The Barclay brothers are understood to be planning to petition Trade and Industry Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, to prevent her from launching a public interest test into their £665 million acquisition of the Telegraph titles.It is understood that staff at the Daily and Sunday Telegraph have agreed to write to the Department of Trade and Industry… Continue reading Barclay Brothers Move To Oppose Plurality Test

A peak of more than 5.6 million viewers tuned in to Channel 4 on Friday night to watch Big Brother contestant Vanessa leave the house in the first conventional eviction so far in the programme’s current series.Unofficial overnight figures from BARB show that an average of 5.36 million viewers watched the eviction special, which saw… Continue reading Big Brother Eviction Draws 5.6 Million Viewers

BT Rich Media has announced a new deal with the All England Lawn Tennis Club and TWI to enable broadband users to replay the latest action from this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament on their home PCs.The company’s Wimbledon Plus video service will run via its digital content platform with content provided by TWI’s Interactive division.… Continue reading BT Serves Up Broadband Wimbledon Coverage

Magazine giant Hachette Filipacchi has announced a deal with mobile phone service provider Flytxt to create and implement a new mobile strategy across the company’s portfolio of youth-orientated magazine titles.Flytxt’s key objectives will be to extend Hachette’s existing mobile databases, increase reader loyalty, create richer interactivity between titles and readers and create new revenue streams… Continue reading Hachette Signs Flytxt To Deliver Mobile Strategy

The direct mail industry has seen impressive year on year increases in both expenditure and volume during the first quarter of 2004, according to new figures released by the Direct Mail Information Service.The latest statistics show that volume reached 1,475 million items in the three months to March, a 3.8% increase on the same quarter… Continue reading Direct Mail Gets Off To A Flying Start In 2004

Media regulator Ofcom has begun its roll out of new regional radio licences with the advertising of a commercial FM licence to cover the city of Edinburgh and the area surrounding the Firth of Forth.The new licence covers an area roughly the same as that of existing Edinburgh service, Forth One, containing an adult population… Continue reading Ofcom Puts Edinburgh Radio Licence Up For Tender

BSkyB has appointed former Dixons finance director, Jeremy Darroch, as its new chief financial officer, marking the most senior management appointment to be made by James Murdoch since taking the helm of the satellite broadcaster.Darroch will join BSkyB following release negotiations with Dixons and will be appointed to the broadcaster’s board upon taking up his… Continue reading BSkyB Appoints Darroch As Chief Financial Officer

ITV Sales has secured beer brand Michelob Ultra as the exclusive sponsor of the broadcaster’s forthcoming coverage of the Tour de France bicycle race.The race will be aired in July and is expected to attract high ratings as cycling enthusiasts watch to see if reigning champion Lance Armstrong can win the event for the sixth… Continue reading ITV Secures Michelob Ultra For Bike Race Sponsorship

Mark Thompson has begun his first day as director general of the BBC by announcing a raft of internal reviews and cost-cutting measures in the run up to the Corporation’s charter review in 2006.The broadcasting chief stated that there would be reviews into the BBC’s commercial businesses, production and commissioning, as well as an investigation… Continue reading Thompson Outlines BBC’s Future In Opening Speech

The Association of Publishing Agencies has announced an initiative to launch a recognised system for the measurement of customer magazines in an attempt to capitalise on the success of titles which are not audited by the National Readership Survey.The APA, which is conducting the research in association with Millward Brown, states that customer magazines are… Continue reading APA Plans Measurement System For Customer Magazines