More Industry News articles

Ofcom is allowing more advertising breaks in programmes on PSB channels that are longer than an hour, bringing them into line with non-PSB channels.It said that it “is making the changes because PSBs should not face a disincentive from airing longer programmes, especially within peak-times, because of the advertising distribution rules”.The regulator also announced that… Continue reading Ofcom makes changes to PSB ad distribution

Men’s monthly magazine Esquire, published by NatMags, has launched its first website.The blog-style site features sections on style & grooming, entertainment, food & drink, design & technology, and a top five category.The print edition of Esquire has a circulation of around 60,000 copies, according to the latest ABC figures for July to December 2008, following… Continue reading Esquire launches website

ITV is relaunching its mobile site following the appointment of mobile internet specialist Kilrush.Kilrush, part of the Mobile Interactive Group, won the 12 month contract to build and manage mobile content services for the commercial broadcaster in a pitch against undisclosed agencies.The relaunch comes two months after ITV scrapped its previous mobile site.The new site… Continue reading ITV relaunches mobile site

London Underground is set to cut the length of its freesheet newspaper contract from 11 years to seven-and-a-half years when it expires in March 2010.Newspaper groups are expected to start bidding for the contract to distribute free newspapers on the underground, which is currently held by Associated for its morning title Metro, this week.Transport for… Continue reading London Underground cuts freesheet contract

Bauer Media is set to cut jobs at its radio group network of Big City stations in the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.The group’s redundancy announcement comes just a week after it unveiled plans to cut staff in its advertising and magazine divisions.At the time, Bauer’s chief executive Paul Keenan said structural changes… Continue reading Bauer to cut more jobs

BBC Worldwide and YouTube have renewed their global partnership for BBC Worldwide YouTube channels and short-form videos.BBC Worldwide is also debuting its new Explore with BBC Worldwide channel with clips from BBC factual shows Amazon with Bruce Parry and Louis Theroux series.The channel joins recently launched Food from BBC Worldwide with clips from classic cookery… Continue reading BBC Worldwide renews YouTube global partnership

Following the MPs’ expenses scandal, BBC One’s decision to move Question Time to an earlier 9pm timeslot paid off as the show easily beat the competition.A peak of 3.9 million people watched the show – a share of 18% – with an average of 3.7 million (a 17.1% share) sticking with it for its hour… Continue reading Move to 9pm pays off for Question Time

Former chief executive of Chrysalis Radio Phil Riley has led venture capital group Lloyds TSB Development Capital to the acquisition of eight Midlands stations from Global Radio.The group, which beat off competition from Bauer Media, bought the stations – believed to be worth £30 million – for an undisclosed sum.The stations, BRMB, Mercia FM, Beacon… Continue reading Ex-Chrysalis chief buys Global’s Midlands stations

Channel 4 and Sky are discussing a possible merger of their ad sales divisions.A merger would provide an alternative for Channel 4 if it is unsuccessful in securing a partnership with BBC Worldwide (see Andy Duncan: C4/BBC Worldwide deal is weeks away)It is unlikely that a combined sales unit would be referred to the Competition… Continue reading Channel 4 and Sky could merge ad sales teams

Microsoft will next week launch a new search engine to take on Google.Codenamed Kumo, the new search engine will be launched to rebrand and replace Microsoft’s current search engine, Live Search, available at live.com, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.At the moment, Kumo is only available on Microsoft’s internal search network, with the… Continue reading Microsoft to launch new search engine