Bauer Media is currently in talks with Global Radio to buy five of its Midlands stations.Global Radio offered to dispose of the five Midlands stations in a bid to appease the Office of Fair Trading, after its £375 million acquisition of GCap Media in April 2008 (see Global Offers To Sell Off Midlands Stations).At the… Continue reading Bauer bids for five Global stations

RadioCentre is urging the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to relax rules on local media mergers in a bid to prevent station closures.The industry body for commercial radio had pressed the OFT to ensure its current local and regional media merger review spans all media, not just local newspapers.In its submission to the competition body,… Continue reading RadioCentre pushes for commercial radio review

BBC One’s hour-long Eastenders pulled in the highest ratings last night with an impressive 11.4 million peak viewers.The special-length episode, which saw the Ronnie and Danielle saga finally come to a dramatic end on Peggy and Archie’s wedding day, attracted 10.5 million average viewers and a 48.2% share between 7.30pm and 8.30pm.BBC One’s flagship soap… Continue reading Eastenders special steals the show

GroupM’s latest bi-annual ‘This Year, Next Year’ report forecasts an 11.2% decline in UK adspend in 2009 (see GroupM forecasts 11.2% fall in UK adspend in 2009), compared to an overall global decline of 4.4%.However, online is expected to enjoy more growth this year, despite the overall advertising downturn.Earlier this week, the IAB reported 17.1%… Continue reading Mixed messages for adpsend in 2009

Former co-founder and CEO of Billetts Andy Pearch has joined forces with former MD of Carat Graham Brown to launch a new media performance management company.Media Sense offers brand owners a “fresh, innovative and more strategic approach to engineering greater value and performance from media investments”.The new company will service clients in the UK and… Continue reading Ex-Billetts chief involved in new start-up

Ofcom has today fined the BBC a total of £150,000 for the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand scandal, which took place on Radio 2 last year.The watchdog called Ross and Brand’s comments about Georgina Baillie, the granddaughter of actor Andrew Sachs, “gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning”.Ofcom said: “the scale of the fine reflects the extraordinary… Continue reading Ofcom fines BBC £150,000 for “Sachsgate” affair

Clear Channel Outdoor has started rolling out 300 ad panels across Glasgow as part of a new pedestrian tourist sign system.The system, which is due to be complete by June, will include 149 maps and information panels along with 300 advertising sites in the city, according to reports.Clear Channel’s new initiative will build on the… Continue reading Clear Channel rolls out 300 new sites

ITV1’s World Cup football coverage scored the highest ratings last night and managed to knock Alan Sugar’s new Apprentice off the top spot with almost 9 million peak viewers.The England V Ukraine qualifier, which saw the home team triumph 2-1 after a winning goal from Chelsea’s John Terry, pulled in more than 7.8 million average… Continue reading The Apprentice fails to compete with the Football

Google is set to launch a new advice channel on YouTube featuring business professionals, such as the IPA’s president Rory Sutherland, advising companies on how to survive the economic downturn.The new brand channel, which has been named ‘Survival of the Fastest’, will have three content streams aimed at different industries – marketing, e-commerce and finance,… Continue reading Google to launch business channel on YouTube

Dennis Publishing is set to axe the print edition of men’s magazine Maxim and run it as an online-only title after its June issue, which hits newsstands on April 23.The publishing group claims it is bolstering its online editorial team to develop more content for the Maxim.co.uk website, which currently has 500,000 unique users per… Continue reading Dennis to close print edition of Maxim UK