Rumours that ITV chairman Sir Peter Burt will quit once Charles Allen’s replacement at the broadcaster has been found have escalated, sources have told the trade press. Sources have said that Burt is not enjoying the role and wants to leave as soon as possible, whilst the ITV board is said to be split over… Continue reading ITV Chairman Expected To Go

Mike Clasper, the former BAA chief executive, has pulled out of the race to take over from former ITV chief executive Charles Allen, and speculation has re-emerged that Sir James Crosby, the former chief executive of HBOS, has also withdrawn. According to a report in yesterday’s Sunday Times, investors in the broadcaster are increasingly concerned… Continue reading Another Candidate Pulls Out Of Race For ITV Top Job

Two thirds of US online gamers are female, according to Nielsen Interactive Entertainment’s newly released third annual Active Gamer Benchmark study. The research, which puts the total figure for active gamers (those who play for more than one hour per-week) in the US at 117 million, says that 56% of those play online and 64%… Continue reading Two Thirds Of US Online Gamers Are Female

Two of the biggest satellite radio companies have released subscriber figures for the third quarter, with differing fortunes for each. According to Sky Report, XM Satellite Radio added 285,000 subscribers in the last quarter, its lowest total in 10 consecutive quarters, ending the quarter with 7.2 million subscribers. XM has a target of 1.7 million… Continue reading Mixed Market For US Satellite Radio

Broadband’s quarterly growth rate in Q2 2006 has been the lowest ever, just 7.1% worldwide, a large drop from the 8.5% at the end of 2005, according to a new report from Point Topic. Amongst all regions, only South-East Asia and Asia-Pacific reported an increase in growth rate over the quarter. Despite the slight increase… Continue reading Lowest Quarterly Growth Rate In Broadband History

The big theme of September was television in a variety of forms, with a report from Strategy Analytics saying that nearly 19 million European homes will buy digital television for the first time this year, an increase of 20%. The Digital TV Subscriber Market Forecast Europe report goes on to say that IPTV is beginning… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Media Healthcheck – September 2006

Rumours said to be 40% accurate are circulating on the internet and in the Wall Street Journal that Google may be in talks to acquire video-sharing website YouTube.Talks are said to be in the early stages and that a price tag of $1.6 billion has been reported. It is also stated that YouTube has had… Continue reading Google Could Buy YouTube

The Sportsman newspaper, which launched in March of this year, has finally closed after talks regarding refinancing the title broke down.The daily betting newspaper, which cut its Sunday edition in August (see Sportsman Newspaper To Cut Sunday Edition), went into administration in July (see The Sportsman Goes Into Administration) and was seeking multi-millions of pounds… Continue reading The Sportsman Finally Shuts

Current has signed an agreement with BSkyB to launch a localised version of its viewer-created TV channel in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.The agreement provides Current’s first presence outside the US and marks a significant step in fulfilling its plans of becoming an international media company, while for BSkyB it represents a first… Continue reading Current TV Channel To Launch On Sky

BT has a new video-on-demand film deal with Lionsgate Entertainment for its next-generation TV service, BT Vision, which launches in autumn 2006.This new deal will provide BT Vision customers with access to the Lionsgate library, one of the biggest independent film libraries in the world.Titles include Jeepers Creepers, Open Water, Reservoir Dogs, The Gift, Dirty… Continue reading BT Vision Signs VOD Movie Deal