Less than half of all UK employers know how long their staff are online and in many cases, employees are free to use the internet for non-work purposes. These are the conclusions of a new report from the ISP Star Internet. The survey found that only 43% of bosses were aware of the amount of… Continue reading Employers In The Dark On Internet Usage

Vivendi Universal has entered discussions with its bankers in an attempt to secure the funding necessary to take control of Cegetel, the French telecoms firm. A report in the Financial Times claimed that the indebted media group plans to head off a challenge from Vodafone and launch a bid for BT’s 26% stake in Cegetel.… Continue reading Vivendi Seeks New Funds For Cegetel Bid

Premiere, the German pay-TV operator that was held responsible for the collapse of the Kirch Group, has announced a sharp fall in third quarter losses as it attempts to attract a buyer (see Struggling Premiere Goes Under The Hammer). A cost cutting programme instigated by chief executive Georg Kofler saw net losses go down by… Continue reading Premiere Boss Steadies The Ship

ITV Digital, the defunct pay-TV operator, has been put into liquidation and the trail of creditors which includes BSkyB, the Football League and Crown Castle International will see little of the £1.25 billion due to them. Liquidator Grant Thornton has valued the company’s remaining assets at £27.3 million, a paltry sum compared with the £1… Continue reading ITV Digital Creditors Lose More Than £1 Billion

Trinity Mirror’s revamp of the Mirror and other main national titles is unlikely to result in any substantial increase in circulation, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch. Responding to a Trinity Mirror analyst meeting last night, the broker says that whilst the rationale behind the strategy is sound (adding that something does need to be… Continue reading Mirror Revamp Unlikely To Bear Fruit In Declining Sector, Say Analysts

There was some good news for the US newspaper advertising sector yesterday as two major publishers reported positive results for the third quarter of the year. The New York Times Company (NYTC) talked of a steady improvement in advertising and circulation revenues and posted profits up 35% on ad revenues up 3.6% during September; circulation… Continue reading US Newspaper Groups See Ad Pick-Up In Q3

Global shipments of games consoles will hit 41.9 million units in 2002, an increase of 84% year on year, according to new forecasts from Strategy Analytics. Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2) console is expected to account for 63% of sales, followed by Nintendo’s GameCube with 21% and Microsoft’s XBox with 16%. Cumulatively, the PS2 will account… Continue reading Sony Domination May Drive Nintendo Out Of Games Console Market

Advertising network, Interpublic Group, last night sent tremors through Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, after indicating that its 2002 earnings will be much lower than had been anticipated. To add to its woes, Interpublic, the world’s second largest network of advertising companies, is also implicated in America’s recent flurry of corporate accounting… Continue reading Interpublic Earnings Warning Shocks Markets

The media and publishing sector will be forced to lay off more workers in the final quarter of this year than any other industry, according to a report out this week. The recruitment group Reed surveyed 800 UK companies across the board and found that the number planning to downsize had fallen from 10% in… Continue reading Media Workers Set To Feel The Pinch, Says Survey

The US internet population is growing all the time and a large proportion of users are happy with the medium. These are the findings of the Consumer Internet Barometer, a quarterly measure of web usage. However, the survey also exposed growing concerns about internet security and many consumers are still reluctant to disclose personal information… Continue reading US Internet Usage Rises But Security Doubts Persist