV) media services, if the UK ceases to qualify for the Single Market. Since 1994, the EU has formalised a ‘cultural exception’ in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in all trade agreements aside from the European Economic Area (EEA). Many countries have emulated the policy since, making it challenging for the UK’s AV cluster to gain significant additional market access from future bilateral trade deals.
October 13, 2016Brexit and UK internet privacy
ReportsPersonal data is the fuel of the digital age and the UK is a top producer due to deep internet and ecommerce usage. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a key plank of the Digital Single Market (DSM), will directly apply in May 2018, before the date of Brexit in 2019. Upon Brexit, GDPR adoption would ensure easy certification by the Commission for data transfers outside the EU, giving companies another reason to stay in the UK.
October 4, 2016Trade policy path to Brexit for the UK
ReportsBrexit will take place in March 2019 and the rush is now on to complete the UK’s exit through Article 50 negotiations and set the framework for post-Brexit trade with the EU. Trade-related investment by companies is at high risk from uncertainty; a free-trade area (FTA) for manufactured products should be a priority for 2019. Barriers to trade in services in the EU are more nebulous than tariffs and far more political in Member States, justifying a Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEP).
April 22, 2016Brexit risks for the creative industries
ReportsA post-Brexit recession will cause a hyper-cyclical decline in the advertising revenues of broadcasters and publishers. The Vote Leave idea of the UK joining a free trade area for goods with the EU would sever UK access to the Single Market for services, damaging the export-reliant audiovisual group, among many other sectors of strength. Made-in-the-UK IT, software and computer consultancy services will lose eligibility for government procurement tenders once the UK is an outsider to the EU.December 17, 2015European mobile in Q3 2015 – Consolidation before convergen [...]
ReportsEuropean mobile service revenue growth again improved, albeit marginally, with the quarter’s gain driven by declines easing further in what nevertheless remain the three weakest markets: France, Italy and Spain. Generally stabilising pricing environments were a key factor although ARPUs in these markets remain largely in decline, under continued pressure from strong out-of-bundle revenue declines. In a post-consolidation world, H3G/O2 in the UK and Yoigo in Spain will be the only mobile-only MNOs in the top five European mobile markets, effectively cementing a convergence based future. Consolidation trends might point to the prospect of greater price stabilisation but a fresh land grab for the converged market could derail this. Overall, in spite of healthy underlying data trends, we continue to see medium term growth recovery prospects capped at around 1% given precedent from both the UK, where a healthy economy, healthy pricing environment and strong data trends have failed to exceed this level, and Germany, where post-consolidation revenue growth has reverted to negative territory, both due to competition and consolidation.
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