Sky

• But the high-octane drama risks being overshadowed by off-field events that could also threaten the principles of public service broadcasting.
• Viewing figures for the Rugby World Cup in 2023 were 19% higher than the 2019 tournament, and 30% higher than in 2015.
• Free-to-air Six Nations games regularly draw between 3 and 4.5 million viewers in the UK.
• So, when the current broadcasting deal ends in 2025, the Six Nations could very well end up behind a paywall.

Financial woes

• It faces a stark future both on and off the field, with players leaving Wales for more money and salary caps being introduced for those who stay.
• The SNP’s Gavin Newlands recently reiterated calls for broadcasting to be devolved so that the Six Nations remains free-to-air.
• The Irish Rugby Union has also previously warned about the “substantial financial damage” to rugby if the Six Nations was classified as free-to-air.

Lessons from cricket

• Free market proponents point, for example, to how Sky’s long-lasting commitment to cricket has led to innovation and technical advances such as multiple cameras and data-rich, TV-friendly statistical analysis.
• It results in a quality of coverage that the BBC or ITV might struggle to match with more meagre budgets.
• But test cricket offers a cautionary tale.
• Having hauled in millions of new enthusiasts, cricket failed to keep them watching.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Neal takes the helm from Jon Prideaux, who announced his intention to retire in July 2023, and will remain on the Board as a Non-Executive Director.
• Boku CEO Stuart Neal brings more than 20 years of payments, banking and innovation leadership experience to Boku, combined with a deep understanding of the Boku business.
• Neal re-joined Boku as CEO Designate in July 2023 after Jon Prideaux announced his plans to retire.
• “I am excited to return to Boku as CEO at such a dynamic and promising time for the payments industry,” commented Stuart Neal, CEO, Boku.

• In an increasingly competitive cloud market, Brazilian enterprises are actively seeking provider support to control costs and better distribute their workloads across multiple public clouds, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group ( ISG ) (Nasdaq: III ), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.
• To take full advantage of the cloud’s potential, a growing number of Brazilian enterprises are looking to modernize their applications to better leverage cloud-native technologies such as infrastructure as code (IaC), serverless computing, data lakes, APIs, AI and ML, the ISG report says.
• “In the past year, many Brazilian enterprises have replaced their incumbent providers with more proficient ones.”
  Politics and economics are driving forces behind the stepped-up emphasis on cloud optimization on the part of Brazilian enterprises, the ISG report says.
• Public clouds offer economies of scale and provide enterprises with a highly efficient computing platform, the ISG report says.

• New Voice and Search partner announcements will include LG, Sky and other major Smart TV and Pay TV vendors.
• Matthew Broughton, LG Director, Europe Smart TV Content & Services, said, “This is the start of a major partnership between ROXi and LG.
• Independent research poll commissioned by ROXi and published today reveals 60% of US consumers would switch their home music listening from audio-only Smart Speakers to full music videos playing on the TV.
• Celebs Simon Cowell, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and Sheryl Crow will also curate their own music video channels on the ROXi service.