Telewest this morning announced that it would be buying up rival cable operator General Cable for an agreed £649 million. This will mean Telewest overtaking Cable & Wireless Communications as the UK’s largest cable operator.At present Telewest owns and operates 28 franchises which, along with stakes in other operators, means that its networks cover 4.4… Continue reading Telewest Buys General Cable For £649m
Overall viewing share is divided typically this week, with ITV taking 31.9% against BBC1’s 29.8%. Channel 4 (9.8%) and BBC2 (11.1%) still keep Channel 5 at bay with its share of 4.4%.Although Channel 5’s viewing share remains at more or less the same level as previous weeks, it has managed to get three programmes above… Continue reading TV Viewing Summary W/E 05/04/98
London News Radio has made a deal with Air Canada which will see the airline sponsoring the International Business Bulletin on News Direct 97.3FM. The aim is to target businessmen flying to Canada.The ident will be heard four times a day, introducing and closing the twice hourly business bulletins broadcast during drivetime.The deal was negotiated… Continue reading LNR Business Bulletin Teams Up With Air Canada
The Billetts Consultancy this week launched an outdoor evaluation tool called Outdoor Tracker to help advertisers overcome what it sees as the poor distribution practices of many poster contractors.Examples which Billetts identified included an instance where the same poster for a client had been run side by side on the same road, therefore reaching exactly… Continue reading Billetts Launches Outdoor Tracker
Fledgling media planning consultancy Unity has announced that it has won the planning account for Carphone Warehouse, which has an ad budget of around £14 million.The win adds weight to the argument, first espoused by Martin Sorrell, that specialisation is the way forward for the advertising industry (subscribers see MRG Conference Dublin 1997 – Opening… Continue reading Unity Wins Major Account
BSkyB has taken legal action against British Digital Broadcasting (BDB) over the extent of compatibility of the two companies’ set-top box receiver equipment. Sky is claiming that BDB has broken a contractual stipulation agreed when BSkyB was forced to leave the BDB consortium in June last year (subscribers see BSkyB Leaves The Alliance). BDB questions… Continue reading BSkyB Issues Writs Over BDB Set-Top Boxes
Future Publishing has announced that it will be relaunching its Total Bike! magazine from the May issue, which goes on sale tomorrow.The new-look magazine, which will have a new logo and increased pagination, will now include a range of lifestyle features. These will include items on health and fitness, star profiles, fashion, travel and each… Continue reading Future Relaunches Bike Magazine
A new pay-per-view film service service is being planned by St. James’ Investment Partnership and will run under the name of Digital Broadcasting Company (DBC). St. James is run by two former BSkyB executives, Richard Dunn and Richard Brooke; DBC is also part-funded by the venture capital group, MediaVentures.Planning to launch on the digital networks… Continue reading Digital Broadcasting Company Plans ‘Distinctive’ Movie Service
MindShare, the media company created by JWT and Ogilvy & Mather in September 1997 (subscribers see WPP Buy Buchanan And Create Mindshare), has announced that Simon Rees will be its new managing director. Rees is currently on gardening leave with TMD Carat where he is deputy managing director.MindShare is expected to officially open for business… Continue reading MindShare Appoints Managing Director
The ITC has announced that from 1 January 1999 ITV and Channel 4 will no longer be required to cross-promote each other’s programmes.The Commission said that the practice was open to question due to the phasing out of the Channel 4 funding formula, which will also end next year. All respondents to an earlier ITC… Continue reading ITV And C4 To End Cross-Promotions
