Ofcom should act swiftly on Sky premium content, says BT chairman

UK regulator Ofcom should act swiftly to enforce fair access to BSkyB’s premium TV content, BT chairman Sir Michael Rake told the company’s annual general meeting yesterday.

Rake said that BT was making its next-generation network available to others on a fair and equal basis, and it was vital that other providers also shared their assets – including by implication BSkyB’s content assets – in the same way.

Rake told the telco’s shareholders that BT is on track to deliver over £1bn (€1.16bn) of cost reductions and improve free cash flow by a third in the current financial year.
Rake acknowledged that BT’s financial performance had been hit by the poor record of its Global Service arm. He also said that BT must be able to invest and compete in other countries in the same way that international companies were allowed to compete in the UK.