BBC director general John Birt has expressed concern that the advent of digital and pay-per-view television will cause a massive divide in the television viewing population, with the UK’s national identity and culture being harmed. Birt, speaking at the European Tele-Visual Conference in Birmingham, commented: “we will see the emergence of the information rich and… Continue reading Birt Claims Risk Of Digital ‘Underclass’
Saatchi & Saatchi has announced that it will be appointing Ian Irvine as a non-executive director with effect from 1 May 1998. He is currently chairman of Capital Radio.Cordiant Communications meanwhile has appointed Dr Rolf Stomberg as a non-executive director. He retired from the main board of BP at the end of last year and… Continue reading Saatchi and Cordiant Announce New Directors
Scottish Media Group and BSkyB today announced that their jointly-owned Sky Scottish cable and satellite channel will be closing on 31 May. This is due to the channel not meeting the financial targets set when it launched in November 1996 (subscribers see STV Announces New Channel).It is expected that the close-down of Sky Scottish will… Continue reading Sky Scottish To Close
The Newspaper Society has put foward James Evans, chairman of Bristol United Press, to be the Society’s next vice-president. Subject to formal approval at the May AGM, he will succeed Charles Brims as president in 1999.James Evans is a former chairman of the Press Association and member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.Newspaper Society: 0171… Continue reading NS Proposes Next Vice-President
Broker Merrill Lynch has predicted that Capital Radio’s interim results will show an 8% increase in profits to £18.3 million. Earnings per share are expected to be up 16.4%. Merrill Lynch also predicts that Capital’s gross annual profit will reach £110.9 million by the year 2000.Radio advertising is predicted to be up 10% in the… Continue reading Capital Radio Interim Profits Predicted To Be £18.3m
Cable company Telewest Communications has been issued a formal warning from the Independent Television Commission (ITC) due to repeated failures in its compliance responsibilities for local advertisements (local avails).Contracts between a cable operator and programme supplier permit the cable company to insert local advertisements into the supplier’s programme signal. According to the ITC, in December… Continue reading ITC Warns Telewest Over Compliance Failures
United News & Media (UNM) has been granted an injunction to take the future British Digital Broadcasting (BDB) chief executive, Stephen Grabiner to court.UNM has been seeking to prevent Grabiner from working until his contract at UNM formally expires. He left the company for BDB at the beginning of the year.The injunction was granted at… Continue reading UNM To Take Grabiner To Court
The Independent Radio Group (IRG) has won a bid for a local commercial radio licence based in the Fife area. The station, Kingdom FM Radio, will play a mix of music from the 1960s to the 1990s with local news and content.The IRG holds a 20% stake in Kingdom FM.Radio Authority: 0171 430 2724
HTV West is unveiling a new logo today as part of its celebration of 30 years in broadcasting. The birthday celebrations are to include a retrospective look on the life of HTV television, which started broadcasting in 1958.In June 1997 HTV became part of United News & Media (UNM); UNM bought the regional broadcaster for… Continue reading New Logo To Mark HTV’s 30th Birthday
The Independent Television Commission’s (ITC) February 1998 Television Advertising Complaints bulletin has reported that the TV launch campaign by Computeract!ve magazine received complaints from 243 viewers.The ad showed a dog copulating with a man’s leg, apparently to allude to the ‘friendly’ nature of the magazine. Complainants felt that this was inappropriate imagery for television advertising,… Continue reading Computeractive Launch Ads Receive Over 200 Complaints
