14/12/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC

News with Sally Bundock

and Susannah Streeter.

Re-opening the 'fast

lanes' of the internet.

American lawmakers prepare to rip-up

Obama's net neutrality laws later -

giving broadband firms huge power

over online traffic.

Live from London, that's our

top story on Thursday

the 14th of December.

As pioneers of the internet warn

that losing net neutrality would be

nothing short of a catastrophe,

we discuss the impact

on innovation, and free speech.

Also in the programme....

Global interest rates in focus.

After the US Federal Reserve

raised rates on Wednesday,

and China's PBOC hiked today,

we find out what we can expect

from the Bank of England

and the European Central Bank.

And that really is concentrating

minds on the financial markets in

Europe. Opening down so far.

And today is the busiest day

of the year for the Royal Mail,

with ten million parcels

and millions of letters

out for delivery.

We're going live to a sorting office

to see how the company is coping.

Today we want to know: on the day

we expect a deal to be announced

between Disney and 21st Century Fox,

are you concerned about getting less

choice in movies?

Let us know.

Just use the hashtag BBCBizLive.

Hello and welcome to Business Live.

We start in the US -

where regulators could be

about to scrap rules guaranteeing

equal access to the internet -

a principle known

as 'net neutrality'.

It was enshrined in law under

President Obama in 2015 -

but under the Trump administration

it looks doomed following a huge

battle in the business world.

Here's why.

Think of your internet service

provider as a motorway.

Net neutrality means it's not

allowed to set up 'fast lanes' -

giving faster access to some sites

because they pay more.

Or deliberately slowing or blocking

other sites that don't.

US telecoms giants like Comcast,

Verizon and AT&T have

lobbied hard against it.

But content firms like Amazon

and Google say ditching the rules

will give too much power

to the Telecoms - and will make it

harder for new start-ups to compete.

In July they led more than 170

organisations in slowing

down their services to protest

the proposed change.

The debate is going

on all over the world.

The countries in blue already

have 'net neutrality' -

they make sure all traffic

is treated equally.

Those in red are considering it.

Those in yellow have no

rules at the moment.

Matthew Howett is a communications

industry analyst

at Assembly Research.

Good morning. It looks like these

rules may get ripped up today in the

United States. Talk us through the

winners and losers.

The winners, as

we heard in that piece, are the big

telcos. Arguably, the diggers

losers, are the communications

companies. I think we should think

about how the consumer bits into

this. The rules are there to protect

so that you and I can get the

content we want on our devices. The

lobbyists would argue that they will

be fine, they will be protected.

There are rules that can be used to

police this. Ultimately consumers

could lose out if they cannot get

access to the content they want.

We

showed you the map where different

areas of neutrality exist but does

it really exist? Other things these

companies can already do to try to

promote some services over others?

The way the works mean we do have to

prioritise some traffic. -- the

internet works. Providers like

Netflix are paying ISPs to get the

content is closer to us so we do not

sleep buffering when we use our

devices. These things are

commonplace. -- we do not see.

In

the US we have mentioned a strong

lobby group, the likes of Horizon,

AT and T and others. Is there a

similar group in Europe, who are

trying to pull away the net

neutrality rules?

We have seen less

of the debate in Europe and the UK.

We have more competition between the

different broadband providers but

that is less the case in the US.

There are fewer of them are more

concerned about what they might do.

In Europe there is a lot of

competition. If people do not like

something they can switch to another

provider.

It will come down to the

philosophical argument about whether

we should all have a right to access

the internet and good access to the

internet, no matter who we are, how

big or small we are.

It is a crucial

debate. We are talking about big

amounts of money. That could be used

to invest in rolling out the

infrastructure and improving

broadband speeds. There is a

relationship between both sides on

this debate. It is one which

probably will not go away quickly

even after this vote.

We will talk

to you on the subject and probably

other subjects. Thank you for coming

in.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

The World Trade Organisation has

closed its biennial summit without

any agreements being reached.

There had been some hope of deals

on e-commerce, as well as farming

and fishing subsidies.

It raises questions

about the group's ability to govern

global trade disputes.

The head of the WTO said

the organisation now needed

to conduct some real soul-searching.

In the UK, an influential group

of MPs has urged Britain

and the European Union

to agree a status quo Brexit

transition period.

The Treasury Select Committee wants

it agreed as soon as possible

to ease business concerns

over a no-deal Brexit.

The committee's report said it

strongly supported the Prime

Minister's push for a comprehensive

free-trade deal which

would keep borders as

frictionless as possible.

The carmaker Nissan says

it's recalling more

than 300,000 vehicles in Japan

because of a defective

coating which could,

in the worst case scenario,

lead to a fire.

Six models, including

minivans made for Suzuki

and Mitsubishi, are affected.

No vehicles sold outside

Japan are being recalled.

Do not forget our business live page

is constantly updating with the

news. BP and the fact that

Australian and additional parties

have blocked the oil giant's vision

is to buy network of local networks

stations from the supermarket chain

in Australia, or worse. It was worth

$1.3 billion. So, interestingly, how

BP has been stymied by Australian

competition authorities. One of

those stories is also on there. Take

a look when you want. Also lots

about the Federal reserve decision.

In the wake of the US

Federal Reserve's decision

to hike interest rates

on Wednesday, China's Central Bank

surprised the markets

by making a rate rise of their own.

Monica Miller is in Singapore.

What did they do? China has made a

startling declaration of moderate

losses after raising short-term and

mid term interest rates for debate

came after hours the decision the

Fed made by raising rates by a

quarter of a percent. The world's

second-biggest economy has started

to cool as the Government cut down

on high risk lending. They do not

want to slow down economic growth.

Hong Kong was another one. Their

monetary authority was out today and

they have upped their base rate 25

basis points. Hong Kong tracks the

US rate because their currencies are

pinned to one another. Both

currencies are in lockstep with

other Asian currencies, which have

already raised their rates. South

Korea raised its rate. It was the

first Asian country to do so since

2014 foot at many economists say

Malaysia could be no first one in

the U -- New Year followed by

Philippines and Taiwan. We may see

another interest rate rise in South

Korea in 2018.

Thank you for that

update. The financial market focus

is over central bank activity after

the much anticipated interest rate

hike. The dollar fell despite an

upbeat assessment of the US economy.

Despite another record close on Wall

Street, the stronger yen pushed down

stocks in Tokyo. Closing down by

.2%. Let's have a look at Europe as

well. The markets mainly open. Down

across-the-board ahead of the key

central bank decisions in Frankfurt.

The ACP and the Bank of England are

not expecting a big change but we

may get an indication of future

policy.

Yogita was in Washington for that

Fed decision and has the details

about what's ahead on Wall Street

Today.

Stock market investors would like to

have a big deal to analyse and trade

on foot of it looks like they will

get one just in time for Christmas.

It is widely expected that Disney

and 21st-century fox will announce a

major transaction in which Disney

will buy most of Fox's media assets.

Many US TV channels, its movie

studio, and a stake in sky TV, which

owns Sky News Wall Street expects

the deal could be worth something

like $60 billion and that it could

be announced as early as Thursday.

Investors will also get a bunch of

economic data to pore over, most

notably retail sales figures from N.

They are expected to show a rise of

.3% as the US consumer remains happy

to spend. And there is corporate

earnings are far from software giant

Oracle.

Joining us is Sue Noffke

is UK equities fund

manager from Schroders.

Nice to see you. Talking about what

is going on this week.

Lots going

on. It is kind of wrapping up what

has been really a Goldilocks Year 4

economic growth, financial markets.

Would you describe that for the UK?

The UK in a global context is quite

small. It is not as bad as many

feared.

I just wanted to clarify

what you thought Goldilocks was.

I

am talking about the global economy,

particularly the US, which sets the

scene. Gross has been good. What

drives central bank action is

expected inflation. -- growth. That

has been modest. We had core

inflation numbers which were a bit

weaker than people had gone for. The

headline came in line with people's

expectations. That keeps the Fed

quite down.

Talking about that

scenario, not necessarily that if

you are betting on a stronger

dollar, which really has not

materialised. Again, weakening after

that central bank decision at the

Fed. Why is that? Janet had quite an

upbeat assessment of the US economy

for the going forward, she is

questioning the impact of Trump's

plan.

And just how sustainable that

boosters. That is true. She has put

through some stronger growth

forecast but not sustained it in our

two years. It comes back to the

inflation forecast. There is no

inflation pressure building up in

the system despite unemployment

being at low levels. It allows

central banks to keep monetary

policy quite loose and comes back to

the Goldilocks scenario. I think

they will follow through next year

with three but the markets are only

pricing in two. And that is where

inflation is so key.

Thank you for

now. She will be back. Some

interesting stories to get our teeth

into later. That is on the cards in

a few minutes.

Still to come...

On the busiest day of the year

for the Royal Mail, we'll be live

in a sorting office to see just how

the company is dealing

with the millions of parcels

and Christmas cards that need to be

processed at this time of year.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

It is busy for the likes of Royal

Mail but also extremely busy for

online grocery chains.

Online grocery chain Ocado said

a driver shortage impacted sales

growth in its fourth quarter.

The retailer, which recently

secured its biggest overseas deal

with a partnership with French

supermarket Groupe Casino,

said its retail sales

rose 11.6% last quarter,

having increased 13.1%

in the previous quarter.

Russ Mould, investment director

at AJ Bell, is in the newsroom

to talk us through the numbers.

What is going on? They are not

growing the share of the business

currently but they are hoping to

build the business overall by the

tie-up with casino. That is about

the tech behind the delivery system,

isn't it?

If you look at the stock

market valuation it is over £2

million, which seems pretty exotic

for a company that is making less

than 10 million in profit this year.

It is not just down to the grocery

delivery service. The real secret is

the intellectual property, the Ocado

Smart platform. It has licensed it

to two or three different grocers.

The company is working on more

deals, a licensing fee, and in the

case of capital casino will be a fee

for using the warehouse. That is the

real secret to the stop. -- restock.

They have been effectively

subsidising my dinner, which is

fantastic. In terms of the long

potential of the company it is all

down to the software.

What are

analysts saying?

In terms of the

numbers today, there was a slight

slowdown in growth. The driver

problem seems to be sorted. There is

a fourth warehouse in Eris next

year. That will take many thousands

of orders a week.

It is

of orders a week.

It is incredibly

of orders a week.

It is incredibly competitive,

of orders a week.

It is incredibly competitive, we

of orders a week.

It is incredibly competitive, we are

of orders a week.

It is incredibly competitive, we are

waiting to see what Amazon will do,

another challenge for them. Can they

get more big licensing deals?

Thank

you. Talking us through Ocado's

results. Get the delivery orders in!

Especially at this time of year. See

you in a minute.

You're watching Business Live.

American lawmakers are preparing

to rip-up Obama's net

neutrality laws later,

reopening the fast

lanes of the internet and giving

broadband firms huge

power over online traffic.

When we get news, we will update you

on the BBC.

Quick look at how

markets are faring.

In Europe, we have been trading for

nearly 50 minutes. Nothing too

dramatic. Trading down a little.

European Central Bank meeting today,

lots of traders watching out for the

central banks.

There are just 11 days

until Christmas, which means

millions of parcels and letters

are out for delivery.

Don't say that! There are tens of

millions of cards and presents being

sent. In many companies, it means

extra staff. In the UK, the Royal

Mail has 20,000 extra pairs of hands

to call upon and today they have got

Ben Thomson with them as well! Are

you help or hindrance in Manchester?

How dare you! I am a help, of

course. They have been putting me to

work this morning. This is going to

Northern Ireland, let me put that

there. They have taken on thousands

of extra staff to make sure they get

through all of this stuff, parcels

going all around the world, and they

are expecting to deal with more of

them, today is the busiest day for

the Royal Mail. They normally deal

with 2 million parcels and letters.

They will deal with 3.5 million over

the next 24 hours, a huge logistical

challenge. One of the bosses here.

Good morning. How do you deal with

this? A big upswing in business,

extra staff, big challenge?

Huge

planning effort, we start planning

immediately after Christmas. We

recruit in the UK, 20,000 extra

people this Christmas. An extra 6000

vehicles on the road delivering

parcels and also extra trucks and

flights, huge effort to gear up for

Christmas.

Talked me through what

goes on. It is all sorting, I

thought there may be more

automation.

You still need people?

We still need a lot of people. We

automate letter traffic and

increasingly parcels. Today you're

seeing people sorting parcels posted

yesterday and they are ongoing to

worldwide and UK destinations. They

will be on the road at 2pm.

You have

been facing challenges in

restructuring the business because

like anywhere in the world, we are

sending fewer letters, maybe more

parcels, online shopping really big

thing, how have you managed that

change?

The business has changed

over the years. That is are still

hugely important to us, 60% of UK

revenue, but parcels are continuing

to grow. 6% increase in parcels in

the last annual report. Parcels are

our business now increasingly.

Thank

you. Let me introduce you to a

marketing expert, really nice to see

you. Retailers, really busy time of

year, all of this sort of stuff

going through the system, how do

they plan for things like this?

The

busiest time of year. Increasingly,

we want to be able to buy products

for all sorts of retailers. The

planning takes forever, as soon as

Christmas has finished, the plan for

the year after, it is about making

supply chains are as efficient as

possible.

The business has changed,

online shopping, more of us ordering

online, so it is a lot more

complicated, not just thin letters,

big boxes and parcels.

Things that

are delicate, big boxes, you do not

want it dropped on your doorstep.

The retailers work hard to make sure

they pick the right carriers to

deliver things. The last five yards

per retailers is critical because

you can buy a product but you want

it to be delivered in the right time

at the right place. They are

investing more and more into those

last five yards with businesses like

Royal Mail and other delivery

businesses across Europe and

globally.

We talked about it being

very seasonable, a lot of extra

staff, big upswing in demand, how

easy is it for them to gear up for

things like this?

They plan for it

but increasingly, because online

shopping has grown at an exponential

rate, there is pressure in the

workforce to find people who can

drive vans and work in the warehouse

and there is a premium for that.

Shoppers do not want to have to pay

for things to be delivered. There

are real challenges from retailers

about how they pass on the

customers.

Thank you. There you have

it. A busy time for everyone here. A

lot of seasonal workers have been

taken on to cope with the extra

demand. It gives you a sense of just

how busy it is. Everyone trying to

get stuff posted before Christmas. 2

million parcels and letters is what

they normally deal with, they are

dealing with about 3-3.5 over the

next 24 hours. Help or hindrance? I

am hoping I have been a help. It is

possible I might have been a bit of

a hindrance.

They have been very

understanding. They all look like

they could do with a cup of tea and

you make a good cup of tea, go on.

About 20, 30 people behind you.

I

could make myself useful, you are

right.

They will love you forever.

Busiest time, next 24 hours, for me,

next ten days, I them nowhere close

to writing my Christmas cards!

I am

at work, I block it out of my mind

here is that we asked you at the

beginning whether you are concerned

about reduction of choice on the

telly in the light of the news we

are expecting today, the fact Disney

is to do a deal with 21st Century

Fox. If the $60 billion deal goes

ahead, many argue there would be

less choice on the television

screens in terms of what we are

watching and where we are watching

it.

Which service would you have us

your priority customer one says, I

would have to choose Amazon prime,

it is the added bonuses such as

two-day shipping, Kindle books.

That

is interesting. That is how

companies are trying to go, they

want everything about you, the whole

package. We promised Sue would

return. Your thoughts? A huge deal

and many are saying it will have a

seismic impact. It has to get

through regulatory hurdles. Your

thoughts in terms of the impact on

people like us.

News has

consolidated quite a bit so possibly

that is where consumers have less

choice today than they did ten years

ago, for example. On other content,

there are so many proliferations of

ways you can consume content when I

was growing up, it was three

channels, four was a great

excitement. Now you have internet

delivery, different platforms,

YouTube, I think consumers have lots

of choice.

Moving on.

In Australia, the country is gripped

by poker machine addiction, a

warning that has come out from

Australia's institute, a think tank.

They are saying there are 80% of the

world's poker machines in dedicated

gambling venues such as casinos but

a lot of those in non-gambling

venues are in Australia's pubs and

clubs, real issue.

Australia is

quite different.

In many other

countries regulations about how you

would use these machines, how much

access individuals would have, in

Australia, they are very commonly

located for people to have the

ability to play while they are

having a drink at the pub. It has

caused problems. What we have got in

Australia is someone from the Labour

Party in Tasmania saying we want

regulation here and there is only

one other state in Australia where

they are regulating this. The

argument from the incumbent liberals

as it could cost jobs and ready for

a lot of pubs and hotels -- and

revenue.

Apparently our wine glasses

are getting bigger. They are. It is

blamed for a rise in drinking. Do

you have large wine glasses at your

house? No-brainer, isn't it? You are

not meant to put very much in the

glass, that is the problem. The red

wine is supposed to breathe, white

wine is not supposed to get warm, it

is how much you put in the glass,

but it is like plates.

The bigger

the plate, the more food you put on

it.

Too much wine being pulled this

Christmas, I expect, that is the

issue. That is if it is delivered on

time! Smaller wine glasses, that is

on my Christmas present list. Have a

good