The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race bowed out to a massive audience of nearly nine million viewers yesterday afternoon as the BBC aired its last ever broadcast of the prestigious annual event.Unofficial overnight figures from BARB show that a peak of 8.9 million viewers tuned in to see Cambridge secure a controversial win over Oxford… Continue reading BBC Sinks Competition With Boat Race Coverage

American publishing giant Gannett is understood to have pulled out of the race to take control of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph as bidding enters its crucial second phase. Gannett, which also owns the Newsquest group of regional newspapers in the UK, was tipped as a front-runner for the papers being auctioned off by Lord… Continue reading Gannett Pull Out Of Telegraph Bidding Race

Internet media streaming is facing stiff competition from traditional television, as online content owners feel the pressure to draw customers from TV to desktop screens, says IT analysts and consultants Frost & Sullivan. Mukul Krishna, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said: “This is an uphill task, considering the present quality of streaming over the… Continue reading Internet Media Streaming Under Pressure From Television

The text messaging phenomenon continued to grow in February and saw the monthly total reach over a staggering two billion messages, according to figures released by the Mobile Data Association (MDA). This takes the daily average number of text messages sent to 71 million. On Valentine’s Day, text messages left more traditional methods of saying… Continue reading Valentine’s Day Texts Boost February’s Figures

In Europe, a massive $18 billion was spent on pay-TV services in 2003 and this is expected to double by 2007, says a report by independent market analysts, Datamonitor. The European pay-TV strategies report says that for pay-TV revenue to reach $39 billion, providers will have to encourage current customers to subscribe to more expensive… Continue reading European Pay-TV Market To Reach $39 billion By 2007

Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers Group has today made a shock decision to withdraw from the race to take control of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph from Hollinger International.It is understood that that Lord Black’s beleaguered newspaper group told Desmond that he would have to increase his current bid of around £550 million by a further… Continue reading Desmond Withdraws From Telegraph Race

Richard Desmond, owner of the Daily Express, made a shock decision today to withdraw his bid to buy the Telegraph Group, owner of the Daily Telegraph. It is believed that current owners, Hollinger International, told Desmond that he would have to raise his current bid of around £550 million by a further £50 million to… Continue reading Desmond Withdraws From Telegraph Race

Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) group revenues are expected to grow by 10% according to its half-year trading update. A rise of 12% in radio revenues and 8% in press revenues is also expected. Trading for the first six months, ending on 31 March 2004, shows that radio and press revenues are estimated to be 14%… Continue reading Scottish Radio Sees Encouraging Growth In First Half

Internet giant Yahoo! has today announced the acquisition of price comparison site Kelkoo in a deal worth £318 million. The purchase will enable Yahoo! to extend its online presence to include Kelkoo’s comparison shopping service and referral system, bolstering the company’s already successful Yahoo! Shopping directory of online stores. Commenting on the deal, Terry Semel,… Continue reading Yahoo! Acquires Shopping Site Kelkoo For £318m

US hi-tech publishing advertising page volumes fell by 9.2% year on year during February, according to the latest market figures from United Business Media (UBM). Within this, UBM’s CMP Media division saw volumes decline by 7.8%. In the twelve months to February, page volumes in the total market were off by 12.4%, whilst CMP’s fell… Continue reading US Hi-Tech Ad Pages Fall 9.2% In February 2004