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

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

The report forecasts that new digital platforms will generate $5 billion in yearly spend by 2011, with ad skipping DVRs putting $12 billion at risk. In the Evolving Business Models for Television & Filmed Entertainment report, JupiterResearch says that the projected figures will account for 2% of advertiser and consumer spending, with 5% at risk.… Continue reading Value Of New Digital Platforms Lies In Promotion

IPTV subscribers are predicted to more than double in 2007, to 13.3 million, from an expected 6.4 million in 2006. Recent research from Informa Telecoms & Media said that there will be 36 million IPTV homes by 2011, or around seven times as many as 2006 (see 36 Million IPTV Homes By 2011). Gartner says… Continue reading Worldwide IPTV Subscribers To Reach 48.8 Million by 2010