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Online content producers that believe users will pay for their content because of its intrinsic value are wrong, according to Making Content Pay, a new report by Forrester Research, released today. The research firm claims that the user’s experience of web-based content is complementary to other media, rather than as substitute to them. For this… Continue reading Users Will Not Pay For Most Online Content, Says Forrester

German pay-TV group, Kirch Media, is in discussions with the BBC and ITV to sell the broadcasting rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup competitions. Kirch owns the global broadcasting rights to the next two World Cup tournaments and will sell on these on a regiona by region basis. It has already reached an… Continue reading Kirch In Talks With BBC And ITV Over 2002/2006 World Cup Rights

Recent news-flow suggests that the telecoms sector is set to experience a raft of job cuts, as companies seek to reduce debt and costs and boost revenues. NTL Cable company, NTL, has cut its workforce from 23,200 in October last year to 18,500 in October 2001. Further cuts are planned to take the headcount down… Continue reading Flurry Of Job Losses Set For Telecoms Sector

As expected, radio and sport internet company TeamTalk has acquired an 80% stake in the Atlantic 252 radio station. The interest has been sold by pan-European broadcaster RTL, with the remaining 20% in Atlantic held by Irish state broadcaster RTE. The acquisition of the Atlantic stake, for £2 million, represents a considerable addition to Teamtalk’s… Continue reading TeamTalk Takes 80% Stake In Atlantic 252

BSkyB has reached an agreement with German media group, Kirch Pay-TV, not to exercise its rights to sell its minority stake in Kirch until 2003, according to a report in this morning’s Financial Times. BSkyB, owned ultimately by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, holds a 22% stake in Kirch. It has the right to sell this… Continue reading BSkyB To Hold Off Sale Of Kirch Stake, Say Reports

Dow Jones, the US publishing group which owns the Wall Street Journal, has reported Q3 financials slightly ahead of previously lowered figures, but warned that the final quarter could be down on estimates if the current market conditions continues, as is expected. The WSJ has seen its advertising revenues substantially knocked so far this year… Continue reading Tough Ad Market Continues To Hit Dow Jones

NBC, the US broadcasting network owned by General Electric, has agreed to buy Hispanic broadcaster Telemundo for $2.7 billion (£1.9 billion) in stock and cash. The deal gives NBC a good foot-holding in the fast-growing Spanish language market.

Rupert Murdoch has said that his media company, News Corporation, will lose £69 million as a result of the terrorist attacks in the United States. Speaking at the company’s annual meeting in Adelaide, Australia, he told shareholders: “Advertising is going through a very uncertain time. We have been in a recessionary period for the last… Continue reading News Corp Loses £69m Following Attacks

According to press reports this morning SMG has offered all of its employees voluntary redundancy as part of a cost-cutting exercise following a drop in profits for the first half of this year of over 30% (see SMG Profits Stung By Ad Slowdown). In order to avoid forced redundancies, SMG has given its employees until… Continue reading SMG Offers All Employees Voluntary Redundancy

After months of negotiation, global media group WPP has now announced that it is seeking the consent of the Takeover Panel to invoke the material adverse change condition in relation to its offer for Tempus Group (see WPP Poised To Make Counter Bid For Tempus) In a statement issued this morning, WPP said that it… Continue reading WPP Seeks Escape From Tempus Deal