The troubles in the Murdoch media empire show one thing: without News Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NWSA) presence, BSkyB is not worth much more than 700p a share. Once the takeover looked unlikely, the satellite broadcaster’s shares plunged.
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Mrs Thatcher famously said you can’t buck the markets and sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has reluctantly agreed. If fans want to pay a fortune for Cup Final or Katy Perry tickets, you can’t stop them. And why stop them?
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No wonder ITV (LON:ITV) directors are angry with the Competition Commission. The company has a permanent seat at the competition regulator’s table, practically keeping it in business single-handed.
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Sir Richard Branson has sold a third of his spaceship venture at a price valuing the project at $900m. What planet are the buyers on? Abu Dhabi, it seems.
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If £75 was a high price for a ticket to see Michael Jackson perform live in London, it is an awful lot to pay for a souvenir of his truncated life. However, you have to admire the cheek of the concert organisers in allowing fans to keep their tickets instead of accepting a refund.
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This blog was first to highlight the conflict of Sir Alan Sugar presenting The Apprentice while advising the government. With BBC director-general Mark Thompson taking to his own airwaves to defend the indefensible, let me now offer a way out off the problem.
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Setanta retires injured: can Disney score where it failed?
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Told to look at one poll tax, Lord Carter has devised another one in his Digital Britain white paper. The tax on everyone who has a television will continue but there will now be a tax on everyone with a landline telephone too. And that means just about everybody.
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An economy based on football and television doesn’t sound the most sophisticated, but that combination has been powerful for two decades and will soon decide the future of Setanta, the Irish broadcaster.
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I don’t know what the definition is of insider-dealing in Sunderland, but in the City it means trading shares with privileged information. It doesn’t mean writing newspaper stories that move share prices.
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