Sharewatch: BSkyB Continues Rise Amid Subscriber Worries

Satellite TV giant BSkyB maintained a sustained period of growth in share price yesterday, rising by 0.81% to 685˝p. The company was yesterday the target of concern as researchers at Lehman Brothers predicted subscriber levels had plateaued in the third quarter of its financial year (see BSkyB To Announce Drop In Subscriber Rates).

Emap also saw a slight rise of 0.28% to 887˝p yesterday as the company refuted allegations of further cost cuts. The Media Guardian had reported that the publisher had shelved plans for two high profile magazine launches, although a spokeswoman for the company flatly denied any such action (see Emap Denies U-Turn On New Launches).

Elsewhere, Capital Radio also enjoyed a small increase in share price, climbing by 0.20% to 489p as the company unveiled the marketing campaign to accompany Johnny Vaughan’s installation as breakfast host on the company’s flagship station, Capital FM (see Capital Pushes Vaughan With TV Ad Campaign).

The FTSE 100 saw a busy day yesterday, trading as high as 4,525, but slipped to close only 0.6% higher at 4,515.8. The FTSE 250 also saw a rise, inching up by 0.1% to 6,348.1.

The closing prices of media company shares on Tuesday were: