The crisis at Vivendi Universal deepened yesterday when the French-American media giant announced first half losses of E12.3 billion. The firm has now embarked on a major asset disposal programme after admitting that it needs to raise at least E10 billion in the next two years. Vivendi is reeling from the legacy of acquisitions made… Continue reading Record Losses Force Vivendi To Hawk Assets

Unlicensed file sharing services will continue to thrive until record labels allow internet users to download music legitimately, according to a new report from The Yankee Group. Consumers aged 14 and above downloaded 5.16 billion audio files in the US via unlicensed file-sharing services such as KaZaa, Morpheus and LimeWire in 2001. This is set… Continue reading Unlicensed Music Downloads To Peak In 2005, Says Yankee Group

The 2002/2003 World Magazine Trends report from FIPP/Zenith Optimedia, to be released next month, offers an assessment and outlook of magazine publishing industries in key markets around the world. Regional summaries are given here. Europe Europe’s magazine ad market fell in 2001, and is likely to fall again in 2002, but overall it should suffer… Continue reading World Magazines Outlook From FIPP/Zenith

Despite the well documented failures of ITV Digital and Quiero, European consumers will spend E13.4 billion on digital and interactive television services in 2002, an increase of 31% over last year, according to Strategy Analytics. Interactive Digital TV Market Forecast – Europe is produced by the Broadband Entertainment Strategies (BES) service of SA and examines… Continue reading Advanced Television Services Set To Take Off

The joint publishing venture between EMAP and French group Hachette Filipacchi is likely to be discontinued following Hachette’s acquisition of Attic Futura (see Hachette Buys Attic Futura For ), according to reports. The addition of Attic Futura’s magazines to the Hachette portfolio brings it into competition with the titles published in the UK by the… Continue reading EMAP/Hachette Venture Expected To Be Ditched

Revenues at debt-laden cable company, NTL, remained pretty flat in the second quarter of the year, dropping slightly by just 1.1% to £627 million, according to the company’s financial results released today. Earnings rose by 51.3% to £174 million over the period. These results are posted against a backdrop of debt and impending recapitalisation which… Continue reading NTL Revenues Fall Slightly As Recapitalisation Approaches

VNU, the multinational publisher and information company has bucked the trend of disappointing media financial results and announced a robust growth in profits for the first half of 2002. Net income increased from â‚Ź75.5 million to â‚Ź93 million in the space of a year and VNU was able to reduce its debt from â‚Ź4.2 billion… Continue reading VNU Posts Strong First Half Results

UK radio operator, Wireless Group, has halved its losses and is currently enjoying strong ad revenue growth, according to financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2002, released this morning. Pre-tax loss at the group halved, down from £17.5 million for H1 2001 to £8.9 million this time. The group also produced its… Continue reading World Cup Gives Wireless Group First Profit

Male internet users in Britain are twice as likely to pay for online content than females, according to a new study by the service provider, BT Openworld. In the survey, over 50% of male respondents admitted to buying online content, compared to just 26% of women. Men in the 20 to 30 age group are… Continue reading UK Men More Willing To Pay For Online Content

Digital music, currently regarded with some suspicion by record labels, will prove a godsend to the industry and generate more than $2 billion in the US by 2007, according to a new report from Forrester Research. Piracy has widely been blamed for the 15% fall in music sales in the past two years but this… Continue reading Digital The Way Ahead For Music Business, Says Forrester