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By 2006, Germany will have overtaken the UK to become Europe’s most profitable digital pay-TV market, according to business information company, Datamonitor. The UK market was rated the most valuable in Europe last year, bringing in $3.5 billion in revenues. By contrast, the preponderance of free to air channels and licence free public funded channels… Continue reading Germany Set To Take Digital Crown

One of the best media share performers yesterday was radio group GWR which saw a 4.7% increase in share price to £2.45. Another good performer was Cable & Wireless, which, along with other telecoms shares, rose 7˝p to £1.79ź.Conversely, advertising giant WPP lost 27p or 4.86% to £5.28 following a downgrade. Negative movement was also… Continue reading Sharewatch

BSkyB has secured a £95m TV rights deal with the Football League to screen live matches from the Nationwide Football League and Worthington Cup.The four-year deal, which sees BSkyB picking up the pieces after the collapse of the League’s TV rights agreement with ITV Digital (see ITV Digital Dispute Goes Into Extra Time), will deliver… Continue reading BSkyB Helps Football League With £95m TV Rights Deal

UKbetting has acquired Sports.com’s betting arm for £670,000, taking its user base to more than 100,000.The acquisition of SCG Enterprises, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sports.com, is part of UKbetting’s aggressive expansion strategy and is intended to compliment the group’s existing online brands. The company’s customers will now be able to access betting… Continue reading UKbetting Acquires Sports.com’s Betting Arm

ITV has announced a sponsorship deal for its Tour de France coverage. Halfords is sponsoring programming on ITV1 and ITV2 on the event, which began at the weekend.Over 52 hours of live coverage and nightly highlights will go out on ITV2, while ITV1 will show four Monday night review programmes. The deal, negotiated by Carlton… Continue reading Halfords Sponsors ITV Tour de France Coverage

Channel 4 has strongly denied claims that the future of FilmFour and its digital entertainment channel E4 could be threatened by the ITC’s decision to award the digital terrestrial licences made available following the collapse of ITV Digital to the BBC and BSkyB (see NewsLine). However, today executives are believed to be meeting to decide… Continue reading Channel 4 Denies Future Of Pay TV Channels In Doubt

Despite expectations of the beginning of a recovery in advertising market conditions in the second half of the year, the outlook still remains decidedly unclear. A US mid-year media conference last month heard key players talk about the bottom of the recession, rather than the beginning of a period of genuinely strong growth. This assessment… Continue reading Insight Analysis: Media Healthcheck – June 2002

The successful bid by the BBC led coalition for the DTT licences formerly held by ITV Digital could mark a watershed in UK broadcasting, according to analysts at Lehman Brothers.The Independent Television Commission (ITC) last week awarded the available multiplex licences to the BBC, Crown Castle and BSkyB consortium. The three organisations are set to… Continue reading BBC/BSkyB To Reap Fruits Of DTT Victory, Says Lehman Brothers

Faster internet connections and lowering prices will not be enough to induce the widespread adoption of broadband services in the UK, says a new report from PPAinteractive. In the past month, BT, AOL and Telewest have all introduced new high-speed internet services and according to a recent report from Oftel (see Cheap UK Broadband Internet… Continue reading Broadband Providers Must Look Beyond Price, Says PPAi

Pace Micro Technology, the set-top box manufacturer, announced today that profits had fallen 70% year on year, reflecting a lack of growth in the digital TV market. Pre-tax profits, before one-off costs, for the year to June totalled £13.1 million, down from £44.3 million for the same period last year. Similarly, sales dropped by a… Continue reading Falling Profits Force Pace To Take Action