AOL Time Warner is to drop AOL from its name in a symbolic move to distance the corporation from its ill-fated merger at the height of the dotcom boom. It is understood the move will be discussed at today’s board meeting and the group will revert back to the TWX stock ticker symbol that Time… Continue reading AOL Time Warner Set For Name Change

Advertising and PR firm, Chime Communications has reported a sharp fall in profits for the first half of 2003 and there seems little prospect of an improvement in the trading climate. Interim results issued today show a pre-tax profit of £3.0 million, down from £4.6 million last year. Operating income dropped 14% to £26.9 million.… Continue reading Chime Profits Drop By 35% As Conditions Remain ‘Testing’

Chrysalis Radio has seen its revenues rise by 14.8% during the twelve months to 31 August 2003, significantly outperforming the radio industry which grew by just around 3% over the same period. These strong figures come as the group disposes of its television assets to concentrate on the music and radio sectors (see Chrysalis Makes… Continue reading Chrysalis Radio Continues To Outperform Industry

Havas today posted a first half loss of â‚Ź58 million and issued details of a restructuring plan designed to revive fortunes at the ailing French advertising group. Operating profit fell to â‚Ź68 million in the six months to the end of June from â‚Ź115 million a year earlier. This was below analysts’ expectations and Havas… Continue reading Havas Presses On With Restructuring, H1 Profits Down

The number of worldwide broadband subscribers increased by 72% to approximately 63 million in 2002. This is the main finding of a new survey from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). According to the study, the Republic of Korea leads the way in high-speed internet penetration with 21 broadband subscribers for every 100 inhabitants. Hong Kong… Continue reading One In Ten Global Internet Users Has Broadband, Says Study

The mobile operator 3 has this week launched the UK’s first international video calling service, allowing users to make video calls to countries in which the feature is available. Customers can already make video calls within the UK but the service has now been extended to cover Italy, Sweden, Austria, Australia and Japan. Video callers… Continue reading 3 Introduces Video Call Service

On-demand television services may be the saviour of cash-strapped cable operators which have sunk huge investments into developing their digital TV platforms only to receive little ROI from consumers, according to analysts at the McKinsey Quarterly. In the US, the major cable companies have ploughed more than $70 billion into digital upgrades, but few consumers… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Will On-Demand Save Cable?

The Senate has dealt a blow to the Federal Communications Commission and the Bush administration by voting against new ownership rules that would have given large media companies more influence in the US market. On Tuesday, senators approved a resolution to overturn the regulations by 55 votes to 40. This follows the intervention of a… Continue reading FCC Rule Changes Shot Down By Senate

Broadband Britain came a step closer yesterday with news that BT is converting almost 100 of its phone boxes into special Wi-Fi hotspots. The telecoms operator plans to have installed BT Openzone access points in 91 broadband enabled pay phones by the end of this week and more than 200 kiosks will have the service… Continue reading Broadband Britain Boosted By New Wi-Fi Hotspots

The next generation of mobile phones, dubbed ‘smartphones’, are set to be commonplace by 2007 and by 2008, most will have built-in digital cameras as the two handset technologies become merged into one. However, according to a new report from InStat/MDR, whilst these two mobile categories should have a bright future, there are still a… Continue reading Smartphones Struggle For User Acceptance, Says InStat