PRESS DIGEST - British business - Feb 11

The Times

MOBILE PHONE OPERATORS JOIN FORCES TO BLOCK CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE WEB SITES

Europe's leading mobile phone operators, Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Orange and 3 among them, will unveil plans on Monday to install technology that prevents users from accessing child abuse Web sites. If customers attempt to do so, they will either be directed to a police warning notice or receive a message informing them that the site is unavailable. The scheme has received the backing of European Telecoms Commissioner Vivian Reding. Separately, Reding is due to tell mobile phone operators they will be subject by the summer to new legislation should they fail to reduce the price consumers pay to gain handset Internet access while abroad.

SETANTA SEEKS BUYERS WITH ONE BILLION POUNDS PLUS

Goldman Sachs has been asked to informally sound out potential suitors for Setanta Sports, which is thought to be targeting a valuation in excess of one billion pounds. BT (BT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), ITV (ITV.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Virgin Media (VMED.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and ESPN parent Disney (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are among the groups that may explore the possibility of a deal. ESPN executives have expressed an interest in entering the lucrative British football rights industry and Setanta, which this year expects to report revenues of 500 million euros, can boast in the region of 1.2 million premium UK subscribers, as well as another two million customers who use the Virgin Media platform.

OFFSHORE WIND FARMS TO GENERATE 100 MILLION POUNDS WINDFALL FOR CROWN ESTATE

The Crown Estate, which owns the foreshore and seabed round the UK, will receive windfall profits of at least 100 million pounds a year from Britain's flourishing offshore renewable energy industry, having penned highly lucrative contracts with offshore wind farm operators. The group will not only bank rents from the siting of wind turbines but will also profit from the laying of sub-sea cables and the storing of carbon taken from coal-fired power stations. Certain sections of the power industry, however, are unhappy at Crown's windfall. A source said: "It's not as if there is an annual maintenance charge for the seabed."

The Daily Telegraph

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