We may see the deal called off before the official CMA decision on Dec. 15, unless Nexfibre and Netomnia still believe that there is a sufficient chink of hope that is worth holding on,” Karen Egan said. “The CMA is taking the view that VMO2 will upgrade its network from cable to fiber whether this deal happens or not.”
Karen Egan was quoted in the FT on "BT seeks government nod for potential TalkTalk takeover"
Karen Egan said that “when companies get to the level of distress that TalkTalk appears to be in, competition concerns tend to take a back seat.”
“In this instance, the government will be more concerned about security and continuity of service for vulnerable customers,” she added.
Karen Egan, head of telecoms at consultancy Enders Analysis, told the BBC that TalkTalk, which had 4million customers in 2019, has become laden with debt and ‘struggled to invest’ in keeping them.
‘At the same time, the industry’s become incredibly competitive – a lot of excess market entry – and prices have collapsed,' she said.
Ms Egan said about £1billion of debt was likely to have to be written off as part of the sale process, which would be a ‘very large number for the banks to swallow’.
She added: ‘I’d be surprised if there’s actually real disruption for the TalkTalk customers. If indeed this deal with Opus Broadband goes ahead they will take over the running of the operations I would expect.’
Tom Harrington, head of television and media research company Enders Analysis, told The Media Leader “the concessions appear quite palatable for Paramount”. He noted they are mid- rather than long-term concessions, “meaning they may well have little impact on what was going to happen anyway”.
Harrington described that the terms of the settlement mean there is “little protection for longer-term studio cinema output, for which Paramount and Warner are incredibly important,” which could result in a “declining volume and breadth of films being theatrically released”, negatively impacting cinemas just at the moment the film industry is finally emerging from a post-Covid and post-writers' strike slump.
Abi Watson, at Enders Analysis, said the fall in reserves was part of an underlying depletion of the BBC’s financial cushion that had been “building for years”.
“The BBC hasn’t run out of money, but the fall in public-service cash leaves it with considerably less room to absorb further pressures or fund change,” she said. “And this isn’t a new problem.
“The latest savings requirement predated [Brittin’s] arrival. The BBC has already reduced headcount, rationalised its estate and changed its commissioning mix. Commissioned hours, excluding news and sport, are down 20% since 2016-17. Further savings increasingly mean decisions about output.”
“Brands are rightly advised to give creators breathing space because nobody understands how to engage their audiences better than they do,” said Ben Woods, head of creator economy at Enders Analysis. “But that freedom inevitably comes with some reputational risk when content crosses a line or generates controversy.”
Ben Woods, head of creator economy at Enders Analysis said the size of Perplexity’s planned budget shows the company is serious about creators as a promotional channel. But he said he doesn’t see the move primarily as an attempt to overcome wider concerns about AI safety.
“This is about getting potential users interested in AI’s usefulness and practical benefits,” Woods said. “Especially around why a user should adopt one AI tool over another.
“Most audiences are not afraid to challenge their favourite creators if a partnership feels disingenuous or the messaging becomes too corporate,” Woods said.
