Posts by Prophet

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A hacker is advertising what he says is more than one hundred million LinkedIn logins for sale.
The IDs were reportedly sourced from a breach four years ago, which had previously been thought to have included a fraction of that number.
At the time, the business-focused social network said it had reset the accounts of those it thought had been compromised.
LinkedIn now plans to repeat the measure on a much larger scale.
One expert said the service should have reset all its accounts the first time round.
LinkedIn is often used to send work-related messages and to find career opportunities - activities its members would want to stay private.
Criminals could make use of this information or see if its subscribers had used the same passwords elsewhere.
"We are taking immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted, and we will contact those members to reset their passwords," a spokeswoman for the California-based firm told the BBC.
"We have no indication that this is a result of a new security breach.
"We encourage our members to visit our safety centre to ensure they have two-step verification authentication and to use strong passwords in order to keep their accounts as safe as possible."
Login leak
Details of the sale were first reported by the news site Motherboard.
It said the details were being advertised on at least two hacking-related sites.
A total of 117 million passwords are said to be included.
The passcodes are encoded, but in a form that appears to have be relatively easy to reverse-engineer.
LinkedIn had about 165 million accounts at the time of the breach, but the discrepancy in the figures might be explained by the fact that some of its users logged in via Facebook.
Invalidated IDs
After the breach first occurred, a file containing 6.5 million encrypted passwords was posted to an online forum in Russia.

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LinkedIn reacted by saying it had invalidated all the accounts it believed had been compromised and emailed affected members saying they needed to register new passwords.
But Motherboard has tracked down one user, whose details are in the batch currently on sale, and found that the password listed for him was still active.
A security researcher who has also been given access to about one million of the advertised IDs said he believed it was "highly likely" that the leak was real.
"I've personally verified the data with multiple subscribers [of my own site] 'Have I been pwned'," Troy Hunt told the BBC.
"They've looked at the passwords in the dump and confirmed they're legitimate."
Another expert noted that the problem stemmed from the fact that LinkedIn had originally "hashed" its passwords but not "salted" them before storing them.
Hashing involves using an algorithm to convert passwords into a long string of digits. Salting is an additional step meant to stop unauthorised parties from being able to work around the process.
"A salt involves adding a few random characters, which are different on a per-user basis, to the passwords [before they are hashed]," explained Rik Ferguson, chief technology officer at the cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.
By doing this, he added, you prevent hackers from being able to refer to so-called "rainbow tables" that list commonly-used passwords and the various hashes they produce, and then see if any of the hashes match those in the stolen database.
LinkedIn introduced salting after the attack, but that only benefits the login databases it generated afterwards.
"Using salting is absolutely best practice for storing passwords under any circumstances and was the case back in 2012 as well," Mr Ferguson said.
"If LinkedIn is saying now that it didn't know which accounts had been affected by the breach, then the sensible thing to have done at the time would have been a system-wide forced reset of every password."

Full story is here... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36320322

thanks [MENTION=68236]codar[/MENTION]

I think this is what I need to activate, I am just hoping it will still allow the console to access other devices in the house, I would have to assume it would as that article states incoming/outgoing internet traffic

I will have to give it a try, but I am not doing it tonight, they can wait

Quote from scouseman

You can block the site via your Hosts file which will still allow you to use the internet via the console if thats what your after m8 :D

If you want info on how to do this give me a shout :)

thanks for the reply... not quite what i am after tbh

I am wanting to block all external internet activity on that one specific console BUT still allow the console to connect to other machines internally that are connected to the router

Hope this makes sense

Hey all, quite a specific help request, not sure if it can be done at all anyway, but no harm in asking I guess

Ok, obviously we have a BT HH5 which the whole family uses for Laptops, Tablets, Phones, Consoles, STB etc..... Just like most other households

One of my older children uses a certain type of console which uses a browser exploit to enable playing back up games and homebrew software

What I was wanting to know was this... Can I block specifically Internet Access for that one console whilst still allowing that console to use the internal network (the exploit is hosted on a laptop using xampp with Apache enabled)

So a shorter version of the question... Can I block internet access via the hub but still allow network activity internally ??

If so, how can I do this ?

Thanks in advance

Copyright holders commonly ask torrent sites to remove links to pirated content, such as the latest blockbuster movies. However, Sony Pictures Networks goes a step further. This week the Indian company sent a stark warning to torrent sites, urging them to keep an eye out for pirated versions of an unreleased film, or else.

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While it’s not widely publicized, many larger torrent sites regularly remove links to infringing files. This allows copyright holders to somewhat limit the availability of their works on the Internet.

Generally speaking, movie studios and other rightsholders hire anti-piracy companies to track down infringing content. These outfits then send takedown notices to the sites in question.

In India, the local Sony Pictures’ representatives are taking a different approach. This week they informed several torrent site operators about their upcoming release, Azhar, which premieres in theaters today.

However, instead of linking to torrents or specific URLs, the notice is a general warning urging site owners to keep the film off their sites. Citing the Indian Copyright Act, the company warns that distributing the film would break the law.

“By way of the present caution notice issued to you, we caution you and your website, not to indulge in any broadcasting, rebroadcasting, making available for viewing and / or communicating to the public, the film and any content associated thereof, without obtaining permission / authorization from our client,” the notice reads.

Sony Pictures Networks‘ anti-piracy partner MarkScan adds that they will keep a close eye on the developments, and warns that civil or criminal lawsuits may follow if the warning is ignored.

“We will be monitoring your activities for any act of infringement of the statutory and contractual rights of our Client and shall be compelled to initiate legal proceedings (civil and/or criminal) should you engage in violation of our Client’s rights despite the present notice,” they write.

While the language may sound intimidating, the torrent site operators we spoke with have no plans to take preemptive action. Besides broad keyword filters, there are few options to prevent users from uploading content that’s not available yet.

At the time of writing we haven’t seen any pirated copies of Azhar on torrent sites, but the soundtrack is widely distributed. Despite the threats, it’s likely that the movie will follow soon after the first releases leak online.

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The MPAA has signed its first anti-piracy partnership with a domain name registry outside the United States. The Hollywood group will act as a "trusted notifier," helping Radix, Asia's largest new gTLD applicant, to prevent pirate sites from using their domain names.

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Following the failed SOPA and PIPA bills, entertainment industry groups have switched their efforts away from legislation and towards voluntary cooperation with various stakeholders.

This has resulted in several agreements with Internet providers, advertising agencies and payment processors, designed to help prevent piracy.

Continuing this trend, the MPAA is now actively working on private deals with domain name registries and registrars. After teaming up with U.S-based Donuts a few months ago, the movie industry group is now going global.

Today, the MPAA and Asian registry Radix announced their new anti-piracy partnership. Radix bills itself as Asia’s largest new gTLD applicant and controls several domain extensions including .online, .tech, .space, .website, .press, .host, .site.

Under their agreement the MPAA will act as a “trusted notifier,” tasked with reporting sites that are clearly copyright-infringing. After several checks, these domain names may then be suspended by the registry.

“We welcome MPAA’s cooperation in helping us prevent intellectual property and copyright violations in our name space,” comments Sandeep Ramchandani, Business Head of Radix.

“We’re hopeful that our joint actions will not only protect creators from having their works stolen, but also protect Internet users from exposure to malware that is commonly found on sites run by unlicensed operators,” he adds.

The details of the partnership have not been released but they are likely similar to the Donuts agreement, which we analyzed in detail in our previous coverage.

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The new deal suggests that the MPAA is actively reaching out to registries to help them fight online piracy.

The Hollywood group previously lobbied domain name system oversight body ICANN to take action against pirate sites, without any result. Thus far, reaching out to registries directly has proven to be more fruitful.

According to Steven Fabrizio, the MPAA’s Senior Executive Vice President, voluntary partnerships should help to battle online piracy, and he hopes they will expand to other industries and domain name services.

“While this agreement is geared to film and television piracy, similar agreements could address other illegal activity online. Hopefully, it can become a model to be used with other players in the domain name ecosystem and Internet intermediaries,” Fabrizio says.

While the deal doesn’t put any major pirate sites at risk right away, it does limit the number of domain name options they have. It also means that sites such as yts.host, thepiratebay.tech and torrentmirror.online could soon disappear.

Excitement over the European Commission's plans to abolish geo-blocking and filtering restrictions across EU member states is in jeopardy following the publication of a leaked draft. The 34-page document proposes exceptions for audio-visual content, meaning that services like Netflix would be excluded.

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Consumers of audio-visual content – video in particular – are often granted access to different libraries of movies and TV shows depending on which country they’re accessing services from.

Netflix is a prime example. US customers get the best selection by far and even subscribers in various member states of Europe are restricted depending on their home country. This means that those traveling within the region can sometimes be denied access to content.

So-called “geo-blocking” is extremely unpopular with consumers who often go to some lengths, via the use of VPNs etc, to unblock content in other regions. However, last December a light appeared at the end of the tunnel when the European Commission published a proposal which would require streaming services to ban the practice as part of the EU’s wider copyright reforms.

“We want to ensure the portability of content across borders. People who legally buy content – films, books, football matches, TV series – must be able to carry it with them anywhere they go in Europe,” said Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market.

The proposals were generally well-received and after a report was published in March which further condemned widespread geo-blocking, it appeared that the European Commission was determined to move ahead with its plan.

However, a leaked document just published by Politico (subscription) reveals that the EC intends to propose exemptions for audio-visual services such as Netflix.

The revelation is tucked away on page 11 of the draft which states the following:

“The material scope of the proposal is aligned with that of Directive 2006/123/EC to the extent possible in order to ensure maximum legal certainty for traders and customers,” it reads.

“This means that, inter alia, non-economic services of general interest, transport services, audio-visual services, gambling activities, healthcare services and certain social services are excluded from the scope of this Regulation.”

Later, on page 18, the European Commission again references exemptions for services offering products that are subject to territorial licensing.

“Audio-visual services, including services the main feature of which is the provision of access to broadcasts of sports events and which are provided on the basis of exclusive territorial licenses, are therefore excluded from the scope of this Regulation,” the draft adds.

While the EC’s proposals are likely to be seen as a negative for consumers, copyright holders will be pleased that the prospect of having to rewrite their licensing agreements has disappeared into the distance.

It is believed that the European Commission will officially unveil these proposals during the next two weeks. Should they be made official they’re expected to come into force during 2017.

GAME OVER: NINTENDO TAKES DOWN “FULL SCREEN MARIO” CODE

After shutting down the website of the hugely popular "Full Screen Mario" browser game, Nintendo has now nuked its actively developed code repository from GitHub. The code allowed users to play the 1985 Super Mario Bros game on their local machines and included a level editor. According to developer Josh Goldberg, his game may have inspired Nintendo to release its own "Mario Maker."

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Playing old console games through browser-based emulators and spin-offs is a niche pastime of many dedicated gamers.

However, keeping these fan-made games online is quite a challenge. This is what Josh Goldberg learned the hard way when his browser version of Nintendo’s 1985 Super Mario Bros was pulled offline in 2013.

The “Full Screen Mario” browser game was unique in several aspects. It not only allowed people to play the original 32 levels, but also included a random map generator and level editor, features Nintendo later released in its own “Mario Maker” game.

After welcoming 2.7 million unique visitors, Goldberg received a DMCA takedown notice from Nintendo which made him decide to pull the plug. However, the code remained widely available on Github and was actively developed in recent years.

This allowed people to play the game on their local machines, or host a copy on their own servers. But now, after more than two years, Nintendo has decided to pull the GitHub repository offline as well.

“Nintendo recently became aware that certain material posted on the web page located at [GitHub] infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo,” reads a DMCA notice that was sent to GitHub a few hours ago.

“Nintendo requests that GitHub disable public access to the web page […] which provides access to software files that make unauthorized use of Nintendo of America Inc.’s copyrighted material from its Super Mario Bros. videogame, in violation of Nintendo’s exclusive rights,” the notice adds.

As a result, GitHub has taken the entire repository down, replacing it with a message pointing to Nintendo’s DMCA takedown request.

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Interestingly the takedown comes a few hours after Goldberg, who now works as a Software Development Engineer at Microsoft, highlighted Full Screen Mario’s success in an interview with Microsoft + Open Source.

Interesting timing, just like the release of “Mario Maker” which came out a few months after “Full Screen Mario” was taken down. According to the developer, his game may in fact have inspired the Nintendo release.

“I think it’s too much of a coincidence that in the fall they take down a fan site that was too popular for them, then in the spring and summer they release a trailer for this product,” he previously told The Washington Post in an interview.

“It has the same user interface I had in development, just way better, and it’s something I wish I could have made,” he added, noting that Nintendo never contacted him personally.

Now, roughly three years after Full Screen Mario was born, the project appears to have come to an end. While there’s a possibility that the project may respawn elsewhere, as there are still some forks floating around, it’s game over for the official repository.

Would you be kind enough to include a photo of the actual item along with your username, date and LSS on it please

Thanks in advance

It is the older folks I feel sorry for, the ones that live alone or don't really understand all these things and end up falling for these types of scams

Quote from chababu

Yes mate. Sorry guys for the delay...was in hospital the past week...am back home now recovering and will upload the update soon...

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Get well soon

The Swedish Court of Appeal has today ruled that The Pirate Bay will have its Swedish domains confiscated. ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se will both be forfeited to the state but Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij informs TorrentFreak that he will appeal claims that he owns the domains at the Supreme Court.

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In 2013, anti-piracy prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad filed a motion targeting two of The Pirate Bay’s most recognizable names, ThePirateBay.se (the site’s main domain) and PirateBay.se (a lesser used alternative).

Rather than take on the site and its operators directly, Ingblad filed a complaint against Punkt SE (IIS), the organization responsible for Sweden’s top level .SE domain.

Ingbland argued that since The Pirate Bay is an illegal site the domains are tools used to infringe copyright and should be suspended. Furthermore, the prosecutor insisted that as the controller of those domains, IIS should also be held liable for copyright infringement.

IIS naturally took an opposing stance and said that any decision on the fate of the domains should be decided by the court. Meanwhile, IIS refused to suspend The Pirate Bay’s domains.

The case was heard in April 2015 and a month later the Stockholm District Court ruled that The Pirate Bay should forfeit both ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se.

But despite ordering the domain seizures the case against IIS was essentially rejected, with the District Court dismissing the prosecution’s case and awarding the registry close to $40,000 in costs. As a result the prosecution took the case to appeal.

This morning, however, the Svea Court of Appeal handed down its decision which upholds the decision of the Stockholm District Court.

“In common with the District Court ruling the Court of Appeal finds that there is a basis for confiscation since the domain names assisted crimes under the Copyright Act,” the Svea Court of Appeal said in a statement.

This means that ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se are now set to be forfeited to the Swedish state and The Pirate Bay will have to find alternatives.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, IIS counsel Elisabeth Ekstrand says that her organization is pleased that the decision of the District Court has been upheld.

“We are pleased that the Court of Appeal chose to uphold the decision from the District Court. We think it is good that this issue has been examined. Now we need some time to read through the verdict before we can make any further comments,” Ekstrand told TF.

Both of the domains are held in the name of Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij and the District Court previously ruled that he is the owner.

“The prosecutor’s primary claim with respect to Fredrik Neij should be upheld and domain names should be confiscated from him in accordance with the Copyright Act,” the Court said.

However, speaking with TorrentFreak a few minutes ago, Neij denied that he is the owner of the domains and will file an appeal to the Supreme Court to protest.

“I will appeal on the grounds that I do not own the domain and that I did not commit copyright infringement as I am not involved with the site anymore,” Neij explained.

All of the parties involved are allowed to appeal so this case seems far from over.

Mega, the cloud storage site founded by Kim Dotcom, has been ordered to hand the IP addresses and personal details of some of its users to a U.S. court. The ruling follows the uploading of sensitive documents to Mega following a hack on a foreign government computer system. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Mega chairman Stephen Hall expressed concerns over the process.

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When Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom launched his new Mega cloud-storage company in January 2013, the company was focused on one key issue – privacy.

Mega encrypts all files uploaded by users, meaning that no one other than the uploader can see what is in those files unless he or she shares their private key with a third party. But while Mega is secure in many respects, users can not expect complete anonymity.

From the start Mega made it clear it would carry communication logs, the IP addresses used by subscribers to access the service, and other personal information.

Nevertheless, although Dotcom is no longer part of the company (his current stance is actually one of hostility), Mega’s commitment to privacy has been maintained by its current operators. Just recently, however, their stance of keeping user information private has been challenged in court.

The case involves a hack on a Kazakhstan government computer system which is said to have taken place in August 2014 but was not unearthed until 2015.

According to the Kazakh authorities the hackers made off with a trove of information including thousands of sensitive documents and emails between the government and advisors in the United States. These were then uploaded and stored on Mega by either the hackers or individuals closely linked to them.

In order to begin tracking the hackers down, in May last year Kazakhstan filed a lawsuit in the United States against 100 unnamed “John Does” seeking an injunction and damages. The EFF became involved in the case after the Kazakhstan government tried to stop Respublika, a site which reports critically on Kazakhstan’s ruling regime, from publishing the leaks.

Subsequently the Southern District of New York sought assistance from authorities in New Zealand in an effort to gain access to the hackers’ personal details. The request was processed by the New Zealand High Court which was asked to order Mega to hand over the information it holds on the supposed hacker(s).

The application was opposed by Mega, who told the Court that handing over the information would undermine the privacy of its users and was not guaranteed to assist in the U.S. hacking case.

However, in a ruling handed down today Mega’s attempt at protecting user privacy was dismissed by the High Court.

“[This] information is neither particularly revealing nor particularly sensitive; it does not, for instance, carry the same degree of confidentiality as an individual’s email or phone records,” wrote Justice Simon Moore.

“Therefore, I am satisfied that the privacy interests in this case should not carry significant weight. I am also satisfied that any potential harm could be mitigated by the imposition of properly worded protection orders”

As a result, Mega will now have to reveal the IP addresses, email addresses, contact and payment details of the users in question. When it does, that information will have to be sent to the New York district court, although Mega will be compensated for its trouble.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Mega chairman Stephen Hall says that he has concerns about the Kazakhstan Government and the process it has undertaken.

“The Kazakhstan Government has a poor record as documented by international groups (1,2). Mega holds concerns that this is not a mere civil case about seeking damages from a hacker as the only damages that have been mentioned are the costs of the investigation,” Hall says.

“By construing it as a civil case [the Kazakhstan Government] has bypassed the usual discretion that needs to be exercised by a Minister of the NZ Government under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992 process.

Furthermore, Hall says that Mega is not convinced that the party who uploaded the content to Mega is the original hacker as no evidence to that end has been provided. Additionally, it appears there has been little effort to take the content down.

“Mega has only received one request to take down any of the material. This request which related to the contents of a Gmail account of an official in the Finance Ministry was implemented immediately,” he explains.

“However, takedown requests were not received for the remaining material, suggesting that finding the hacker was more important than preserving secrecy of the material.”

UK subscription-free satellite TV service Freesat has reported a “solid” start to 2016 as it continues to enhance its content offering and build international partnerships.

The number of homes connected to Freesat by both satellite and broadband is up by 54 per cent year-on-year. This results from customers choosing to complement their linear free-to-air TV viewing with on-demand services, such as the recently launched Wuaki.tv – which provides the latest films on a pay-as-you-watch basis – together with the major free catch-up players, BBC iPlayer, All4, My5 and ITV Hub. Last month Freesat was also cleared by the BBC Trust to offer live pay sports services.

The number of homes with Freesat remains steady at 1.93 million, with sales of connected set-top boxes up 18 per cent year-on-year. Despite a declining TV market, Freesat’s most recent partnership with LG has continued to boost TV sales as more consumers choose to buy TVs with satellite tuners. More than 4 million viewers tune into the platform each week, where they can access over 200 TV and radio channels, including 12 in high-definition, with Channel 5 HD and Daystar HD added this year.

Freesat is also pursuing further opportunities to partner with international operators, with a view to helping them integrate linear television with broadband on-demand services. So far, Freesat has partnered with Irish broadcaster RTÉ to deliver a new product for Saorview, Ireland’s free digital television service. Selling internationally will further advance Freesat’s strategy, making it easier for content providers to launch their on-demand applications across various regions and free-to-air platforms.

Alistair Thom, Freesat’s managing director, said that by adding more quality channels and on-demand services to its subscription-free platform, the operator was able to offer consumers an attractive alternative to expensive TV contracts and hefty bills. “As always, we’re focusing on giving customers choice to watch the TV they want and plan to bring even more channels and players to the platform in the near future,” he added.

The first episode of Season Six of Sky Atlantic’s Game of Thrones has smashed records to become the most watched Sky entertainment programme ever with almost five million views so far. And this figure should continue to grow as customers take advantage of all the ways they can watch the show on demand.

Since it was first broadcast on April 25th there have been 3.8 million views of the opening episode via the Sky platform. This includes people who watched the 2am simulcast and 9pm showing live, plus any repeats of the episode, as well as customers who have watched on demand or through Sky+ recordings. In addition there have been around one million views of the episode through the Sky Go app and online streaming service NOW TV.

The five million views of episode one has smashed the previous record-holding episode, the finale of Game of Thrones Season 5. This delivered a cumulative audience of 3.27 million, and more than 400,000 views through Sky Go and NOW TV.

And across Sky’s other territories in Europe, the audiences for Game of Thrones are also growing. Episode one of Season 6 on Sky Atlantic in Italy has been watched so far by an audience of 1.1 million, a 29 per cent increase on the launch of Season 5. In Germany, the episode has already been viewed by 379,000, a 74 per cent increase on the previous season.

The full figures for subsequent episodes of Season Six in the UK are still being calculated but the trend looks set to continue. Episodes two and three delivered overnight audiences of 2.18 million and 2.24 million respectively.

Anticipation ahead of the launch of Season 6 resulted in millions of people catching up on Seasons 1 to 5 of the series through Sky Box Sets, with almost 10 million downloads in the past seven weeks.

Gary Davey, Managing Director, Content, Sky commented: “Across Europe, the Game of Thrones phenomenon continues to build. We’re so proud that through our partnership with HBO we can be part of it, as well as offer our customers the flexibility to watch their favourite show in a way that suits them best. Three years ago we declared Game of Thrones to be the best TV series of all time. And as these numbers demonstrate, the show just keeps getting better.”

A report by business advisory firm Grant Thornton estimates that digital piracy has caused the loss of 500 jobs to the Irish economy by 2015. The estimated cost to the economy shows retailers suffered losses of circa €320 million in revenues, while the loss to the Exchequer in VAT receipts could be as much as €71 million as a result of digital piracy.

The report, Illicit Trade 2015-2016: Implications for the Irish economy, measures the cost to the Exchequer at €788 million and right holders at €1.5 billion across a range of sectors including fuel, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, digital and alcohol. Illicit trade is costing the Irish economy €2.3 billion every year.

Brendan Foster, Partner at Grant Thornton, said, “The level of illicit activity reported is quite remarkable. While we welcome the increased efforts to improve legislation and enforcement activity over the past few years, it is vital that all sectors impacted continue to invest in public awareness campaigns to remind consumers that illicit activity is far from being a victimless crime.”

“As leading advisers to the Irish film and media industry, we are concerned that the extent of illegal downloading of content continues to impact the industry heavily and outdated legislation and enforcement activity does little to protect the sector,” he added.

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A deal with BT Sport will see UK quad-play operator TalkTalk’s TV homes have access to all major UK sports channel, and see all Premier League and UEFA Champions League games available on TalkTalk TV.

From June 2016, TalkTalk TV homes will be able to subscribe to BT Sport channels on a rolling monthly contract directly from BT. Subscribers to BT Sport will also be able to watch fixtures on the go through the BT Sport app, and on all six red button channels from September.

The move means that TalkTalk subscribers will be able to watch every major televised football match and live sporting action in one place.

In addition to next season’s Premier League and all UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League football matches, BT Sport will also give TalkTalk TV customers access to exclusive content such as AVIVA Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC, NBA and Major League Baseball.

“TalkTalk TV is fast becoming one of the most compelling and competitive TV services,” declared Aleks Habdank of TalkTalk TV. “Our customers already have access to 98 per cent of the nation’s top TV programmes as well as latest blockbusters and must-see box sets on TalkTalk TV Store.”

“Enabling our customers to subscribe to BT Sport, alongside our existing sports packages, continues our ongoing efforts to become the go-to destination for sport and entertainment. The big appeal is choice and flexibility; people enjoy having flexible access to a huge range of free and paid-for content, without being tied into a lengthy subscription.”

The move follows the recent launch of TalkTalk TV Store, an expansion of pay-as-you-go TV and movie streaming service blinkbox, which TalkTalk acquired in 2015. The service claims to offer the latest movies at Britain’s lowest price in comparison to Amazon, iTunes, Sky and BT.

With the addition of BT Sport, TalkTalk homes will now have access to sports channels including Sky Sports, Box Nation and Premier Sports, alongside entertainment services such as Netflix, Now TV, and Sky Movies.

The service will be provided by BT, who will announce the price for the BT Sport channels and the ways to buy shortly, following which TalkTalk customers can then add BT Sport to their package.

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Competition watchdogs at the European Commission have blocked the sale of Telefónica’s O2 UK mobile operator to CK Hutchison, the owner of mobile company Three.

The planned deal was worth £10.3 billion, and would have left the UK with just three major mobile phone network operators.

Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager expressed strong concerns about the takeover, ruling that it would reduce customer choice and raise prices.

“The goal of EU merger control is to ensure that tie-ups do not weaken competition at the expense of consumers and businesses,” she stated. “We want the mobile telecoms sector to be competitive, so that consumers can enjoy innovative mobile services at fair prices and high network quality.”

Although Hutchison had offered concessions, including a five year price freeze and billions of pounds in investments, they were deemed “not sufficient” to prevent the hampering of innovation and network infrastructure development.

In response, CK Hutchison contended that the acquisition would bring “major benefits” to the UK not only by unlocking £10 billion of private sector investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure but also by addressing the country’s coverage issues, enhancing network capacity, speeds and price competition for consumers.

According to Kester Mann, Principal Analyst, Operators at CCS Insight, the collapse of the deal leaves both Three and O2 in a precarious position with uncertain futures in the UK. It also casts serious doubt over the future structure of a European telecoms sector that had banked on the tie-up paving the way to further consolidation.

“The most likely eventual outcome for O2 is sale to private equity, however Liberty Global, which owns Virgin Media, could consider a bid. Sale or partial-sale to a deep-pocketed operator from outside the UK such as Softbank or America Movil is also plausible. For the time being however, O2’s parent Telefónica may elect to hold on to an asset that in recent years has impressively out-performed rivals despite its uncertain future,” he suggested.

“Three’s future now looks vulnerable as a sub-scale mobile operator in a market rapidly transitioning to multiplay. A possible option could be to acquire TalkTalk. The broadband and TV provider deploys a similar low-cost strategy and could be available in a cut-price deal having been badly damaged by a recent security breach. Such a deal would not attract major competition concerns and would offer greater scale as well as a position in the rapidly-growing UK multiplay market,” he noted.

“Although the Hong Kong company offered a range of concessions, its apparent preference to assist virtual providers or those with a heritage in fixed-line broadband or TV including Virgin Media, rather than facilitate a more mobile-focussed rival, may have been the undoing of the deal” he surmised.

“After similar deals were waved through in Austria, Ireland and Germany, the European Commission has either been hugely inconsistent in its merger and acquisition policy or failed foresee the alleged negative impact in these markets that have already consolidated,” he concluded.

“Fewer competitors can mean less pressure to keep prices down and this threat was obviously too great in the regulator’s minds, despite assurances from Hutchison on price freezes and significant infrastructure investment,” suggested Imran Choudhary, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel.

“As soon as BT’s purchase of EE completed earlier this year, the UK’s mobile operators were looking to safeguard their assets and best position themselves to compete. Hutchison has adopted a wider global strategy of expansion through acquisition and was looking to extend that approach to the UK, while Telefonica’s willingness to sell O2 reflects its new focus on emerging markets.”

“O2 will ideally still look for a buyer and Virgin Media – which is owned by Liberty Global – could certainly step in and solidify its presence as a true quad-play provider, allowing the operator to go head-to-head with BT and EE. Hutchison will now turn its gaze to a merger it has planned in Italy to ensure that isn’t also rejected, while in the UK, Three will have to find new ways to disrupt the mobile market.”

“In the longer term the question of how sustainable a four-operator market structure is for the UK will be tested. As it becomes increasingly difficult for networks to generate revenue, the significant expenditure needed to facilitate growing data consumption is going to be more of a burden on both Three and O2. Customers are the ones who will suffer if the UK lags behind – the very opposite of what the regulators wanted.”