Sky reported rising customer attrition rates across Europe as the broadcaster curtailed discounts in the UK and Ireland and lost viewers in Italy after failing to secure the rights to Champions League soccer.

The owner of UTV Ireland, ITV, is pursuing a takeover of Entertainment One, the $1.1bn (€970m) Canadian company that owns the rights to popular children’s cartoon Peppa Pig, according to sources.

Britain’s Pearson group yesterday agreed to sell its 50% stake in the Economist Group for £469 million (€656m), in a deal which makes Italy’s Agnelli family the largest investor in the weekly publication.

European cable operator Liberty Global said yesterday it had raised its stake in ITV to 9.9% through a hedging deal — but still had no intention of taking over Britain’s biggest free-to-air commercial TV firm.

British actor Hugh Grant will not be charged over claims he threw a container of baked beans at a photographer and kicked him.

HUGH GRANT has been arrested and questioned by police after a photographer accused the actor of attacking him with a tub of baked beans.

Actor Hugh Grant has been arrested over an allegation that he lashed out at a paparazzi photographer with a tub of baked beans.

THE next time you are with a friend, in the pub, the park, the playground or the pew, ask yourself how much you trust them.