The high costs of technology and ongoing content issues will ensure that video-on-demand (VOD) does not take off in Europe until 2005. That is the conclusion of a new report from Forrester Research as reported on Europemedia. VOD is seen as the next logical progression of the television experience but there has been a bitter… Continue reading European VOD Revolution On Hold, Says Forrester

Steve Case, the beleaguered chairman of AOL Time Warner, has bowed to increasing pressure and announced his intention to step down in the spring. This development comes on the back of revelations that the world’s largest media company will be forced to take a charge of at least $10 billion as a result of writedowns… Continue reading AOL Chairman Quits Following Shareholder Unrest

A tough six months for digital set-top box manufacturer, Pace Mirco Technology, were revealed this morning, with turnover falling by 61% to £83.4 million for the interim period. Losses before tax and goodwill hit £15.9 million for the half year to 30 November 2002, down heavily on the £22.2 million profit of the same time… Continue reading Pace Falls Into The Red As Digital Box Sales Decline

Didier Bellens, the chief executive of RTL, has restated his commitment to Channel 5 and said that the broadcaster was capable of achieving a 10% share of the UK television audience. In an interview in this weekend’s Observer, Bellens denied rumours that RTL was prepared to sell its 65% share in the rebranded Five to… Continue reading RTL Remains Alive To Five

Trinity Mirror’s chief executive of newspapers, Joe Sinyor, has resigned as a director and will leave the company today, it was announced this morning. Sinyor’s departure was predicted in December, alongside reports that he and Trinity chairman, Sir Victor Blank, held disagreements on strategy for the group’s national newspapers (see Sinyor Rumoured To Be Departing… Continue reading Sinyor Leaves Trinity Mirror

News International has confirmed that David Yelland has quit as editor of the Sun. He will be replaced by News of the World editor, Rebekah Wade, with effect from tomorrow. A spokeswoman for News International confirmed that the announcement was made by the company’s chairman, Les Hinton, in an internal email earlier today. Yelland’s departure,… Continue reading Yelland Quits As Editor Of The Sun

The beleaguered telecoms firm Cable & Wireless has appoined a new chairman as it seeks a remedy for its well publicised financial woes. Former British Aerospace financial director Richard Lapthorne takes over from Sir Ralph Robins with immediate effect and has been given carte blanche to make boadroom changes. C&W chief executive Graham Wallace is… Continue reading Lapthorne Moves Into C&W Hotseat

US marketers are bullish on spending plans for 2003, with over two thirds of respondents to the Jack Myers Advertising Confidence survey planning to increase their budgets during the year. A substantial 22.5% of marketers intend to increase budgets by more than 8% this year, whilst 45.0% are planning increases of 1% to 8%. Only… Continue reading US Marketers Confident Of Increasing Budgets In 2003, Finds Myers

US online retail spending will grow by 28% to $52 billion in 2003 and is on track to surpass $100 billion by 2007, according to forecasts from Jupiter Research. It is estimated that 156 million Americans used the web during 2002 and 82 million shopped online. Jupiter predicts that the online population will increase by… Continue reading Jupiter Projects Healthy Growth For Online Retail Market

Just under half of UK publishers believe that magazine expenditures will increase in the next year or two, whilst 26% predict that they will decrease to some degree. This is one of the findings of a recent survey conducted by Optima. The most common outlook, shared by 38% of the 156 respondents to the survey,… Continue reading Magazine Revenue Will Increase In Next Two Years, Say Half Of UK Publishers