Lastminute.com has reached a pivotal point in its history with the announcement that it will post its first pre-tax profits in the current quarter. Last month, the high profile online retailer revealed that pre-tax losses had narrowed to £3.9 million in the three months to June (see Lastminute Strives To Get In The Black). It… Continue reading Lastminute Issues Profits Promise

The prolonged saga of talks between News Corp and Vivendi over the future of Telepiù is set to reach a conclusion with Rupert Murdoch’s organisation prepared to acquire the Italian pay-TV operator for almost one billion euros. News Corp now seems likely to merge Telepiù with its own pay-TV operation Stream to create a single… Continue reading News Corp Closes In Deal To Take Telepiu

Advertising volumes at the Wall Street Journal declined by 14.8% during August, the newspaper’s parent company, Dow Jones, has announced. This puts Q3 figures down by 16% to date, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch. General advertising volumes at the paper were down by 22.4%, according to the broker, with declines in auto, healthcare and… Continue reading Revenues Remain Weak At Wall Street Journal

Northcliffe Newspapers, a subsidiary of Daily Mail and General Trust, has been fined £1.3 million by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for predatory pricing by its Aberdeen Journals division. John Vickers, director general of OFT, commented: “Aberdeen Journals deliberately incurred losses in a persistent campaign to remove its only direct rival from the market.… Continue reading Northcliffe Receives £1.3m Fine For Predatory Pricing

The proportion of UK households with a broadband internet connection is the lower than any other country in Europe, according to a new survey from Nielsen//NetRatings. Just 9% of UK households use a high-speed system to connect to the Net, as compared to 39% in Germany and 33% in Sweden. Even France, which has a… Continue reading UK Lags Behind Europe In Broadband Uptake

Only 35% of internet users in the European Union have purchased products or services online for personal use according to a new report on eMarketer. Data collected by EOS Gallup Europe for the European Commission reveals that internet shopping habits have changed little in the past year and only 4% of respondents admitted to being… Continue reading Online Shopping Remains A Minority Activity, Says EU Report

Almost 30% of US households with incomes over $100,000 have access to broadband internet services at home, according to a new report from the Leichtman Research Group. A further 37% of households in this income group have expressed an interest in subscribing to broadband in future. The study shows a clear correlation between household income… Continue reading Affluent Americans Have A Need For High Speed

Outdoor advertising spend in the US fell by 4.6% in the first half, according to the latest data from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). The OAAA says that the decline does not paint as bleak a picture as might first seem to be the case, as many other media – which are now… Continue reading US Outdoor Revenue Falls 4.6% In H1

It would not be appropriate to predict a definite return to advertising growth, given the protracted period of limited visibility, Ulster Television (UTV) chairman John B McGuckian said this morning, announcing the company’s first half financial results (see UTV Ad Revenue Outperforms ITV Network) Despite the lack of a prolonged period of growth, McGuckian said… Continue reading Ulster TV Chairman Sees Positive Signals In TV Ad Market

The transition to digital television (DTV) in the US is progressing at an ‘astounding pace’, according to the president of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Gary Shapiro. This assessment is based on the rate at which consumers are buying DTV-enabled integrated television sets and monitors. In July, factory-to-dealer sales rose by 81% year on year,… Continue reading DTV Set Sales Soar In US, But Set-Top Boxes Lag