BSkyB yesterday afternoon exercised its put option with respect to its 22% stake in KirchPayTV in a move that is likely to be the final nail in the coffin for the heavily-indebted media group Kirch. KirchPayTV last week filed for insolvency due to illiquidity and huge debts (see KirchPayTV Files For Insolvency, BSkyB Expects No… Continue reading BSkyB’s 22% Put Option Set To Force Kirch Collapse

The merger of Italian pay-TV platform, Stream, with Vivendi Universal’s (VU) Telepiù (see Vivendi To Buy News Corp’s Stream In Italy, Says FT) has been cleared by the country’s anti-trust regulator. However, the regulatory authority has imposed certain restrictions on the deal that could offer VU an escape route from the deal. Stream is joint-owned… Continue reading Italian Anti-Trust Ruling May Offer Vivendi An Exit From Stream Deal

Below are the latest business to business (B2B) ecommerce sales forecasts from Gartner, as reported by ElectricNews. B2B Ecommerce Sales Forecasts ($ billion)          2002  2005  Europe 500 2,300 Global 1,930 8,530 Source: Gartner, May 2002     

The global IT market has hit the bottom and is poised for recovery in 2002, according to a new report from IDC. The rebound is attributed to strengthening economic conditions in the United States. However, IDC warns that IT spending growth will remain ‘muted’ by comparison with previous years’ figures before staging a ‘full recovery’… Continue reading IT Market Poised For Recovery, Says IDC

eMarketer reports that, according to the 2002 Email Marketing Factbook from Opt-in News , 50% of consumers questioned said that they would be likely to take advantage of products or services from opt-in marketing emails compared with 37% who said the same regarding email newsletters and 13% who favoured direct mail. In terms of formats,… Continue reading Net Users Prefer Text Ads, Marketers Favour HTML

Europeans will send nearly 17 billion mobile messages per month in 2007 according to Forrester Research. Growth in email and other forms of instant messaging will continue although revenue will fall as cheaper forms of messaging emerge. “The entry of instant messaging (IM) and email introduces the economics of the Web to the premiums of… Continue reading Europeans Will Send 17 Billion Mobile Messages Per Month In 2007

The break up of on- and offline media giant AOL Time Warner will not be recommended by a three-month strategic review of the company, to be presented to the Board this week, according to a report in this morning’s Financial Times. The paper says that there have been calls for the merger between America Online… Continue reading AOL Time Warner Review Will Not Recommend Break-Up, Says FT

Market information group, Taylor Nelson Sofres, is entering into a joint venture with one of Greece’s leading information and consulting services companies, ICAP A.E., the company announced this morning. The joint venture company, to be known as TNS ICAP A.E., will provide market information to clients in sectors including consumer, telecoms, automotive, banking and finance.… Continue reading Taylor Nelson Enters Greek Joint Venture

Based on ‘continuing positive market indications’, mainly from the upfront advertising bookings which commenced in earnest this today, Jack Myers Report has published revised and slightly more positive US forecasts both for the autumn upfront and for the calendar years 2002 and 2003. The more optimistic outlook comes just a month after Myers found evidence… Continue reading Myers Upgrades US Ad Forecasts Following Promising Upfronts

According to the latest figures from Nielsen//NetRatings, the number of home internet users has grown by about 7% between Q4 2002 when at-home net users totalled 498.2 million (see Online Population Continues To Grow) and Q1 2002 when the figure reached 531.3 million. The report First Quarter 2002 Global Internet Trends also revealed that email… Continue reading Global Home Internet Population Keeps Growing