The European Commission has cleared the sports rights merger between Groupe Jean-Claude Darmon, Canal+ Group and RTL Group, following months of speculation and delays. The new entity, which combines all the sports right activities of the three groups, will be called Sportfive. The merger, first announced in May, will create a leading European venture with… Continue reading EC Clears European Sports Rights Merger

Scottish Radio Holdings’ (SRH) greater exposure to local advertising revenues has enabled it to outperform the radio market, according to its annual financial results released this morning. Whilst SRH saw radio turnover remain more or less flat (£34.2 million this year against £34.8 million in 2000) and radio profits dipped from £13.0 million to £11.0… Continue reading Scottish Radio Outperforms Market, But Profits Dip

Pan-European broadcasting group, UPC, has posted a 62% increase in EBITDA, up from the E97 million loss of last time to a loss of E37 million for Q3 2001. This is a slightly better performance than ABN Amro forecasts which had expected an earnings loss of E39.6 million. The group says it is still on… Continue reading UPC Reduces Earnings Loss In Q3 Results

Emap today released interim results which, although in line with expectations, demonstrated the extent to which the group had been hit by the advertising slump and forecast no second half recovery. The group said “normalised” pre-tax profits, excluding figures from its US operation which was sold in July (see Petersen Sale Closes ‘Difficult And Unhappy… Continue reading Emap Results ‘In Line With Expectations’ But No Second Half Recovery Expected

Publicis, the French advertising group which owns Saatchi & Saatchi and co-owns the recently merged Zenith/Optimedia operations (see Optimedia And Zenith Merged By Parent Companies) yesterday released Q3 results which show better-than-expected billings for the year to date. Consolidated billings of Publicis Groupe SA rose by 56.5% in the first nine months to reach 11.3… Continue reading Publicis Results Reveal Growth Despite Market Conditions

Hollinger International, owner of the Daily Telegraph, has announced a net loss for Q3 2001 of $139.6 million or $1.37 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.9 million or a $0.06 per share in 2000. The increased loss is largely due to unusual items including an accounting loss on the Total Return Equity… Continue reading Hollinger Sees Losses Increase As Advertising Revenue Falls

Unconfirmed press reports at the weekend suggest that Bertelsmann TV subsidiary RTL held talks with Carlton in September at which time an informal offer was made by the German group. The FT reports that the offer was in the region of 275p-a-share although it is thought that the talks ended when the two sides were… Continue reading WSJ Reports Bertelsmann Interest In ITV Companies

Home internet access in the UK has grown by 50% over the last twelve months, adding a further 5 million users, according to the Internet Q4 2001 report released by Continental Research this week. There are currently 15.4 million people accessing the internet from home – around a third of UK adults. A year ago,… Continue reading UK Home Net Access Grows 50% In Q4, Says Continental

The internet is becoming increasingly important in the decision-making process of purchases, even if the web is not used for the final transaction, according to the Internet Q4 2001 report released by Continental Research this week. The survey has found that even when people buy goods and services offline, there is a growing likelihood that… Continue reading Internet Plays An Increasing Role In Purchasing Decisions

Analysts at ABN AMRO are sticking by their forecast of a 20% drop in ad revenue at ITV in November despite popular opinion within the trade press that 15% is a more likely figure. ABN ‘remains cautious’ about ITV, but says that if the general trends within the market continue to look ‘cyclical’ there is… Continue reading ABN ‘Remains Cautious’ On ITV Ad Revenue Forecasts