Sharewatch: BSkyB Dips Amid Unveiling Of Winter Schedule

BSkyB saw its share price slide yesterday, losing 0.76% to close at 557žp. The broadcaster was seen in focus as its flagship digital channel Sky One unveiled its winter schedule with investors hoping that high profile topical programmes will boost subscriber take-up.

The broadcaster has found it increasingly difficult to meet subscriber targets in recent months, recently reporting just 62,000 new subscribers during the three months to September, once again failing to meet its target of 100,000 a quarter (see Sky Revenue Up 11% Despite Missing Subscriber Target).

Elsewhere, rival broadcaster ITV continued to see its share price decline, losing 0.23% to close at 109žp. The terrestrial TV giant recently appointed Clare Salmon as its new marketing director, following the surprise departure of high-profile department head Jim Hytner from the role earlier this year (see ITV Lands Salmon To Head Marketing Division).

Global advertising giants Aegis and WPP also saw a downturn in share price, losing 0.96% and 0.69% respectively as new forecasts from Initiative Future predicted that the cost of above-the-line advertising will rise ahead of economic inflation across the world (see Cost of Advertising To Rise Ahead Of Inflation).

The FTSE 100 suffered yesterday, losing a substantial 46.6 points to close at 4,703.2 while the FTSE 250 fared better, losing 12.3 points before closing at 6,577.4.

The closing prices of media company shares on Tuesday were: