F1 races to reach younger audience after Covid engine trouble
Formula One faces challenges to reach full throttle again after TV revenues plunged during a shorter pandemic race season
11 April 2021 • 3:00pm
When Formula One drivers accelerate out of the grid at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix next weekend, Stefano Domenicali will want to keep up the momentum.
F1’s new boss is trying to piece together a winning streak after a record number of viewers tuned in for last month’s season opener in Bahrain.
The curtain-raiser became the first F1 race to reach 2m viewers for Sky Sports, with an audience peaking at 2.23m.
Google faces insider-trading claims over digital advertising
The allegations were made as the US firm battles an antitrust lawsuit in the US over its digital ad role
12 April 2021 • 6:53am
Google has been accused of insider trading in the digital advertising market in court documents which claim it ran a programme that allegedly gave it an advantage over rivals.
The tech firm - which is battling a US antitrust case over its alleged dominant position - is said to have run a scheme called “Project Bernanke” in which it used access to publishers’ servers to gain the upper hand in price negotiations with advertisers.
BT restarts full fibre talks with networks after Ofcom ruling
Regulator s ruling means BT can charge more for access to its broadband network
5 April 2021 • 6:40pm
BT has reignited discussions with Vodafone and TalkTalk over plans for the companies to use its ultra-fast fibre network.
The telecoms giant had been working on agreements with broadband retailers that would hand them long-term access to its network. Those talks were shelved last year, however, after BT became concerned that it could breach competition law.
But the discussions have been fired up again after the regulator announced a new regime last month. Ofcom gave BT’s broadband infrastructure arm Openreach more certainty by ruling that it could charge higher prices for full fibre over the next decade.
Broadcasters losing out due to scale of Facebook, says Channel 4
Facebook and YouTube are demanding up to 45pc of advertising revenue for TV content shown on their platforms
The CMA has branded YouTube and Facebook “unavoidable trading partners”
Credit: REUTERS
Channel 4 has urged the competition watchdog to broaden its crackdown on Google and Facebook to prevent broadcasters ceding millions of pounds in advertising income.
The
Gogglebox broadcaster has called on the Competition & Markets Authority to rein in distribution deals offered by the tech platforms that demand a 45pc slice of the advertising revenue. It comes after the CMA branded the Silicon Valley giants “unavoidable trading partners” in a review of the digital advertising market and recommended a code of conduct for fair trade.
BT shares surge as mobile operators dodge big 5G bill
Mobile operators breathe sigh of relief as spectrum auction fails to ramp up the costs of 5G airwaves
17 March 2021 • 3:55pm
Mobile operators have avoided a burdensome bill for 5G airwaves in an auction that cost far less than expected, sending BT shares soaring.
EE, the UK’s biggest mobile operator that is owned by BT, spent £452m on additional 5G spectrum that allows faster smartphone data – far less than the £824m analysts had forecast.
All four mobile operators that took part in the auction, including Vodafone, O2 and Three, spent less than had been expected. The £1.3bn raised for the Treasury was about half the total pencilled in by analyst predictions of around £2.5bn.