The UK cinema industry recently celebrated its most successful weekend ever, 29-31 October, when £13 million was taken in admissions over the three days. The unexpected success of The Blair Witch Project has greatly contributed to this figure, as has Star Wars: The Phantom Menace to cinema’s 1999 annual admissions, which look set to beat… Continue reading Feature: UK Cinema Industry
Investment bank Warburg Pincus is likely to be about to put a price tag on the 18% stake in Channel 5 which was put up for sale at the beginning of the month (see Warburg Pincus To Sell Stake In Channel 5). Channel 5’s existing shareholders – Pearson (24%), United News & Media (29%) and… Continue reading Warburg To Finalise Price For C5 Stake Sale
The first wave of audience data for viewing in Sky Digital television homes shows a substantial fall in viewing share for the main terrestrial channels. The figures, which are currently only available to BARB subscribers, show that share of viewing for both BBC1 and ITV is over 8% points lower in Sky Digital homes than… Continue reading Terrestrial Channels’ Share Falls Back In Digital Homes
ITV achieved top ratings for its live coverage of last night’s England V Scotland Euro 2000 qualifier. Estimated overnight figures show that the game attracted an average audience of 15.6 million which represents a 57% share of total viewing at that time. Viewing figures peaked at almost 18 million, according to the ITV Network.The ITV… Continue reading ITV Scores Top Ratings For England-Scotland Match
MediaTel’s second Media Question Time will take place on Monday 28 February 2000 at the Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House W1 from 6.00pm. The event was hugely well-received when first staged last year and MediaTel is currently assembling another high-calibre panel to take your questions from the floor.Chairing the event again will be the BBC media… Continue reading MediaTel To Hold Second Media Question Time Event
The launch of the UK’s first digital radio stations this week (see Digital Radio Launches In The UK) has pushed up shares in a number of radio groups. Capital Radio surged 55p (5.0%) to 1,152˝p; Chrysalis Radio closed up 40p at 955p and GWR, joint-owner of the Digital One national multiplex, finished up 37˝p (7.4%)… Continue reading Sharewatch
Hello! magazine has reached an out-of-court settlement with OK!, which has finally capitulated in the long-running circulation figures row between the two rivals. Dating back to October last year (see Battle Of The Gossips), the dispute began when Hello! claimed that OK! had distributed inaccurate estimates of its sales figures to advertisers and journalists. The… Continue reading Newsline Brief
Julian Hardy has quit as commerical director of IPC Electric after just three months in the role. It has been reported that he was expecting more from the position and was becoming frustrated by the increasing involvement of the division’s head René Carayol.IPC Electric was unveiled as the internet division of IPC Magazines in September… Continue reading Commercial Director Of IPC Electric Quits
The Carat Group has this week finalised its takeover of Scottish media agency, Feather Brooksbank, merging it with the Carat Manchester operation to form the UK’s largest regional media planning and buying firm. Carat has paid £7.5 million for Feather Brooksbank after several months of talks and denials that a merger was on the cards… Continue reading Carat Merger With Feather Brooksbank Creates UK’s Largest Regional Media Agency
Pay-TV group Flextech has signed a major carriage deal with Telewest Communications’ recently-launched digital television service, Active Digital (see Telewest Launches Digital Service). Under the deal, all of Flextech’s channels, including the UKTV portfolio, will be available on Active Digital.Flextech’s wholly-owned stations are Bravo, Trouble, Living and Challenge TV. UKTV, which is a joint venture… Continue reading Flextech And UKTV Sign Carriage Deal With Telewest Digital
