A reported £30 billion invested over 30 years - most of it quite literally in holes in the ground - and what is left of the UK cable industry, now called Virgin Media, finally turns in a profit.
Considering the write downs and mergers,it's surprising how long it has taken, especially since BSkyB has long generated massive profits.
Perhaps the biggest lesson is how difficult it is to make money from TV. The UK is a money pit to any new entrant, as Netflix will soon find.
It was my hope that the internet would break the oligopoly that is British TV, but I was so wrong, all that has happened is that the hegenomy has been reinforced with new American monsters like YouTube created.
So, Sky, BBC, YouTube. There you have it. Two US controlled corporations and a nationalised industry. That's what our television amounts to these days..
Jeremy Hunt is a highly intelligent guy who expends most of his energy destroying British media by offering unconditional love to companies like Google, who pay little tax in the UK and have no interest in our intrinsic institutions.
Idiotic ideas like a 'Silicon Roundabout' need to be replaced with serious thinking about why we generate the best media in the world,but fail to build world class media companies and why our telly is either a state controlled monster or US controlled. Imagine if UK companies owned the majority or TV in France, Germany or the US...
Considering the write downs and mergers,it's surprising how long it has taken, especially since BSkyB has long generated massive profits.
Perhaps the biggest lesson is how difficult it is to make money from TV. The UK is a money pit to any new entrant, as Netflix will soon find.
It was my hope that the internet would break the oligopoly that is British TV, but I was so wrong, all that has happened is that the hegenomy has been reinforced with new American monsters like YouTube created.
So, Sky, BBC, YouTube. There you have it. Two US controlled corporations and a nationalised industry. That's what our television amounts to these days..
Jeremy Hunt is a highly intelligent guy who expends most of his energy destroying British media by offering unconditional love to companies like Google, who pay little tax in the UK and have no interest in our intrinsic institutions.
Idiotic ideas like a 'Silicon Roundabout' need to be replaced with serious thinking about why we generate the best media in the world,but fail to build world class media companies and why our telly is either a state controlled monster or US controlled. Imagine if UK companies owned the majority or TV in France, Germany or the US...