According to ITC audience share figures released today, Channel 5’s audience share stands at an average of 3.2% for the 12 month period ended 31 March 1998. This compares to only 2.3% average for the 12 month period ended 31 December 1997 – only three months earlier.For the same two reporting periods BBC1 fell from… Continue reading C5 Sees Audience Share Growth
BSkyB today announced interim financial results which revealed a 5.5% fall in pre-tax profits to £203.3 million. This was caused by a slowdown in subscriber growth along with the cost of launching its digital services and the Premier League football contract. In the first three months of the year only 2,500 new dish customers were… Continue reading Profits Fall At BSkyB
The MRG has announced the results of the elections for its Committee members for 1998/9. The following people were elected or re-elected: MRG Chair Belinda Beeftink, Telmar Membership Denise Gardiner, Leo Burnett Evening Meetings/MRG Mailings Hugh Johnson, Channel 4 Education Rosemary Taylor, Rosemary Taylor & Associates Social Sophie Mallick, Carlton Television Website Alison Mayersbeth, J… Continue reading MRG Committee Election Results
A new report by brokers Merrill Lynch predicts that the overall penetration of digital pay TV will rise from 24.7% in 1997 to 49% in 2005. Of this cable companies are likely to be the leaders with a predicted penetration of 21.5%, compared with 19.5% for DTH (direct to home, ie. satellite) and 8.25% for… Continue reading Merrill Lynch Predicts pay TV Penetration Will Reach 49% By 2005
BBC Online is the most popular UK internet content site, according to the latest figures from ABC //electronic. For the period from 1 March – 31 March BBC Online received 21.222 million page impressions from 902,274 individual users.The News site, part of BBC Online, received 8.823 million impressions from 615,435 users whilst beeb@the BBC recorded… Continue reading BBC Online Records 21 Million Impressions
Internet service provider Demon Internet has been bought by Scottish Telecom, a subsidiary of ScottishPower, for £66 million.Latest estimates suggest that Demon is the fourth largest UK internet service provider, with around 130,000 subscribers. Compuserve is the largest with around 350,000 subscribers.http://www.scottishpower.co.uk
The sports-dedicated newspaper, Sport First, is to be published on Mondays as from 11 May, in addition to the original Sunday edition.Sport First, which launched on 15 March (see Sport First Set For Launch), is believed to have sold under its initial targets of 150,000 copies, although no official figures have been released by the… Continue reading Sport First To Publish Monday Edition
Colin Tough, editor-in-chief of IPC Magazines New Media, has been appointed to the position of New Media publishing director with immediate effect. In his new role Tough will retain his editor-in-chief responsibilities.Sylvia Auton, the board director responsible for New Media commented: “Colin has effectively been filling the publishing director role for some time and I… Continue reading New Head For IPC New Media
The Independent Television Commission has said that, while it welcomes the ITV Network Centre’s resolve to address its declining audience share without sacrificing quality and diversity, there still remains a lack of diversity within the peak-time schedule.Writing in its 1997 Annual Report and Annual Performance Reviews, the ITC says that network drama, whilst often of… Continue reading ITC Says ITV Could Do Better
Tuesday The ITC publishes its annual review, in which it will assess the performance of the UK commercial TV channels.March NRS figures are released.Wednesday BSkyB will be releasing quarter 3 financial results.Thursday Telewest Communications will be announcing first quarter results.The MRG Evening Meeting will be discussing the future of television in the digital environment, with… Continue reading The Week Ahead
