The government has told BSkyB that it must reduce its stake in ITV from 17.9% to under 7.5%.Business secretary John Hutton accepted the Competition Commission’s recommendation to reduce the stake (see Competition Commission Recommends Sky Sell Down ITV Stake)The ruling gives Sky until Monday 25 February to lodge an appeal against the decision.The satellite broadcaster… Continue reading Sky Told To Reduce ITV Stake To Below 7.5%

Five is launching an ad campaign to make audiences aware that Neighbours is switching from BBC One at the start of next month.The show moves to Five on Monday 11 February, and is preceded by a national and regional press ad campaign starting today.It will be heavily supported by T-sides on buses and glossy magazines… Continue reading Five Launches Neighbours Ad Campaign

The music and download company behind Bebo and Last.fm’s music services, 7digital, has secured funding of £4.25 million.The digital media delivery company, based in the UK, has received backing from investors Sutton Place Managers and Balderton Capital.It is understood that 7digital will spend the money on expanding beyond the UK, possibly into the US and… Continue reading 7digital Secures £4.25m Funding

UK Internet traffic to newspaper websites reached its highest level in over two years last week off the back of a number of big news stories, according to the latest figures from Hitwise.For the week ending 26 January 2008, 1.48% of all UK internet visits went to websites in Hitwise’s News and Media – Print… Continue reading UK Internet Traffic To Newspaper Websites Reaches High

Almost 12 million people have listened to the radio via the internet, while 4.3 million have downloaded a podcast, according to new research from RAJAR.The figures are from RAJAR’s first Podcasting and Radio Listening via Internet Survey, which was conducted last autumn by Ipsos Mori.It found that In any given week, 8.1 million people listen… Continue reading Almost 12m Listen To Internet Radio

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and social networking site MySpace are launching a partnership to bring new and archived short form BBC content to MySpaceTV.The announcement marks the first global agreement of this type between MySpaceTV and a major broadcaster.Under the partnership, the best BBC video content will be made available online… Continue reading BBC Worldwide In MySpace Content Deal

As the gloomy economic outlook leads to a cut in advertisers’ TV budgets, ITV and Channel 4 could see a combined year on year decline in ad revenue of around £12 million from their flagship networks in the first quarter of the year, according to report on MediaGuardian.co.uk.The biggest declines are forecast to be felt… Continue reading ITV and Channel 4 Could See Q1 08 Ad Revenue Decline Of £12m

John Hutton, the secretary of state for business, is expected to announce tomorrow that Sky should sell some of its 17.9% stake in ITV.Since Sky bought the shares in November 2006, ITV’s share price has almost halved, meaning the satellite broadcaster could be facing a loss of around £250 million.Reports at the weekend said that… Continue reading Sky Prepares For ITV Ruling

Secretary of state for business John Hutton is expected to announce tomorrow that Sky should sell at least some of its 17.9% stake in ITV. However, it has been reported that Sky, which bought the stake for £940 million (see ITV Share Price Falls After BSkyB Acquires Stake), is preparing to appeal against the expected… Continue reading Sky Prepares For ITV Ruling

More than 85% of the world’s online population has used the internet to make a purchase – increasing the market for online shopping by 40% in the past two years – according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey. Among internet users, the highest percentage shopping online is found in South Korea, where 99% of… Continue reading Global Market For Online Shopping Increases 40%