BSkyB saw over £1.5bn (€1.8bn) wiped off its stock market value yesterday after Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV group was beaten at its own game with the loss of Champions League soccer rights in the UK.

Trading at Vodafone worsened in the third quarter as customers in previously robust northern Europe joined those in the south by cutting phone usage, adding impetus to the British group’s efforts to cut costs.