The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has decided not to recommend MAID’s takeover of Knight-Ridder to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.MAID will now push on with finalising the £261m deal (subscribers see Maid Acquisition To Go Ahead).MAID: 0171 930 6900
Canadian television company CanWest Global Communications has announced that its subsidiary CanWest International has increased its stake in Ulster TV by 2.7 per cent to 7.4 per cent. CanWest International says that it may increase its stake further in the future. Although CanWest cannot take control of Ulster TV outright due to UK ownership legislation,… Continue reading Canwest Increases Stake In Ulster TV
Finance company Merrill Lynch have projected that the launch of British Digital Broadcasting (BDB) and ITV2 will cut into Carlton Communications Plc ‘ profits for the next two years. Merrill Lynch predict that the launch of ITV2 will cost £20m in its first year, of which Carlton’s share will be around £7m. The cost of… Continue reading Launch Of Digital TV Will Hit Carlton’s Profits
The national newspaper market saw a year on year fall in sales of over 145,000 in the period April-September, which is a drop of 0.5%. The People experienced the largest drop, down 6.4% to 1.924 million while the Sunday Mirror was close behind with a fall of 6.3%. Among the top risers was the Sunday… Continue reading National Newspaper Summary – September ABCs
The Mirror is reported to be launching a new magazine on Saturday called The Look. It will include lifestyle features as well as TV listings and reviews. The Sunday Mirror‘s Personal magazine is also expected to unveil a new look at the weekend.Mirror Group: 0171 293 3000
BSkyB will be renaming its two movie channels and creating new on-screen idents for its other services as part of a major rebranding exercise. From November 1 the Movie Channel will become Sky Movies Screen 2 and Sky Movies changes to Sky Movies Screen 1.BSkyB: 0171 705 3000
The death of Princess Diana meant that there was a large increase in the number of newspapers sold in September as the nation craved news of the latest developments and reactions. Sales in the broadsheet market increased by over 506,000 to 6.19 million while the mid-market saw a rise of over 567,000 to 7.16 million.… Continue reading National Newspaper Round-Up – September
Saatchi & Saatchi has launched another Website presence. Devoted mainly to the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for Innovation in Communication, the site was put together by Saatchi & Saatchi Vision and AMX Digital. The Internet address is http://www.saatchi-saatchi.com.This is in addition to Saatchi & Saatchi’s Business Communications site at http://www.saatchibuscomm.com/index.html
The BBC ‘s 24 hour TV news service has received the OK from the Government to launch next month. As well as appearing on cable systems it will also broadcast overnight on BBC1. BBC News 24 will also launch on digital TV systems when these come on stream next year.The approval comes despite protests from… Continue reading BBC 24-Hour News Service Gets Go Ahead
ITV continue to perform well on the drama front this week, even though virtually all of their offerings come from the ‘yet another series of’ stable. Heartbeat just failed to pass Coronation Street for the top slot, whilst London’s Burning after one week’s absence returns to its regular position in the Top 10. The new… Continue reading TV Viewing Summary – W/E 28th September
