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The merger of Carlton Communications and Granada into a single ITV group is unlikely to receive regulatory approval with a combined sales house, according to Lehman Brothers. After analysing the OFT’s submission to the DTI, the broker believes that the two companies will struggle to get their merger plans passed without any conciliatory adjustments. In… Continue reading ITV Merger Unlikely With Combined Sales House, Says Lehman Brothers

Global communications network, Aegis Group, has acquired the media buying assets of North American agency, Independent Media Services (IMS), for $7.4 million, the group announced this morning. IMS is a media buying agency which specialises in representing clients in the entertainment sector, specifically in motion pictures, television, cable television, newspapers and the arts. Aegis says… Continue reading Aegis Acquires IMS Media Buying Agency

Gannett, the international media group has reported a small increase in earnings for the first quarter of 2003 but admitted that the war in Iraq had precipitated a slowdown in adspend. The company, which publishes 100 daily newspapers in the US, including USA Today, and owns Newsquest Media Sales in the UK, said yesterday that… Continue reading Gannett Revenues Rise But War Casts A Shadow

Reuters today reported a 10% fall in underlying first quarter earnings as it seeks to recover from a disastrous 2002. The financial information group said that core revenues slipped to £670 million in the first three months of 2003. Pre-tax losses approached £500 million last year (see Reuters Chief Sees No Signs Of Recovery As… Continue reading Bleak Outlook Persists For Reuters

The Wireless Group has reported a 74.8% reduction in operating losses, which were £2.3 million in 2002, down from £9.1 million a year earlier. In its year-end financial results released today, the radio group’s chairman, Kelvin MacKenzie, says that he is expecting to meet the break-even target “despite some of the worst markets the industry… Continue reading Wireless Group Cuts Losses Despite Poor Markets

Channel 4’s director of programming, Tim Gardam, has called on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), to give the station a slice of the £2.5 billion the BBC makes from licence fee revenues. According to the Guardian, Gardam told the Royal Institute for British Architects that he was not arguing for the instant… Continue reading Channel 4 Calls For Slice Of BBC Licence Fee

News Corporation is to sell its 45% share in the New Zealand publisher, Independent Newspapers Limited (INL), in a deal worth £420 million. INL has said that its publishing assets which include the Dominion Post in Wellington and The Press in Christchurch will pass to the Australian newspaper company, John Fairfax Holdings. The deal will… Continue reading News Corp Offloads New Zealand Publications

UK marketing budgets were on average revised downwards in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest edition of the IPA‘s Bellwether Report, released this morning. The survey of UK marketers found that 18.2% planned to increase their budgets, 61.3% expected to leave them the same and 20.4% are revising them downwards. This… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Bellwether Sees Weakest Advertising Outlook Yet

BSkyB is expected to add 137,000 digital satellite subscribers in the third quarter of its financial year, with steady growth momentum continuing, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch. The broker describes Sky as a ‘haven of growth’ in an otherwise uncertain media sector and remains positive on the satellite group’s outlook. However, Merrill says that… Continue reading BSkyB Is ‘Haven Of Growth’ In Uncertain Media Sector

Rupert Murdoch has finally fulfilled his ambition to break into the US satellite market by agreeing a deal to take control of the television company, DirecTV. The mogul’s media enterprise, News Corporation announced last night that it had negotiated a $6.6 billion package with General Motors, which currently owns the broadcaster. Under the terms of… Continue reading Murdoch Seals Acquisition Of DirecTV