Freeview could face an uphill struggle over the next year as it competes for audience share with Sky and cable digital services, according to new research from BMRB.The figures show that only 9% of those without digital TV said they would be very interested in buying a £99 set-top box to receive Freeview next year.… Continue reading Only One In Ten Very Interested In Freeview
Despite weekend speculation regarding a dispute with a prominent creditor, Telewest is confident that it will complete its financial restructuring early in 2003.The indebted cable firm is currently negotiating a new £2 billion loan that will enable refinancing to take place. Telewest is planning to convert £3.5 million of its £5.3 billion debt to shares… Continue reading Telewest Positive On Restructuring Plan
The underlying rate of inflation rose to 2.8% last month, its highest level for more than four years, according to the latest figures from the Office Of National Statistics (ONS).It is understood that rising house prices helped push the figure above the Bank of England’s target rate of 2.5%.The headline rate of inflation, which includes… Continue reading Inflation Rises To Four Year High
UK publishing group, Highbury House Communications, this morning said that it is still on target to improve profits for the full year, despite the continuing poor conditions in the business advertising market. Nevertheless, profits are still likely to be ‘somewhat lower’ than current market forecasts. The consumer publishing division has continued to perform well in… Continue reading Highbury House Sees Some Profit Growth, But Below Expectations
After more than two years of investigations, the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) has concluded that BSkyB, whilst holding a dominant market position, has not been operating in breach of the competition law (see OFT Proposes Ruling Against BSkyB). Margin squeeze The OFT has been investigating complaints from rival pay-TV operators that Sky abuses its… Continue reading BSkyB Has Not Acted Anti-Competitively, Finds OFT
The media sector staged a dramatic recovery yesterday as the FTSE recovered from the eight days of losses, although volumes were thin as fund managers balanced the books in preparation for Christmas.ITV partners, Carlton and Granada, were in focus on reports that ITV1 faces the loss of yet more advertising share to Channel 5 and… Continue reading Sharewatch
The IPA is to set up a new policy group to tackle the issues surrounding sponsorship in the marketing and communications industry.The new group will be led by David Peters, head of sponsorship at Carat, who will work alongside 11 other members. He commented: “More and more clients are seeing sponsorship as a legitimate and… Continue reading IPA Sets Up New Sponsorship Policy Group
NTL has announced that it now has half a million residential broadband internet customers.The cable company launched the new 1-Megabit service earlier this year, claiming that a combination of a powerful cable modem and NTL’s fibre optic network make the service twenty times faster than a normal dial-up internet connection (see NTL Unveils UK’s Fastest… Continue reading NTL Reaches Half A Million Residential Broadband Users
NRS figures for the May to October period reveal a relatively positive period for national newspaper readership, which increased by 1.2 year on year.The most activity was seen in the broadsheet market, which appears to be flourishing despite the recent series of coverprice rises. The sector’s biggest increase was made by The Times, which was… Continue reading NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – October 2002
The BBC’s highly criticised foray into reality-TV, Fame Academy, has silenced its critics drawing a peak audience of 8.2 million for its two part Friday night final.According to the BBC, the final show was the second highest rated entertainment programme on BBC1, below Test The Nation, which gained 9 million viewers in March.The first half… Continue reading BBC’s Fame Academy Finishes On A High Note
