Digital was the watchword of 2005’s TV industry, as media regulator Ofcom revealed almost 66% of the nation’s homes now receive TV in digital format (see Ofcom Estimates Show 65.9% Of Britain With Digital TV).The surge in growth was fuelled in part by the launch of several high profile digital channels, as ITV3, ITV4 and… Continue reading End Of Year Round-Up: Television

ITV’s drama Rebus performed well last night, attracting an average adult audience of 8.1 million to dominate prime time viewing.Going head to head with BBC One’s film Catch Me If You Can, with a comparable audience of 5.6 million, ITV’s crime drama secured a share of 33.94% compared with BBC One’s 23.73%.However, The BBC’s earlier… Continue reading Rebus Reaps Rewards For ITV

Cinema admissions in November received a massive boost from the latest film in the Harry Potter series, with the Goblet of Fire fuelling a 4.3% rise in admissions year on year, as well as becoming 2005’s biggest film to date.The movie quickly stormed Britain’s box offices, grossing £31.6 million during November and smashing numerous records… Continue reading Potter Enchants Moviegoers To Smash Cinema Records

Britain’s newspaper market continued to see overall circulations decline throughout 2005, although a new wave of compact titles succeeded in bucking the trend, while new launches in the free-sheet market saw healthy starts.By far the largest change within 2005’s national newspaper market was the Guardian‘s switch to Berliner format, undertaken in September (see Guardian Hits… Continue reading End Of Year Round-Up: Press

BBC One saw victory with Eastenders on Christmas Day, drawing an average adult audience of 9 million adults to beat ITV’s Coronation Street, which scored 8.6 million 30 minutes earlier.The Corporation’s festive victory was helped at least in part by a special edition Dr Who, airing from 7pm-8pm and drawing 8 million against ITV’s Christmas… Continue reading BBC Wins Christmas Day Ratings Battle

Global advertising group, WPP, has announced that leading US marketing and interactive agency, Bridge Worldwide, will join it’s relationship marketing agency, Wunderman. Bridge Worldwide is a top 40 interactive agency, using the internet as the centre of its marketing programs, with clients including Procter & Gamble and other leading multinational companies. The purchase of Bridge… Continue reading WPP Extends Online Healthcare Offerings

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has passed the merger of NTL and Telewest, as well as BSkyB’s acquisition of telecoms firm, Easynet. Announcing its decision to the city, the OFT stated: “Both cases relate to the emergence of Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) as an alternative means to provide ‘triple-play’ (pay-TV, internet and telecommunications) services,”… Continue reading OFT Approves Media Mergers

US media owner, Viacom, has spilt itself into two companies, CBS Corp and Viacom, with investors getting one CBS share and one Viacom share for each two of Viacom they own. The division will see Viacom own the MTV cable business and the Paramount Pictures studio, while CBS owns Simon & Schuster, Showtime and Paramount… Continue reading Viacom Splits Into Two

BBC1’s premier of football film Bend It Like Beckham attracted a healthy average of 3.6 million adult viewers last night, rising slightly in the second part of the film showed after the news.ITV’s Doc Martin however, was the clear ratings winner last night, with an average of 7.3 million adults tuning in.Eastenders attracted an average… Continue reading ITV Wins With Doc Martin

Government watchdog, Ofcom, has announced plans to allocate three additional blocks of radio spectrum filling the gaps in local multiplex coverage, resulting in local DAB digital radio services being accessible to every part of the UK.The new proposals will also see a block added to national commercial multiplexes, offering additional choice to as many listeners… Continue reading Ofcom Announces New Spectrum Plans