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Market movers: BT, BSkyB, ITV, RSA Insurance, Lonmin, Aureus Mining, Medusa Mining

Last updated: 03:13 11 Nov 2013 EST, First published: 04:13 11 Nov 2013 EST

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The FTSE 100’s three broadcasters were all on the losing side on Monday after BT’s (LON:BT.A) victory in the Champions League rights showdown.

Sky (LON:BSY) and ITV (LON:ITV) currently screen Europe’s two club competitions, but that will all change in the 2015/2016 season as sports TV newcomer BT has agreed to fork out almost £900mln for the rights to show all the Champions League and Europa league games.

The company has agreed to screen several matches on free-to-air television including the finals of both competitions. Each British team will also feature at least once a season for free, while top matches in the early rounds will also be shown to non-subscribers.

BT expects the rights will drive additional growth in consumer revenue and profits over the medium-term.

Last year, BT agreed a deal to pay £246mln per season to show one Premier League game a week, pitting it up against the dominant pay-TV group Sky, which has the rights to broadcast 116 games per season.

Investors showed BT the red card as they feared it had overpaid for the 350 matches a season for three years. The shares fell 1.3% to 367p.

But this was nothing compared to Sky’s slump. The pay-TV giant tumbled 9% to 845p as it will no longer be able to lure customers with elite European club football. ITV lost 1.8% to 187p for the same reason.

As if a profit warning weren’t enough, an independent investigation at RSA Insurance’s (LON:RSA) Irish business compounded matters for investors.

The insurer, which last week revealed that profits would be lower than expected in 2013 due to the recent high winds, has launched a probe into “issues in the Irish claims and finance functions”, which will be carried out by auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It comes after it suspended a trio of Irish management, chief executive Philip Smith, chief financial officer Rory O’Connor and claims director Peter Burke.

The company said no findings have yet been made against the individuals.

RSA warned that it will take a £70mln hit from the issues.

A separate review into increased bodily injury claims is also underway, but the company said it is too early to work out the financial implications at this stage.

“We are extremely disappointed with the issues which have been identified and their financial impact on the group,” said group chief executive Simon Lee.

“Whilst the investigation is ongoing, I am confident that these issues are isolated to the Irish business. No policyholders have been affected and all our Irish businesses continue to operate as normal.”

Shares slumped 14p to 107p, having tumbled 9p from 129p on last week’s profit warning.

Despite these notable falls, the Footsie remained flat just above 6,700 with trading cautious at the start of the week.

FTSE 250 miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) soared 7% as it reported better than expected profits and said its recovery was ahead of schedule despite the strikes afflicting the South African platinum industry.

Lonmin has been at the centre of the industrial unrest after a dispute at its Marikana mine last year left dozens dead and forced the company into a huge US$770mln rescue rights issue.

The industry in South Africa has been hit by more strikes recently, but Lonmin shrugged these off to post profits of US$140mln (US$698mln loss) in the year to September, well ahead of forecasts.

In the small cap universe, Aureus Mining (LON:AUE) shone 4.4% higher after defining a further 600,000 ounces of gold from two satellites near to its flagship New Liberty development in Liberia.

Seeing Machines (LON:SEE) was also on the rise as mining giant Freeport-McMoRan validated its technology by ordering more driver safety units for its trucks in the DRC and the US in a deal worth A$800,000.

Finally, Medusa Mining (LON:MML) was relatively unchanged after insisting its operations in the Philippines were unaffected by the typhoon that has devastated the Asian country.

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