Being outbid by upstart streaming sports company DAZN for Italian rights to Serie A soccer wasn’t a sign of weakness for Comcast’s European satellite TV juggernaut Sky, but rather another hint that the company is focusing more on returns on invested capital (ROIC) rather than merely chasing growth, Bernstein media analyst Peter Supino said in a note to clients.

Sky Italia, Sky’s Italian satellite TV arm, has held exclusive Serie A rights in that country for years, but lost out to DAZN, which bid €2.5 billion over three years to carry the games. Shortly after, Sky Italia said it would reduce its workforce by 25% over the next four years, part of a restructuring that would save about €300 million.

“The decision to not pay over the odds for sports rights in the midst of a pandemic, will likely cost Sky subscribers and revenue growth, but is evidence of a more prudent mindset and a test of Sky's role as a content aggregator,” Supino wrote. 

Whether that strategy extends to English Premier League rights, currently under negotiation, is still up in the air. But Supino pointed out that both Sky and British Telecom have “reduced their willingness to pay inflated fees for sports content” over the past few years. The U.K. segment of EPL rights sold for about £4.5 billion in 2018, down from its peak of £5.1 billion in 2015. While that downward trend could continue, the potential of other players like DAZN, Amazon, Netflix entering the bidding could drive up prices. 

Supino and other analysts have been cautious of Sky ever since Comcast bought the British company in 2018 for $40 billion, a pseudo-consolation prize after it dropped its bid for Fox programming assets, which were eventually won by The Walt Disney Co.  Most analysts were worried at the time that entering the traditional satellite video business in Europe, when the rest of the world seems to be focusing on streaming, was a risky move. That stance hasn’t changed.

Also Read: Italian Soccer’s Secret Weapon 

Former Sky CEO [now executive chairman] Jeremy Darroch had a plan to boost EBITDA at the Sky unit to $4 billion over the next few years, and Supino believes that new CEO Dana Strong should achieve that goal and then some. Strong had been CEO of Liberty Media’s Virgin Media units in the UK and Ireland and according to Supino, “earned her spurs” while she was head of Comcast’s Consumer Services unit, boosting margins from 39.7% in 2018 to 42.1% in 2020, and reducing capital intensity by 300 basis points during that period. 

The loss of Italian soccer will likely result in a loss of subscribers, but will also dramatically reduce its sports costs. Sky Italia is currently negotiating with Serie A for non-exclusive rights to about 30 % of games, so it won’t be entirely without soccer. Those rights will cost about €100 million per year, instead of €780 million, Supino estimated.

Even if churn doubles to 1.5 million customers at Sky Italia over the next three years, the satellite company can still increase EBITDA. Supino estimated that customer losses would result in a £690 million hit to revenue compared to 2018, but not having to pay for soccer would still result in a 14% increase in EBITDA to £391 million in 2024 from £342 million in 2018. 

The analyst added that the subscriber losses probably won’t be that dramatic because Sky Italia customers will still be able to access the games on the DAZN app, which is available on the satellite company’s Sky Q streaming platform. An increase in churn from 10% to 15% (about 700,000 customers) over the period would result in EBITDA rising to £605 million in 2024, according to Supino. 

 In that Xfinity Flex-like scenario, more Sky Italia customers are happy because they can still access the games via the DAZN app, and the distributor is happy because as an aggregator, it doesn’t have to weather the fees. 

“Under this scenario, margins widen significantly despite top line contraction,” Supino wrote. 

Chinese telecom tech vendor Huawei has experienced another setback in its quest to become a dominant 5G equipment provider.

UK telecom BT has said that the Huawei technology won’t be used in the 5G wireless network it’s currently building. BT also said that it’s removing Huawei products from its existing 3G and 4G wireless networks.

Related: Huawei Goes to Battle with U.S. Government for Global Control of 5G

The news, first reported by The Financial Times, comes amid a report last week that the U.S. government, wary of potential cyber-espionage perpetrated through Chinese-made electronics, has put pressure on Europe to also ban Huawei. Leading British security officials have also voiced their concerns.

For its part, BT said it’s merely keeping it’s wireless infrastructure—acquired in its 2016 purchase of EE—in line with its existing networks policy, which doesn’t include Huawei.

"We're applying these same principles to our current RFP (Request for Proposal) for 5G core infrastructure,” BT said in a statement. "As a result, Huawei have not been included in vendor selection for our 5G core. Huawei remains an important equipment provider outside the core network, and a valued innovation partner.”

BT said it is still using Huawei for “benign” applications, such as masts or telecom towers.

Responding to CNN, Huawei said it "understands and supports" BT's decision and that it will continue working with BT. "Our products and solutions serve customers in more than 170 countries and regions," the company said in a statement.

BET’s telecast of its 2017 Hip-Hop Awards turned up a lot of social media noise last night, according to Nielsen.

The special generated 5.8 million social media interactions from 2.5 million unique Twitter and Facebook accounts, according to Nielsen’s Daily Top Five report.

NBC’s This Is Us finished a distant second with 288,000 interactions, followed by USA’s WWE SmackDown!, CW’s The Flash and FX’s American Horror Story:Cult, said Nielsen.

On the live sports front, BeIN Sports’ coverage of the Trinidad and Tobago-United States FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifying soccer match drew 1.7 million social media interactions to top all events. The US team lost that game, officially eliminating them from 2018 World Cup competition.

U.K. telecom giant BT said it is delivering up to 330 Mbps in a trial of G.fast, an emerging standard that aims to bring gigabit capabilities to DSL networks.

BT said the trial in Huntingdon involves about 2,000 homes and businesses, and is being delivered by Openreach, a last mile access network (copper and fiber) that is “open to all communications providers on equal terms.”

BT said the current trial, being run with Adtran, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei, will run for six to nine months.

If trials like the one underway in Huntingdon are successful and if U.K. regulation continues to encourage investment, Openreach hopes to start deploying G.fast in 2016/2017 alongside its fiber-to-the-cabinet and fiber-to-the-premises services, BT said. 

Openreach is also working on a trial in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, that will involve another 2,000 homes and businesses, and “will consider widespread deployment from 2016.”

BT also believes that  G.fast will enable it to make speeds of a few hundred megabits per second available to millions of homes by 2020, and deliver up to 500Mbps to most of the UK within a decade as the technology is further developed.

The ITU awarded final approval to the G.fast standard in December 2014, blessing a technology that’s designed to ramp up DSL speeds and offset having to deploy FTTP technologies. The initial version of G.fast targets aggregate data capacity (upstream plus downstream) of 1 Gbps. Telcos with extensive DSL networks are looking at G.fast as cable MSOs continue to deploy DOCSIS 3.0, which enables max downstream of about 1-Gig. Cable operators such as Comcast and Liberty Global have aggressive plans to deploy DOCSIS 3.1, a spec that’s for multi-gigabit speeds – up to 10 Gbps down and at least 1 Gbps upstream.

Ericsson said it has struck a multi-year broadcast and media services deal to help BT Sport launch what’s being billed as the U.K.’ first Ultra HD TV channel, as well as two other channels and a new multiscreen interactive “red button” service.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Ericsson is tasked with designing, building and running BT Sport Europe, free-to-air service BT Sport Showcase, and BT Sport UHD. BT Sport also extended Ericsson's existing six-year contract for BT Sport 1 and 2 by an additional three years. This contract includes playout and media management services and access services for both channels.

Ericsson said BT Sport UHD will be the first 4K/Ultra HD channel to launch in the UK and will feature live soccer and other “premium” content. BT’s 4K offering is slated to launch in August, debuting with Community Shield, a “the traditional curtain raiser to the English football season,” per Broadband TV  News. 

The coming interactive, red button service, BT Sports Extra, will enable viewers to pick from up to eight UEFA games that are broadcast live at the same time, including UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League games.

"BT Sport's UEFA Champions League coverage sets out to bring viewers the best ever experience of football's leading club competition,” Jamie Hindhaugh, COO of BT Sport and BT TV, said in a statement. “Our 4K coverage of the UEFA Champions League alongside other competitions will bring a truly cinematic experience into fans' living rooms."

BT Sport was launched in August 2013, and is offered through BT TV, Sky's satellite platform, Virgin Media and via the BT Sport App.

4K activity is also picking up in the U.S. among MVPDs. DirecTV and Comcast have launched small on-demand offerings, and Dish Networks is expected to do the same later this year when it launches the UHD-capable Joey box.

Virgin Media, the largest cable operator in the U.K., said Manchester will be the first city to be wired for “Project Lightning,” a £3 billion (US$4.7 billion) plan that calls on the MSO to extend its broadband network to an addition 4 million premises over the next five years.

Virgin Media, a unit of Liberty Global, said it will start by shelling out £75 million (US $118.6 million) to connect to 150,000 extra premises in the Manchester (up from about 300,000 today), and is breaking ground on the first 20,000 of them this week. Those locations will get access to a DOCSIS-powered network that currently supports downstream speeds of up to 152 Mbps, outpacing competitors such as BT, TalkTalk and Sky, the MSO said. Virgin Media estimates that the expansion in Manchester will result in about 500 new jobs.

Taking a page from the Google Fiber playbook, Virgin Media said it will prioritize expansion in Manchester and other neighboring areas and cities based on demand from consumers and communities, which can register their interest at virginmedia.com/cablemystreet.

“Our message is simple:  help us to cable your street,” Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media’s CEO, said in a statement. “If you want to switch to broadband speeds twice as fast as you can get today, simply register with Virgin Media to ‘cablemystreet’.”

"This is wonderful news for Manchester residents and businesses,” added Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey. “We are in the midst of a remarkable transformation of the UK's digital landscape, and Virgin Media's £3bn investment will play an important role in ensuring our cities are fully equipped to meet the challenges of the digital age in which we live."

Virgin Media announced Project Lightning in February, revealing a plan to expand its HFC network to a total of 17 million premises.

Virgin Media’s current, fastest residential DOCSIS 3.0 broadband tier tops out at 152 Mbps downstream, but noted in February that parent company Liberty Global was preparing to trial DOCSIS 3.1, a next-gen access platform designed to handle multi-gigabit speeds, “across Europe later this year.” 

As the FCC gets ready to vote on new rules that could shape the future of the Internet in the U.S., Ofcom, the U.K.’s communications regulator, released a new broadband report Thursday finding that Virgin Media continues to deliver the fastest average Internet speeds, at least in the downstream direction. 

According to Ofcom’s latest annual report, which tabulated data from ISPs that represent 90% of the total market, Virgin Media’s “up to” 152 Mbps service averaged 135 Mbps over a 24-hour period, outpacing the top tiers from ISPs such as Plusnet, BT, Sky, EE, and TalkTalk.

“This is the 12th consecutive time Virgin Media has been proven to be the UK's fastest broadband provider,” Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge said in a statement that also mentioned the MSO’s plan to spend £3 billion (US$4.6 billion) in the coming years to expand the reach of its broadband network to millions of additional homes and businesses.

Plusnet, meanwhile, provided the quickest upstream, averaging 17 Mbps on average with its fastest tier.

Sky’s 38 Mbps tier was impacted the least by congestion during peak times, with 96% of Ofcom’s research panelists getting 90% or more of their advertises max speeds from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays. On the other side of that spectrum was EE – just 7% of panelists receive 90% or more of their max speeds during peak times, Ofcom said.  Among Virgin Media consumers who were part of the study, achieving advertised max speeds during peak times got progressively worse at higher service tiers. While those on the 50Mbit/s broadband achieved it 100% of the time, it dropped to 59% for the MSO's 100 Mbps service, and to 33% for the 152Mbit/s service, according to Ofcom.

The overall broadband picture is improving. Ofcom said adoption of “superfast” broadband services (30 Mbps and above) helped to drive the average U.K. broadband speed to 22.8 Mbps, up from 18 Mbps in May 2014, making it the largest rise (4.1 Mbps) in broadband speeds recorded by the agency over that span.

The report also found that 32% of U.K. broadband connections offer speeds up to 30 Mbps or more, up from 24% in November 2013.

Cable broadband saw a 26% increase in average speeds, to 54.4 Mbps, while fiber services (excluding cable connections) averaged 41.6 Mbps, relatively flat from the six months prior to November 2014. Average ADSL speeds were also flat, averaging 7.3 Mbps.

BT Group has inked a partnership with Netflix that will enable the U.K.-based provider to integrate the  subscription video streaming service with the hybrid broadband/over-the-air YouView platform, which features a mix of more than 70 live TV channels, a VOD library, and a seven-day catch-up TV service.

YouView -- backed by BT, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, TalkTalk, Arquiva, and Channel 5 -- is powered by a video publishing system from Comcast-owned thePlatform. 

BT, which added 38,000 TV customers in the third quarter, announced the Netflix dea Thursday in its second quarter earnings announcement.  “We continue to focus on strengthening our TV proposition and are excited to announce we have entered into a partnership with Netflix that will allow our customers to sign up for Netflix alongside our other products and services, with the added convenience of paying on one bill directly through BT,” the company said.

“Rather than simply getting access to it as an app […] this is integrated into our proposition,” BT CEO Gavin Patterson said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Virgin Media, the U.K.’s largest cable operator, provides access to Netflix on its TiVo-powered platform, with Netflix maintaining the direct billing relationship with the consumer.

Several other TiVo MVPD partners have also integrated Netflix with their leased boxes, including Com Hem of Sweden, Cable One, Suddenlink Communications, Grande Communications, RCN, Midcontinent Communications, GCI, and Atlantic Broadband. The Google Fiber TV service also bakes in the Netflix player, according to this customer support page. 

Danish triple-play service operator Waoo! offers the Netflix app on leased set-top boxes made by AirTies that are powered by middleware from Nordija.

The average broadband speed delivered by cable operators in the U.K. have, for the first time, surpassed those being pumped out by fiber connections, according to a new analysis of fixed-line broadband services conducted by Ofcom, the U.K.’s communications regulator.

According to a study that tabulated data from November 2013 to May 2014, the average speed delivered by cable broadband reached 43.3 Mbps, taking a slight lead over fiber’s 42 Mbps. Cable’s average speed rose by 3.1 Mbps (8%), thanks in large part to customers upgrading to fastre speeds, while fiber connection speeds dipped 0.9 Mbps (2%), Ofcom said.

Average speeds for ADSL connections, which Ofcom said is the most common type of broadband in the U.K., increased by 0.7 Mbps (10%) to 7.4 Mbps during the studied timeframe.

Ofcom, which conducted the study to help consumers understand performance levels of differences of broadband services and make more informed purchasing decisions, said the average actual U.K. broadband speeds during this period rose by 5% (0.9 Mbps) to 18.7 Mbps.

Among other findings, Ofcom said the take-up of “superfast” services (those touting speeds of 30 Mbps or more) jumped from 24% to 28% of connections, while average superfast speeds remained stable, at 47 Mbps.

Among individual providers, the 152 Mbps (downstream) tier from Virgin Media (now part of Liberty Global) launched in February achieved the fastest download speed over a 24-hour period, averaging 141.9 Mbps. BT’s 76 Mbps fiber service followed with an average download speed of 62 Mbps.  Plusnet’s 76 Mbps package delivered the fastest uploads, with an average of 17.1 Mbps.

Ofcom also measured broadband during peak periods (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and found that performance  varied significantly between ISPs.

EE’s 38 Mbps package experienced the greatest degradation in speeds during peak periods – 27.2 Mbps, or 76% of the advertised max speed, with only 5% of subs on this tier getting an average peak-time speed that exceeded 90% of the max.

Sky’s 38 Mbps saw the least degradation during broadband primetime -- speeds during evening peak-time (34.5  Mbps) were 96% of the average maximum speed (35.9 Mbps).

thePlatform, the Comcast-owned online video unit, said it has inked an expanded, multiyear agreement with BT, a top provider of TV, broadband and telephony services in the U.K.

Under the revised deal, thePlatform’s flagship mpx system will serve as the cloud-based, central video publishing system for BT TV and will support other BT-led video initiatives. Previously, thePlatform served as the back-end video management system for BT’s IP-based TV services, which now serve over one million subscribers in the UK. With the new deal, thePlatform will continue that role for BT’s new YouView+ box and host the service via thePlatform’s European datacenter. 

“By expanding our relationship with thePlatform, we are leveraging their locally hosted infrastructure and secure cloud-based software to give us the speed, flexibility and scalability required to meet our evolving needs,” said Greg McCall, COO for television and content at BT, in a statement.

“BT’s approach serves as a model for other global pay TV operators that are seeking more efficient and scalable ways to centralize video publishing via IP-based devices,” added Marty Roberts, co-CEO of thePlatform.

BT and thePlatform announced their original partnership last March, a deal that came to be after BT wound down its use of Microsoft Mediaroom, a video platform that has since been acquired by Ericsson.

Other customers of thePlatform include Bell Media, BT, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Cox Communications, Liberty Global, Rogers Communications and Time Warner Cable, among others