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

Yahoo! has launched its own YouTube style video site which lets users upload, watch and search for videos.Yahoo! says that the site has more content than other video websites because it trawls the web, accepts uploads and receives direct feeds. It will also include videos that Yahoo! already hosts on its music, news, sports film… Continue reading Yahoo! Launches YouTube Challenger

People aged over 35 account for more than half of the visitors to social networking site MySpace.com, according to a report by US research company comScore Media Metrix.In August 2005 a quarter of all visitors to the site were aged 12 – 17, a year later that had more than halved to just under 12%.… Continue reading Younger Users Moving Away From MySpace

Aegis has been asked to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting by Vincent Bollore, who wants two seats on the Aegis board. Aegis said that the shareholder meeting has been called to consider the election of Philippe Germond and Roger Hatchuel to the Aegis board. Germond (ex-president of French mobile firm Alcatel) and Hatchuel (former owner… Continue reading Bollore Calls Aegis Shareholder Meeting

GCap Media’s Capital Radio will next week launch its first advertising campaign in 18 months, sending out a team armed with innuendo strewn notes.The campaign launches on Monday and is based round the slogan “Who’s doing who?”. It will utilise posters, online ads, faxes to London firms and hand written notes laden with innuendo.The campaign… Continue reading Capital Radio In New Ad Campaign

Emap Radio has created an all speech radio format in its bid to win the new Manchester FM commercial radio licence.Piccadilly Talk will feature Manchester focused conversation, news, sport, current affairs and Manchester specific issues. Emap Radio’s Terry Smith, who is leading the bid, said: “Piccadilly Talk is the all speech station that Manchester has… Continue reading Emap Radio Creates New Format For Manchester Bid

Ofcom has appointed Ed Richards, its chief operating officer, as its new chief executive, taking over from Stephen Carter.Six candidates were shortlisted for the post, with two other Ofcom employees, executives Kip Meek and Sean Williams, vying with Richards for the £400,000 a year role (see Frontrunner For Ofcom Top Job Is Named).Richards joined the… Continue reading Ofcom Appoints New CEO

News International has bought internet domain names for a variety of regional newspapers, giving rise to speculation that it could expand free newspaper thelondonpaper to other UK cities.“We registered several names when we launched thelondonpaper as a matter of course but we are 100% focused on London for the foreseeable future,” a News International spokeswoman… Continue reading Thelondonpaper Owners Could Expand Free Title