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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Satellite television is declining fast in the US. But with its $7.6bn deal to acquire full control of DirecTV from AT&T, private equity group TPG is betting the industry can survive for long enough to fund a budget streaming option to challenge the new powerhouses of the entertainment business — Disney, Alphabet, Amazon and Apple.

Following Monday’s deal, TPG plans to merge DirecTV with Dish, the industry’s second-largest player, and fund a challenger TV option for cost-conscious Americans who want highly-tailored bundles of sports, news and scripted entertainment.

The combination of the two groups will put TPG in control of a pay-TV business with 18mn subscribers that is on track to generate more than $6bn in combined annual free cash flow this year. The buyout group believes those profits are sufficient to fund a competitive streaming TV service, said two people briefed on its thinking, and are enough for the private equity group to engineer a financial return while stewarding the decline of satellite TV.

Two decades ago, satellite TV beamed into the homes of nearly a third of paying TV users in the US before millions cut their service in recent years.

TPG’s bet comes at a time of mass change and strife within the media industry as consumers cancel cable and fibre service offerings for cheaper internet packages offered by Alphabet, Netflix and Apple, leaving many large media and telecommunications saddled with writedowns and even financial distress. The pressures have led to recent carriage disputes between media companies such as Disney and telecommunications providers including DirecTV and Charter Communications.

The cash TPG plans to pour into DirecTV and Dish underscores the pain absorbed by the industry over the past decade. In sum, it has struck deals to take control of satellite TV operations once worth about $80bn on public stock markets in 2015 for less than $4bn in its own investors’ cash, according to Financial Times’ calculations and people familiar with the matter.

TPG first invested in DirecTV in 2021 when it paid $1.6bn to buy a 30 per cent stake in the business from AT&T, which five years earlier had paid $67bn to acquire the satellite TV operator. AT&T used the buyout group’s investment to begin extricating itself from what MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett called on Monday “one of the worst transactions in American history”.

As part of the deal, AT&T carved out DirecTV as a new company with a $16.3bn enterprise valuation — a quarter of what it paid.

TPG on Monday struck a deal to acquire the remaining 70 per cent of DirecTV from AT&T. The buyout group will use $2bn of equity to fund the purchase and it will pay the remainder through a mixture of new debt, dividends paid to AT&T until the deal closes — expected in late 2025 — and an earnout payment in 2029, the people said.

The Dish assets TPG is acquiring will come at an even lower cost. The buyout group will merge DirecTV with the ailing Dish Network, owned by Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar, for a nominal $1 in cash and the assumption of $11.7bn in debt that had pressured the company.

The tie-up comes with the scale TPG believes can be used to prop up both companies’ fledgling internet-first options, DirecTV Stream and Dish TV. Their so-called “skinny bundles” of targeted media offerings carry a lower cost than broader offerings such as YouTube TV, something that should give the services a “fighting chance” against tech giants including Alphabet, said one person.

But that bet is secondary to TPG’s belief that DirecTV’s existing satellite TV operations are profitable enough to generate a return, even as they bleed subscribers.

The bet will be tested by industry trends moving decidedly against DirecTV. Streaming companies Netflix and Hulu, in addition to direct offerings from media companies Disney and Paramount, have made content middlemen increasingly obsolete. These offerings have captured hundreds of millions of new customers in recent years. Amazon’s Prime Video service, for instance, has 115mn subscribers, about 11 times DirecTV’s subscriber base.

“The merger of DirecTV and Dish Network won’t change the subscriber trajectory,” Moffett, the analyst said, though it will reduce expenses.

TPG’s bet has begun to pay off. The buyout group has received dividends exceeding its initial 2021 investment, said people briefed on the matter. AT&T on Monday said it has received $19bn in distributions from the 2021 deal and DirecTV’s cash flows, in addition to the $7.6bn TPG will pay for full ownership.

AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment. TPG declined to comment.

Telecoms players have faced increasing financial distress as more than a trillion dollars of investments in networks, spectrum and other infrastructure have not led to substantially greater profits.

The set-up has created investment opportunities for private equity investors who cut their teeth decades ago restructuring distressed companies. TPG, founded by David Bonderman and James Coulter, made its name in capitalising on fixing broken businesses including airlines, retailers and financial institutions.

TPG will have to win support for its plan from Dish’s creditors which have been locked in a brutal fight with Ergen. The buyout group plans to cut Dish’s debt by swapping its bonds for those backed by DirecTV at about a 15 per cent discount to their par value.

EchoStar’s chief Hamid Akhavan said of the offer: “We positioned this in a way that we think is a significant win for them, and a significant win for everyone in the picture. Now, will they see it that way? Obviously, it’s up to them.”

A SCHOOL caretaker’s dad was sure his son was kidding when he revealed he had won £180,000 on EuroMillions.

John McDowell, 53, from Bathgate, Scotland, still can’t believe his luck after striking big in the lottery.

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The father-of-three won £183,257.40 on September 6 and is now set to change his life after the “surreal” win.

“On the night I won, I was just about to go to bed and had a quick look at my phone and saw an email from The National Lottery.

“I was going to ignore it as I thought it would be nothing, but curiosity got the better of me and I had a look and realised it said I had matched five main numbers and one Lucky Star.

“Everyone in the house was in bed so I made myself a cup of tea before telling anyone – I then woke my dad up to tell him and he didn’t understand at first – he thought I was joking.

“It’s so surreal, I still can’t believe it.”

He’s going to take his brother overseas for the first time to spend a hot Christmas in Africa.

John said: “I can’t wait to treat my family – my brother has never been abroad before so the first thing I wanted to do was book a holiday somewhere hot and sunny for us both.

“I asked him whether he fancied spending Christmas in Egypt as it would be nice to spend some time swapping the cold Scottish weather for somewhere warm at that time of year.

“He agreed, so I told him to get a passport ordered. It will be a really special holiday.”

John is now also hoping to retire before he turns 60: “I absolutely love my job but winning this money will mean I get to retire that little bit earlier and put my feet up sooner.”

If there’s any cash left over, John will also use his winnings to help his daughters get on the property ladder.

“I would also like to help my daughters plan for their futures, so I’ll now also be able to help them to get on the property ladder when the time’s right.”

And he’s planning to splash out on a new car, and to get his mother a new kitchen after winning

“I have been wanting to get myself a new car for a while, but I’ve been putting it off, but I’ll definitely be shopping for one soon.

“I like to travel up north to get away from it all, so I’d love to get an SUV-style car – maybe a Kia Sportage – to help me explore.”

He matched the five main numbers and one Lucky Star number in the EuroMillions draw on September 6.

The winning numbers from that draw were 12, 14, 34, 41, 47 and the Lucky Star numbers were 3 and 4.

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In the three days since Israel assassinated Hizbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, the country has used its unrivalled air superiority to launch wave after wave of strikes on Lebanon.

But now it appears set to move to a new stage of its offensive: the far riskier land operation that will put Israeli boots on the ground in Hizbollah’s backyard of southern Lebanon.

Equipment and heavy combat divisions have been deployed to Israel’s north.

And in recent days, Israeli forces have also carried out small-scale raids targeting artillery posts and other Hizbollah infrastructure in Lebanon and gathering intelligence ahead of a possible broader ground operation, according to a person familiar with the situation.

“The next stage in the war against Hizbollah will begin soon,” defence minister Yoav Gallant told mayors from northern Israel on Monday.

“It will be a significant factor in changing the security situation and will allow us to complete the important part of the war’s goals: returning residents to their homes.”

Israel has long insisted that returning the roughly 60,000 people displaced from the country’s north by rockets from the Iran-backed Hizbollah — which began firing at Israel in support of Hamas the day after its October 7 attack — is one of its key objectives.

For the past year, Israeli officials have said they would prefer to do so by diplomatic means, but have also threatened to use military force as their belligerent rhetoric has intensified.

Shortly, after Hizbollah began firing at Israel last year, the US had to convince Israel not to launch a pre-emptive offensive against the militants.

In the 12 months since, Israeli forces have pounded southern Lebanon with air and artillery strikes, forcing more than 110,000 people to flee their homes and causing massive damage across the southern border region.

But in recent weeks, Israel has stepped up its preparations for a ground operation, leaving US officials scrambling to contain the situation, and the region on edge over how far Israel will go in its confrontation with Iran and its proxies — and where it will stop.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America in Washington, said after 11 months of combat in Gaza, Israel’s military was “a little bit exhausted” and so unlikely to attempt an operation of the scale it had launched against Hamas.

Instead, he said Israel’s operations were more likely to focus on pushing Hizbollah forces north of Lebanon’s Litani river — as envisaged by a UN resolution passed in the wake of Israel’s last war with Hizbollah in 2006 — and degrading its firepower “to a level where, after the war, we can continue to destroy its facilities . . . and stop the flow of weapons systems from Syria into Lebanon”.

Itamar Yaar, former deputy head of the Israeli National Security Council, said that while he did not expect Israel to attempt a full-scale invasion of Lebanon as the price would be “higher than we are willing to pay”, it was likely to carry out operations near the border to deal with the threat posed by Hizbollah’s anti-tank missiles.

“I think that there is a good chance Israel will try to take control of some points along the [demarcation line] to make sure that at least some of our villages will not be under direct fire from Hizbollah,” he said.

“It’s easier to do on the western part of the Israeli-Lebanese border, it’s more difficult to do in the area of Metula [because of the topography].”

Netanyahu is betting that holding Lebanese territory whenever a ceasefire is reached would also give Israel options in the negotiations over the new status quo, a person who has previously worked with Netanyahu said.

“It gives us leverage. It also gives Hizbollah a fig leaf to agree [to a deal in which it remained north of the Litani] because they can say that by agreeing not to go back they’re getting the Israelis off Lebanese territory,” the person said. “It creates political cards to play.”

However, officials acknowledge that a ground operation in Lebanon would also bring a slew of risks.

Even if officials attempt to wage a limited campaign, Israeli forces could end up being drawn into protracted combat in terrain that Hizbollah’s fighters know inside out, and where Israel’s technological and intelligence advantages count for less.

It would also raise the risk of a direct confrontation with Iran, which has spent years building Hizbollah’s capabilities and views the Lebanese group as the linchpin of the alliance of militants known as the axis of resistance that it has built to buttress its fight with Israel.

Some in Israeli security circles believe that, with Hizbollah in disarray, Israel is unlikely to have a better opportunity to strike the Islamic republic, whose pursuit of nuclear weapons is Israel’s main strategic concern.

Over the past two weeks, Israel has dramatically stepped up its bombardment across Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people, assassinating Hizbollah commanders, and displacing up to 1mn people, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel on Sunday also sent its jets to bomb sites controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels 1,800km away in Yemen who have launched numerous drones and missiles at Israel since October 7.

It was the second time Israel has carried out such a strike, and a former official said the strike was a signal that Israel had the capability to launch long distance operations against Iran as well.

“Many Israelis think . . . if we have such an achievement versus Hamas and Hizbollah, now is the time to deal with the head of the dragon. Not just with the proxies,” said Amidror, who is still regarded as close to Netanyahu.

“In Lebanon [a war would be] about ground forces, who have been called up three times in the last year. In Iran, it would be about an exchange of missile fire, and everything that was prepared by Israel in Tehran. So this a different kind of an effort that basically wasn’t used yet.”

However, others argue a confrontation with such a heavily armed enemy would have huge costs for Israel, and a person familiar with the situation said that despite ratcheting up its operations in Lebanon, Israel was not seeking an escalation with Iran.

“Netanyahu doesn’t want Iran involved,” the person said.

Yaar said he believed Israel was also very unlikely to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities without support from the US, given the complexity of the task, and the likelihood that it would provoke a massive response from Tehran.

“The Americans aren’t willing to do it, at least for the coming few months. So in the next few months I don’t see it,” he said.

“What happens after that will depend on Iran’s activities on the nuclear issue, and the other different fields where the Iranians are acting, such as Syria and Iraq.”

Cartography by Jana Tauschinski and Steven Bernard

THOUSANDS of pensioners can get £150 to cover the cost of energy bills over the winter through a loophole – but only have weeks left to act.

The Warm Home Discount (WHD) is a reduction on your electricity and sometimes gas applied by energy firms once a year.

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In the vast majority of cases, you receive the discount automatically and don’t need to apply.

The discount is open to those in receipt of certain benefits including Universal Credit, Income Support and Housing Benefit.

The £150 reduction is also available to thousands on pension credit.

To qualify, you need to claim either the guaranteed credit element of pension credit or one of the below benefits:

If you weren’t claiming any of the above benefits on August 11, 2024, you won’t be eligible for the discount this winter.

The Government also assesses your energy costs based on the type, age and size of your property.

However, the August 11 qualifying date does not apply if you are receiving the guarantee credit element of pension credit.

This is because you can backdate pension credit claims by up to three months.

But, that does mean you will have to launch your pension credit claim by the end of Sunday, November 10, and then successfully backdate it to cover the August 11 Warm Home Discount qualifying date.

Fail to do this and you will miss out the £150 discount this year.

What is pension credit and who is eligible?

Pension credit is a government benefit designed to top up your weekly income if you are a state pensioner with low earnings.

The current state pension age is 66.

There are two parts to the benefit – Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit.

Guarantee credit tops up your weekly income to £218.15 if you are single or your joint weekly income to £332.95 if you have a partner.

Savings credit is extra money you get if you have some savings or your income is above the basic full state pension amount – £169.50.

Savings credit is only available to people who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016.

Usually, you only qualify for pension credit if your income is below the £218.15 or £332.95 thresholds.

However, you can sometimes be eligible for savings credit or guarantee credit depending on your circumstances.

For example, if you are suffering from a severe disability and claiming Attendance Allowance, as well as other benefits, you can get an extra £81.50 a week.

Meanwhile, you can get either £66.29 a week or £76.79 a week for each child you’re responsible and caring for.

The rules behind who qualifies for pension credit can be complicated, so the best thing to do is just check.

You can do this by using the Government’s pension credit calculator on its website.

Or, you can call the Pension Service helpline on 0800 99 1234 from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

Those in Northern Ireland have to call the Pension Centre on 0808 100 6165 from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday.

It might be worth a visit to your local Citizens Advice branch too – its staff should be able to offer you help for free.

One additional and major perk of pension credit is that it is known as a “gateway” benefit in that it opens up a host of other freebies and perks.

This includes a free TV licence worth £169.50 a year if you are 75 or over and council tax discounts.

And of course, if you are on the guarantee credit part of pension credit, you also qualify for the Warm Home Discount.

How and when is the WHD paid?

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The discount is usually applied between October and March, typically as a credit on your account depending on how you pay for your energy.

The £150 is usually deducted from your electricity bill, but you can also get the money off your gas bill if your supplier provides both your gas and electricity.

You should get in touch with your energy supplier to ask if they will give you a discount on your gas bill.

If you are a direct debit customer or smart prepayment meter customer, you should get the £150 automatically added as credit on your account.

Traditional prepayment meter customers are sent top-up vouchers by post, email or text. You may also receive a cheque.

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You have 90 days to redeem any vouchers, but your supplier can reissue you one if it gets lost or expires.

Any vouchers have to be redeemed at your nearest Post Office branch or PayPoint shop.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

EY has appointed financial services boss Anna Anthony as its new UK managing partner after a three-way race to lead the Big Four accounting firm’s British and Irish businesses.

Anthony will become the first woman to permanently run a Big Four operation day-to-day in the UK when she takes up her new role in January.

She has been a partner for 16 years and has led EY’s UK financial services division since 2021, where she is responsible for £1bn in annual revenues and about one-quarter of the business’ 20,000 UK staff.

Anthony was chosen after an idiosyncratic selection system overseen by EY’s global bosses, with “soundings” taken from about 200 of the roughly 930 local equity partners.

Anthony will also be responsible for the audit and consulting firm’s Irish operations.

She beat two other shortlisted contenders: Stuart Gregory, managing partner for finance and transformation; and Kath Barrow, assurance managing partner.

Outgoing UK boss Hywel Ball will remain as chair until a successor is found “early in the new year”, EY said.

Ball told colleagues in June that it was time to “hand on the baton” to someone else.

The former auditor, who was paid £3.6mn in the 12 months to 2023, has been UK chair and managing partner since 2020 but the roles are being split in line with the British accounting regulator’s updated audit firm governance code.

Ball was set to be appointed as managing partner only, and not as chair, in 2020 but was handed both roles after eleventh-hour internal wrangling, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

EY has yet to announce its UK results for its most recent financial year but its Big Four rivals PwC and Deloitte have both reported lower profit per partner after a sharp slowdown in revenue growth.

EY has handed smaller pay rises and bonuses to thousands of UK staff and axed a handful of partners in its tax division, as it confronts the market slowdown.

Anthony’s elevation makes her one of the most powerful figures in EY’s global network, which reported revenues of $49.4bn in the 12 months to June 2023.

The UK business is EY’s second-largest operation after the US. It means Anthony will be influential in any decisions over EY’s strategy under new global chair Janet Truncale, who took over after the collapse last year of its high-profile attempt to split the firm’s audit and consulting businesses.

Anthony admitted to partners at the time that she was “disappointed and embarrassed” by the deal’s failure as she announced a significant cost-cutting programme.

Ball said Anthony was “an exceptional leader, with a breadth and depth of experience that makes her an excellent choice as our next regional managing partner”.

Many within EY had hoped that its 2020 leadership race would result in the first woman to lead a Big Four business in the UK. That distinction went to Mary O’Connor in 2021 when KPMG appointed her to lead its UK business, but only on an interim basis.

Separately, private equity group Advent International announced on Monday that it had hired former EY global boss Carmine Di Sibio, mastermind of the failed audit and consulting split.

Di Sibio has been hired as an operating partner to help “identify, source and execute new deals in the business and financial services space”, Advent said.

BRITAIN’S last coal-fired power station was switched off yesterday.

Operations ended last night at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, where the plant had generated electricity since 1968.

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It came as the country’s biggest steelworks closed its blast furnace after more than 100 years.

The UK opened the first coal station in 1882 but it has now become the first G7 nation to quit the polluting fossil fuel.

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station, with its eight vast cooling towers and 199m high towers, has become an East Midlands landmark, powering 2million homes and employing 170 people.

But just one per cent of Britain’s electricity came from coal last year due to an increasing reliance on gas and cleaner energy, such as wind and solar.

Climate campaigners welcomed the closure but Chris Smith, a worker at the site for 28 years, said: “It is a very sad moment.”

Energy minister Michael Shanks said: “Coal workers can be rightly proud of their work powering our country for over 140 years.”

In Port Talbot yesterday, Tata Steel switched to an electric furnace, resulting in 2,200 job losses.

Chief executive Rajesh Nair said: “Today marks a significant event in the history of iron and steelmaking in the UK.”

Unite union General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “These imminent job losses are another act of industrial vandalism.”