Addressing the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) conference today BBC chairman, Michael Grade, pledged that the BBC would be a good neighbour to its commercial rivals in the wake of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell’s green paper on the Corporation’s future last week.In a good humoured speech to delegates, Grade stated that, while he agreed… Continue reading Grade Promises Neighbourly Relations With Rivals

The Radio Times has announced that it will make a £1 million investment in above the line promotions and direct marketing in order to back up its newly revamped editorial content and design.The move, made amid the ongoing price war between the nation’s TV listings titles, will promote the magazine’s recent changes across several media,… Continue reading Radio Times Backs Redesign With £1 Million Marketing Push

Former BBC director general Greg Dyke has branded Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell’s proposals for the future government of the BBC as “a complete mess”, stating that they have the potential to be “totally confusing” and will not deliver the structural separation between delivery and oversight which is required.Writing in the Independent‘s Media Weekly today, Dyke… Continue reading Dyke Brands BBC Governance Plans ‘A Complete Mess’

Channel 4 has signed an agreement with UBC Media to acquire the majority stake in Oneword, the company’s speech-based digital radio station, making further progress towards the creation of a Channel 4-led radio operation to compete directly with BBC Radio 4.The deal gives Channel 4 control over the station, broadcasting nationally via the Digital One… Continue reading Channel 4 Radio Moves Closer With Oneword Acquisition

Ulster Television has reported soaring profits for 2004 in its annual report and accounts, with group turnover up by 18% year on year to £63.5 million, while pre-tax profit rose by a staggering 46% to £13.9 million in the same period.The company’s television division also saw successes, with its operating profit rising by 29% year… Continue reading Ulster TV Sees 2004 Profits Soar

The IPA Trends In Television Viewing report for Quarter 4 2004 shows digital viewing at an all time high, while the nation’s television viewing slipped slightly as a whole towards the end of last year.According to the IPA, Quarter 4 saw average daily viewing hours across all TV at 3.89. While this is up by… Continue reading Digital Tops 50% As Analogue Audiences Slip

The ABC regional newspaper figures for the six months to December 2004 reveal a large number of declines amongst the top ten paid regional newspaper groups, with just two companies showing year on year growth.Within the top ten, Celtic Newspapers Group managed to stave off negative growth towards the end of the year with an… Continue reading ABC Regional Newspapers: Jul-Dec 2004

Channel 4 unveiled its Spring schedule this morning, revealing new programmes in every genre and continuing its striped scheduling with new shows in every time slot across the week.The broadcaster has also allocated its highest ever programme budget to the Spring line-up, with a predicted £485 million being spent on programming compared to £470 million… Continue reading Channel 4 Bets On Drama For Spring Schedule

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell has unveiled radical plans for change at the BBC, with proposals that the Corporation’s governors be replaced with a new “BBC Trust”, while the licence fee continues to provide funding for another ten years.Announcing her vision in a statement to Parliament, Jowell stated: “Alongside the NHS, the BBC is one of… Continue reading Governors Axed As BBC Charter Renewed For 10 Years

ITV Sales has joined forces with BBC Broadcast and interactive media research company iBurbia to promote interactive TV commercials, offering to demonstrate ways to make the medium more effective and convey its business benefits to creative agencies.The three companies have already approached London’s top ten agencies with offers of help and demonstrations on making their… Continue reading ITV Joins BBC To Boost Interactive Ad Effectiveness