United News & Media has acquired Two-Ten Communications from the Press Association. The sale is believed to be worth £17 million, and Two-Ten, the UK based distributor of corporate news releases, will be combined with United’s New York based PR Newswire (PRN) distribution service.Ian Capps, chief executive at PRN, is confident that the alliance of… Continue reading United News & Media Buys Two-Ten News Provider
The Scottish Media Group (SMG) has announced the acquisition of UK cinema advertising contractor, Pearl & Dean, for £22.2 million. SMG purchased Pearl & Dean from French cinema ad company Mediavision (45.1%) and private investors (53.5%). The further 1.4% will be retained by Circuit A, another of France’s cinema advertising companies.Pearl & Dean has more… Continue reading SMG Acquires Pearl & Dean For £22m
Reed International’s second profit warning of the year (see Online Competition Forces Second Profit Warning From Reed), and the third in six months, yesterday caused its shares to fall 5.7% (27˝p) to close at 453˝p. The company is still without a chief executive and this is thought to be one reason for its floundering performance.Yesterday’s… Continue reading Sharewatch
Freeserve, the free internet service provider (ISP) provided by Dixons, is joining forces with publisher Haymarket to create a special Freeserve series of Haymarket’s new monthly magazine, The Net, due out on 18 June (see Newsline).The Net In Association With Freeserve will be be for sale in Dixons, Currys, The Link, PC World and Jakarta… Continue reading Freeserve Joins Haymarket In Internet Mag Launch
ITV’s promise of uninterrupted films in the new evening schedule has been branded inaccurate by the Independent Television Commission (ITC). The TV watchdog received 23 three complaints, including one from rival broadcaster BSkyB, that ITV’s series of promotions, which claimed uninterrupted films, was misleading.ITV argued that in the context of the highly publicised move of… Continue reading ITV Pulled Up Over ‘Uninterrupted’ Films Promise
The telephony and cable company NTL has invested £40 million in the launch of a new brand identity and ad campaign.The campaign will run for the next ten weeks on terrestrial and satellite TV, national and regional press and radio and regional poster sites. The creative work was put together by JWT and carries the… Continue reading NTL ‘Tames Technology’ In New £40m Ad Campaign
The offer of free set-top boxes has failed to create a significant demand for digital television, as around 50% of people are either not interested in converting to digital at all, or do not intend to do so within the next three years. These are the findings of the latest Digital TV Monitor survey produced… Continue reading Digital TV Offers Still Leave Many Cold
More people feel that there is too much sex on television this year than last year, and the amount of violence portrayed on TV is still the principle concern amongst audiences. The Broadcasting Standards Commission’s (BSC) annual monitoring of public opinion, out today, shows that the number of people who feel that there is too… Continue reading Public Concerned Over Increase Of Sex On TV
Reed International, the London listed arm of Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier, released its second profit warning of the year today, predicting that this year’s profits may be substantially lower than those achieved in 1998 (see Newsline).Reed, which publishes New Scientist and Computer Weekly, revealed that it has been hit hard in the online business information… Continue reading Online Competition Forces Second Profit Warning From Reed
According to Digital One, the GWR/NTL-run national digital radio group (see Digital One Advertises Three Channel Tenders), a raft of major media and radio companies have applied to run the country’s first national digital radio stations. The national digital service is scheduled to launch in the last quarter of 1999; the closing date for application… Continue reading Major Media Companies Show Interest In National Digital Radio
