John de Mol is believed to be discussing with Disney the possibility of placing a joint bid for Endemol, the company he co-founded. According to reports in the trade press, de Mol and Disney are looking for a private equity firm to join their partnership and help finance the deal. Last week Dutch regulators announced… Continue reading Disney Could Join De Mol In Endemol Bid

The legal battle between Sir Frank Lowe and Interpublic Group (IPG), his former employer, has finished with an out of court settlement. IPG filed a claim against Lowe after his breakaway launch of Red Brick Road in January last year, following which he won the Tesco advertising business from Lowe London, valued at £45 million… Continue reading Lowe And Interpublic Settle Legal Dispute

Managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo de Rato, has predicted that the global economy will remain robust throughout 2007. Speaking at the IMF annual press conference, de Rato said that after four years of strong growth, the IMF expects that global growth will remain solid in 2007, approaching 5%. He added that:… Continue reading IMF Predicts Robust Global Economy For 2007

New research by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) shows that European online shoppers are now buying more from their browsing on the internet. The EIAA Mediascope Europe 2006 Study, managed by SPA and conducted by Synovate, explores the trends and spending patterns of Europe’s online shoppers. The research highlights the product categories with the… Continue reading European Online Shoppers Purchasing More

Web traffic to the blog pages of the top 10 online newspapers in the US grew 210% year over year in December, according to new research from Nielsen//NetRatings. The overall unique audience growth to these online newspapers was 9% year over year. Unique visitors to blog pages accounted for 13% of their December 2006 internet… Continue reading Online Traffic To US Newspaper Blog Pages Increases

Johnston Press, the regional newspaper group, has acquired eight Scottish newspapers from rival company Archant.Johnston paid £11.2 million for three paid-for papers in the north-east of Scotland and five free papers in central Scotland.In the year ended 31 December 2006 the business, which will become part of Johnston’s Scottish division, generated revenues of £6.95 million.Tim… Continue reading Johnston Press Buys Scottish Titles From Archant

Andy Duncan, Channel 4 chief executive, has said that there have only been two incidents of possible racial abuse on Celebrity Big Brother, and that he has no intention of taking the show off air.Duncan said: “The latest series of Celebrity Big Brother has strayed into particularly controversial territory – the issue of racism and… Continue reading Duncan Defends Big Brother

Celebrity Big Brother is continuing to make headlines across the globe, and the controversy over the current series shows no sign of abating, with the audience for tonight’s eviction banned and Endemol being inundated with calls from potential sponsors.Jade Goody is up against Shilpa Shetty in tonight’s eviction programme, with Goody, who has been at… Continue reading Audience Banned From Big Brother Eviction

News Magazines is believed to have shelved plans to publish a new women’s weekly, which was being developed under the name Project Dannii.News magazines, the magazine publishing division of News International, had suffered a series of delays in launching the title, which was first meant to hit the market last September.Karl Marsden, News Magazine’s commercial… Continue reading News Magazines Shelves Project Danni

Johnston Press has conditionally acquired the assets and titles of the Scottish Newspaper operations of Archant for a cash consideration of £11.2 million funded from existing bank facilities. The business comprises eight weekly titles, of which three are paid-for newspapers circulating in the North East of Scotland around Peterhead and Fraserburgh and five are on… Continue reading Johnston Press Acquires Archant Scottish Titles