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Specials and old favourites will be key to the BBC keeping its viewing figures up during the festive season.The Corporation will screen special editions of Doctor Who, Little Britain, This Life and The Vicar of Dibley, whilst EastEnders will see the “dramatic” exit of one of the soap’s original characters, Pauline Fowler.Little Britain star Matt… Continue reading Specials And Nostalgia Key To BBC’s Festive Programming

More than 70% of UK television households, almost 18 million, are watching digital television on at least one set in the home, according to new research released by communications watchdog Ofcom. The report entitled ‘The Consumer Experience’, also found that 26% of British homes have bought digital terrestrial television receivers, more than twice as many… Continue reading Almost 18 Million UK Households Have Digital TV

UK internet shopping reached a new all time high in October, according to new research from the Interactive Media In Retail Group (IMRG). The IMRG says that sales for October were estimated to be worth £2.73 billion, with e-retail growing at its fastest ever rate in 2006, increasing by an average of £50 per month… Continue reading UK Internet Shopping Reaches October High

The ITV board has unanimously rejected a merger bid by NTL, claiming there is “little, if any, strategic logic for ITV to combine with NTL “.For each ITV share, the US cable giant had offered 105p in cash and new NTL shares, which were worth 17p at the close of business on 9 November. The… Continue reading ITV Board Rejects NTL Merger Bid

The UK is Europe’s slowest-growing major ad market in 2006 and, were it not for the internet, would also be in 2007, according to a new report from Group M. Group M also predicts internet advertising will comprise 18% of media investment in 2007, v regional newspapers 18% and national newspapers 12%. It adds that… Continue reading UK Is Europe’s Slowest Growing Major Ad Market

I’m A Celebrity… attracted a peak audience of 8.2 million adults (a 36.3% audience share) to ITV1 last night, no doubt all eager to see what would happen when the jungle dwellers were split into two teams.The show did not disappoint, with a raucous ruck over a task to win some cheese and biscuits the… Continue reading I’m A Celebrity… Brings Back The Viewers

More than 40 million mobile phone users in the UK have used their handsets for downloads and browsing the internet during Q3 2006, according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA). A total of 40.7 million users were recorded as having used their phones for this purpose. In July, the figure was… Continue reading More Than 40 Million Use Mobiles To Browse The Net

National Grid Wireless (NGW) will apparently make a bid for the national commercial digital radio multiplex, which is to be advertised by Ofcom this month.According to reports in the trade press, NGW will formally announce its plans to bid for the licence today and is believed to be about to advertise for partners to join… Continue reading NGW Could Bid For Second Multiplex

ITV has rejected NTL’s merger bid, saying that there is “little, if any, strategic logic for ITV to combine with NTL.” The rejection by ITV comes after BSkyB acquired a 17.9% stake in the broadcaster for £940 million on Friday (see ITV Share Price Falls After BSkyB Acquires Stake). The NTL bid offered 105p cash… Continue reading ITV Rejects NTL Merger Bid

The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five have completed a trial which saw HDTV broadcast over Freeview and announced that it was a success.The four broadcasters began the trial of 450 London households in June, each of which were given a prototype HD set top box enabled to receive Freeview DTT broadcasts.Nearly all (98%) triallists… Continue reading Freeview HDTV Trial A Success