ITV chief executive Charles Allen was today branded as the broadcaster’s “architect of decline” in an open letter from John Billett, chairman of consulting and auditing company Billets.The letter from Billett to Campaign magazine paints the ITV boss in a very poor light, stating that his preoccupation with revenues has led to a decline in… Continue reading Allen Is ITV’s ‘Architect Of Decline’ Says Billetts Boss

The Independent on Sunday is to follow its weekday counterpart and publish in tabloid-only format from next week, ending months of speculation over the title’s future in broadsheet format.The shift, which will take place on 16 October, leaves just three Sunday newspapers in broadsheet format, with the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and Observer yet to… Continue reading Independent On Sunday To Make Tabloid Switch

French entrepreneur Vincent Bollore has further increased his stake in Aegis, pushing it up to 13.35% and heightening industry speculation of his intentions surrounding the media communications company. The move follows Bollore slowly raising his profile in the firm, gaining share throughout August from 9% just last week. Earlier this week, global advertising agency, WPP,… Continue reading Bollore Pushes Aegis Stake To 13.35%

Online advertising expenditure has overtaken outdoor adspend for the first time this year, reaching £490.8 million in the first half of 2005, an increase of 62%, according to new figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC). Online was shown to achieve a share of 5.8% in the first half of the… Continue reading Online Adspend Over Takes Outdoor

An increasing number of mobile phone users play and download games on their mobile phones, with a new study from NPD Group showing that 27% of users play games on their handsets. Downloading mobile phone games is seen as a potential source of revenue for mobile phone operators, however. According to Telephia 36% of games… Continue reading Mobile Game Downloading On The Rise

Media regulator Ofcom has today announced eighteen new community radio licences, bringing the total number awarded to forty-eight.The new licences will cover areas of Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Birmingham, as well as several smaller towns across the West Midlands and parts of Ireland.The new community licences will cover small areas with low power transmitters, forming… Continue reading Ofcom Awards New Community Radio Licences

Caple operator Telewest is continuing to expand its Teleport on demand services, adding a further 125,000 households to its network which now totals almost of quarter of a million subscribers.The Teleport service, which launched earlier this year (see Telewest Completes First Phase Of On-Demand Roll Out), allows customers access to film and television content at… Continue reading Telewest Extends Teleport To Quarter Million Viewers

Britain’s newly consolidated cable firm, formed from ntl and Telewest, is reportedly preparing a bid to unsettle BSkyB’s dominance of Premiership football coverage.The company, which announced its merger earlier this week (see Cable Giants Tie Up To Tackle Sky), will reportedly compete for the post-2007 broadcast rights when they are auctioned next year.The European Commission… Continue reading Cable Giants Set To Make Premiership Bid

The television market in the Asia Pacific is one of the largest in the world, with eMarketer showing that China alone accounts for over a third of all television households worldwide. According to eMarketer, digital technology, industry consolidation and continued economic growth are transforming the television sector in the Asia Pacific region, with the area… Continue reading Asia Pacific Leads TV Market

JupiterResearch’s latest Paid Search and Services Forecast 2005-2010 showed that almost two-thirds of adult internet users still claim they will not pay for content to avoid online advertising. However, the report showed that 31% of the respondents did pay for some form of online content, up by 5% compared to the same time last year.… Continue reading Paid Search To Hit $8.9 Billion In 2010