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European service revenue growth dipped to -0.5% in Q3 as SFR’s woes took their toll and ongoing pressure in Germany weighed.

The more constructive pricing environment in Germany was short-lived, with O2 stepping up its aggressiveness since September.

For some, competitive intensity is worsening ahead of a consolidation solution, but the Italian and Spanish markets are showing healthier signs.

The Champions League is further increasing its share of the total value of European football media rights.

In Spain, LaLiga has extended its partnerships with Telefónica and DAZN until 2032.

Ligue 1’s direct-to-consumer service needs partners if the French league’s rights are to return to the value of its previous cycle.

DMGT is requesting regulatory clearance of its merger with Telegraph Media Group (TMG) from the Secretary of State for DCMS. If successful, TMG, a quality brand mainly sold on subscription, will join DMG Media. TMG already outsources print ad sales to Mail Metro Media and printing to Newsprinters (News UK/DMGT).
 

DMGT’s offer of £500 million for TMG is good news for the UK news industry. DMGT’s valuation of TMG at 8x EBITDA is well above the valuations produced by private equity (PE) funders. PE is a short-term form of financial engineering ill-suited to TMG in the middle of its print-to-digital transition and transformation.
 

TMG will gain an owner in DMGT that espouses a long-term vision of investment in consumer media. Each news brand produces its own content to serve and retain their audiences. Lord Rothermere practices the principle of editorial independence of each brand to protect each one’s identity.

The expected service revenue boost from in-contract price increases failed to materialize this quarter, nullifying the upside surprise last quarter.

Traffic growth picked up again to 17%, lending further weight to the view that at least some of the recent sharp slowdown was somewhat one-off in nature.

Government statistics imply steep mobile price inflation while the opposite is true—which may help to diffuse the current furore over in-contract price increases.