In a shock announcement, ITV has revealed that it will not be broadcasting this year’s British Comedy Awards, after yet more allegations over dodgy phone voting.Although the December ceremony will still go ahead, ITV will not film the proceedings. It is understood that production company Michael Hurll Television is attempting to secure another broadcaster for… Continue reading ITV Will Not Screen Comedy Awards

UKTV is to replace UKTV G2 with a comedy and factual entertainment channel called Dave, launching on October 15.The channel is aimed at a young male audience and will be available on all platforms including Freeview.UKTV said that the core aim of the name change is to create viewer affinity among a key target audience… Continue reading Hello Dave: UKTV To Launch New Channel

The newly revamped heat radio has announced several presenters for its new format, with former Heart 106.2 voice Rachel Hopper joining heat as the host of its flagship afternoon show.Hopper – a regular expert on the GMTV showbiz sofa – will be broadcasting live to the nation when heat goes live at 2pm on Tuesday,… Continue reading Heat Radio Announces Top Presenters For New Format

Mobile provider O2 has partnered with Taxi Media, part of Clear Channel Outdoor UK, to provide passengers with free calls to all UK national and mobile numbers in O2 branded cabs across London and Birmingham.Unique O2 branded hands-free phones have been fitted in over 100 taxis across London and Birmingham along with O2 branded charging… Continue reading 02 In Taxi Media Free Calls Partnership

US advertisers are increasingly shifting ad dollars to social networking websites from portal sites, reports eMarketer. Many of those ad dollars are going to MySpace and Facebook, which together hold a 72% share of the US market for social network advertising, according to eMarketer. “Social networking is proving to be a true revenue driver,” said… Continue reading US Ad Dollars Moving To Social Network Websites

Worldwide annual consumer spending on mobile broadcast TV services is expected to exceed $6.6 billion by 2012, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Nearly 120 million mobile users in more than 40 countries are expected to receive broadcast TV services by 2012, compared to less than 12 million in 2007, with DVB-H the… Continue reading Global Consumer Spending On Mobile TV To Increase

Household take-up of digital television, via Freeview, digital satellite or cable TV, has risen to almost 85% to the end of June 2007, according to new research from Ofcom. This was up from 80.5% in the previous quarter, equating to 944,000 net household conversions since March (see UK Digital TV Penetration Exceeds 80%) . A… Continue reading Digital TV Penetration Reaches Almost 85%

For the first time, online advertising will surpass radio advertising spending in the US, according to a new forecast from eMarketer. But this does not signal the death of the radio, according to eMarketer’s report Radio Trends: On Air and Online. There are many synergies between radio and the Internet and, for the most part,… Continue reading US Online Advertising To Surpass Radio Adspend

As in recent years, consumer electronic (CE) products will be popular US holiday purchases in 2007, with HDTVs set to grow in popularity, reports In-Stat. The company’s latest survey yielded over 2,000 responses from North American consumers; more than 80% of these respondents have plans to purchase a CE product this holiday season, the high-tech… Continue reading HDTVs Top Consumer Purchase Wish List

Telecoms giant BT is to carry out research into the reasons why some people shy away from using the internet.According to a BBC report, psychologists will study a small group of people to analyse the reasons behind their fear of using the web.Preliminary testing has found that for some people, using the internet triggers stress… Continue reading BT To Research ‘Web Fear’