After more than two years of investigations, the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) has concluded that BSkyB, whilst holding a dominant market position, has not been operating in breach of the competition law (see OFT Proposes Ruling Against BSkyB). Margin squeeze The OFT has been investigating complaints from rival pay-TV operators that Sky abuses its… Continue reading BSkyB Has Not Acted Anti-Competitively, Finds OFT

US business-to-business (B2B) advertising spend decreased by 9% in October, whilst advertising page volumes decreased by 10.6%, according to the latest figures from American Business Media (ABM). This is an improvement in the rate of decline, with overall growth this year standing at -16.7%; pages are down by 16.9% in the calendar year. “In spite… Continue reading Decline Eases Slightly In US B2B Advertising

Over 95% of business broadband subscribers in the US connect to the internet via DSL or cable modems, according to a report from In-Stat/MDR. The company stated that in-ground broadband services are expected to retain their hold on the business community with total subscribers set to increase from 4.8 million last year to 15 million… Continue reading US Firms Turning To DSL And Cable Broadband

Freeview could face an uphill struggle over the next year as it competes for audience share with Sky and cable digital services, according to new research from BMRB. The figures show that only 9% of those without digital TV said they would be very interested in buying a £99 set-top box to receive Freeview next… Continue reading Only One In Ten Very Interested In Freeview

Despite weekend speculation regarding a dispute with a prominent creditor, Telewest is confident that it will complete its financial restructuring early in 2003. The indebted cable firm is currently negotiating a new £2 billion loan that will enable refinancing to take place (see NTL And Telewest Press Ahead With Refinancing Plans). Telewest is planning to… Continue reading Telewest Positive On Restructuring Plan

“The world wide web is tightening up,” according to a new report from eMarketer, which shows that more and more websites are now charging for access to content and more and more consumers are willing to pay for it. Across the board, from financial data to news to music, the availability of free content is… Continue reading Days Of Free Web Content May Be Numbered, Says eMarketer

Online shopping sales hit the £1 billion mark during November, as customers turned to the web in a bid to avoid the pre-Christmas high-street rush, according to the Interactive Media In Retail Group (IMRG). The retail monitoring group found that web spending was up 10% on the previous month when £860.5 million was exchanged online… Continue reading Internet Shopping Is A Billion Pound Industry, Says IMRG

NTL has announced that it now has half a million residential broadband internet customers. The cable company launched the new 1-Megabit service earlier this year, claiming that a combination of a powerful cable modem and NTL’s fibre optic network make the service twenty times faster than a normal dial-up internet connection. Commenting on the success… Continue reading NTL Reaches Half A Million Broadband Users

Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, has said that it does not expect to witness an upturn in ad sales at the title next year. This follows news that advertising revenues at the FT were down 11% in the second half of 2002. The FT Group, which includes the Investors Chronicle and a number of… Continue reading Pearson Sees No Revival In Financial Sector

Joe Sinyor, chief executive of Trinity Mirror’s newspaper division, is believed to be stepping down following the appointment of Sly Bailey as chief executive of the group last week (see Bailey Leaves IPC To Replace Graf At Trinity Mirror). According to a report in the Sunday Times, Sinyor, who has been at Trinity Mirror for… Continue reading Sinyor Rumoured To Be Departing Trinity Mirror