French advertising group, Havas, has said its board of directors has given the green light to move forward with a bid to purchase US rivals, Grey Global Group. Havas’ bid, which will be joined by offers from UK advertising giants, WPP and private equity firm, Hellman & Friedman, will have to be submitted before today’s… Continue reading Havas Given Go-Ahead For Grey Global Bid

As time draws closer to the bidding deadline for US advertising firm, Grey Global Group, WPP are thought to be putting together an offer of cash and shares worth around $1.3 billion. According to a report in The Times, the bid from the advertising giant’s chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, will be joined by an… Continue reading WPP Prepares Bidding Offer For Grey

Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director general, has played down rumours that the Corporation is planning to sell off its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and attempted to diffuse speculation of a tie-up between the BBC and Channel 4, stating that a merger could occur between the BBC and any of the UK’s commercial broadcasters. In an… Continue reading Thompson Plays Down BBC Mergers And Worldwide Sell Off

The BBC has launched a cross promotion campaign between its market leading Gardeners’ World and Good Food magazines to boost the new BBC book, Delia’s Kitchen Garden with a specially produced Delia Smith supplement accompanying the title’s October issues.The move marks the first time the two magazines have teamed up and will see a close… Continue reading BBC Pushes Delia Book With Dual Magazine Tie In

The return of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway to ITV this autumn will be sponsored by PZ Cussons’ Imperial Leather soap brand, the broadcaster has announced, with the high-rating programme expected to further bolster ITV’s viewing share.The fourth series of the popular Saturday night variety show was secured by Cussons in a seven-figure sponsorship… Continue reading Cussons Coughs Up Cash For ITV’s Takeaway

Mobile gaming services, are expected to generate $1.8 billion each year by 2009 and although generating a substantial sum, are expected to remain a niche market, accounting for just over 4% of total wireless data revenues. According to the new report Mobile Gaming Services In The US 2004-2009, from market research firm In-Stat/MDR, it is… Continue reading Rapid Growth Ahead For Mobile Gaming Services

Dmail, the digital equivalent to email, has just been unveiled with promises of eradicating the problems which email has inherited. The creation of dmail, which has been developed by a Dorest inventor, originates from the oil and gas industry and hopes to be able to put to bed problems such as; spam, virus, security, privacy… Continue reading Digital Mail Rivals Electronic Mail

Digital video recorder maker, TiVo and the internet DVD rental group, Netflix, are in talks to allow US Netflix subscribers to download films straight from the internet to their TiVo box. According to the latest version of Newsweek magazine, the deal could be sealed sometime this week and is just waiting for TiVo’s board of… Continue reading TiVo And Netflix Team Up To Allow Internet Movie Downloads

As Scottish Media Group (SMG) prepares to issue its half year results on Thursday, Merrill Lynch has said it predicts advertising revenues for the group to beat expectations. In its latest broadcasting update, Merrill Lynch, says it now expects revenues at SMG to grow by 5.5% from 3.5%, topping £89.2 million from January to June… Continue reading Latest SMG Predictions From Merrill Lynch

As a result of strong half year results from Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), Merrill Lynch is revising upwards its 2004 and 2005 organic growth expectations for the market research group. Merrill Lynch has said as a result of good half year sales and expectations of market growth by TNS in the region of 3-4%, organic… Continue reading Revised TNS Forecasts From Merrill Lynch