Granada Media’s director of online and interactive media, Julian Turner, is to join BBC Worldwide. He will move to the BBC’s commercial division to head its new e-commerce subsidiary, Beeb Ventures (see BBC Creates New Net Subsidiary, Ends “Free” Trials With WAP Platforms).Reporting to BBC Worldwide’s managing director, Drew Kaza, Turner will take up his… Continue reading Granada Media Loses Online Director To Beeb Venture
James Murdoch spoke out against the BBC during his Alternative MacTaggart speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival. Son of Rupert and CEO of Asia’s Star TV, he derided Greg Dyke’s insistence that the BBC was a “leading global player”.“Indeed, no one working in media outside of Britain regards the BBC as a competitor”, he said.… Continue reading James Murdoch Attacks BBC’s Global Ambitions
NTL’s autumn advertising campaign breaks today. Costing £20 million, it is designed to continue growth in brand and product awareness and drive sales of digital cable TV, telephony and internet services.The campaign will run across national terrestrial and national TV, national and regional press, regional radio, the internet and poster sites. With a burst of… Continue reading NTL Kicks Off £20m Autumn Advertising Drive
Germany’s KirchTV has announced the sale of its remaining 3.1% stake in BSkyB. The news that the operator of the Premiere World pay-tv platform in Germany and Austria has agreed to sell all of its remaining 58 million Sky shares sent prices in the satellite broadcaster plummeting.Kirch acquired a 4.3% stake in BSkyB earlier this… Continue reading Kirch Sells 3.1% Stake In BSkyB
Ecast Ventures, the new media arm of GWR Group, has announced that it has invested £1 million in Countyweb, a regional business directory and portal. The deal will forge a media partnership between the two, with GWR cross-promoting the group’s services on its radio stations, which include Classic FM.The investment will give Ecast Ventures a… Continue reading GWR Group Invests £1m In Countyweb
News that Kirch had sold its remaining 3% stake in BSkyB yesterday (see Kirch Sells 3.1% Stake In BSkyB) hit shares in the satellite broadcaster badly. They ended down 47p at £11.21, a fall of over 4%.There was better news for Telewest, whose shares have suffered recently thanks to issues including the set-top box shortage… Continue reading Sharewatch
ITV’s daytime schedule has been attacked by one of its major advertisers. Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Angus McIntosh, European media controller at Mars, said the network had become “stale” and unattractive to advertisers.The complaint was aired at a session at the festival entitled “Advertisers Heaven and Hell”, which sought opinions on what advertisers… Continue reading Advertisers Include Family Affairs And Daytime ITV In Their Idea Of “Hell”
NRS figures for the six month period ending July 2000 shows a continuing decline in newspaper readership. A 4.3% drop was seen overall, with more than half of all titles losing more than 2% of their readers.Despite its March revamp, readership of the Times continues to drop. Figures for July show a fall of 14.3%.… Continue reading National Newspaper NRS Round-Up – July 2000
Andy Mitchell, UK managing director of AltaVista, has resigned, following last week’s decision to put the company’s flat-rate internet access service on hold (see AltaVista Blames BT For Stalling On Free Internet Service).AltaVista was among the first companies to offer unmetered access to the internet in this country, and Mitchell was responsible for the service’s… Continue reading AltaVista MD Quits Over Free Internet Access Fiasco
ITV has commissioned two new UK-produced soaps from United and Carlton. Trafalgar Road will replace the teatime slot previously held by Home and Away, and Crossroads is to be revived as the centrepiece of ITV’s 2001 daytime schedule.Announcing the deals David Liddiment, director of programmes, said: “This is a major investment by ITV in original,… Continue reading ITV Revives Crossroads To Boost Flagging Daytime Schedule
