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The advertising market will remain flat this year according to Pearson finance director John Makinson. Speaking in a conference call following the announcement of Pearson preliminary 2001 results Makinson said “We are not seeing any deterioration in the advertising climate, but also there’s been no recovery. We are making plans based on a flat advertising… Continue reading Ad Market In 2002 Will Be ‘Flat’ Says Pearson

Pan-European broadcaster, RTL Group, has this morning become the latest in a growing series of media companies to indicate that advertising market conditions will continue to be tough for at least the next six months. Earnings at the group fell by 35% to Eur361 million before restructuring costs are accounted for and by 50.3% to… Continue reading RTL Falls Into Red, Channel 5 Revenues Down 9.0%

Telewest Communications has signed up more than 107,000 broadband internet customers – representing an annual growth of 1,135%, the cable operator announced this morning. At this point last year Telewest was selling 380 broadband connections a day on average; now it is shifting 900 per day. This shows a burgeoning interest from UK consumers in… Continue reading Telewest Signs Up 107,000 Broadband Internet Customers, Losses Deepen

UK IT spending dropped 6.2% in 2001 from ₏54 billion to ?50 billion, a smaller drop than in most other European countries, according to a new brief by Forrester Research. Europe-wide, IT expenditure will dip to 0.7% growth in 2002 and flatten out to 7% annual growth in 2004 because of slow population growth, years… Continue reading UK IT Spending Drops 6.2% In 2001

Carlton Communications chairman Michael Green, today told the company’s AGM that the advertising market remains weak and that he is unable to predict with any uncertainty the timing of a resumption in growth. Nevertheless, Green reassured that Carlton is well-positioned to benefit from a recovery in demand for advertising, when it does transpire. ITV revenues… Continue reading ITV Revenues Predicted To Be 12% Down In Five Months To February

The Boards of Carlton Communications and Granada last night said that a “fundamental restructuring of ITV Digital’s cost base must be concluded as a matter of urgency in order to secure the long term future of the business.” The financial viability of the troubled digital terrestrial business has been the subject of speculation for some… Continue reading ITV Digital Requires ‘Urgent Fundamental Restructuring’ Say Owners

Cable operator NTL and satellite TV group BSkyB yesterday criticised the Office of Fair Trading for its lengthy process in electing not to make a decision about a programming deal between the two groups, opting instead to simply close the file. The proposal from Sky and NTL was to allow the wholesale of premium content… Continue reading Pay-TV Groups Disappointed With Sluggish OFT

Trinity Mirror, the UK’s largest newspaper group, has warned that difficult advertising conditions are set to continue throughout this year, although the company is expecting a strong underlying performance. Pre-tax profit at the company rose by 0.9% to £155.5 million, whilst turnover increased by 4.8% to £1.1 billion for the year ended 30 December 2001.… Continue reading Trinity Mirror Results Beat Expectations, Mirror Relaunch Announced

Combined revenue generated by the ‘big three’ US television – ABC, CBS and NBC – networks dropped more than 10% in 2001 – the largest annual loss in network history, according to a Hollywood Reporter story published today. Quoting the Broadcasting Cable Financial Management Association, the site says that this decline is a further indication… Continue reading ‘Big Three’ US TV Networks Suffer Record Revenue Falls

Major UK media players, Carlton Communications and Granada Media, have announced that discussions regarding a possible merger have been terminated. Any potential merging of the interests of the two major ITV shareholders would have been dependent on an anticipated change in current legislation which limits the percentage of advertising share which can be controlled by… Continue reading Carlton And Granada End Merger Talks