A strong month for ITV and a poor one for Channel 4 in terms of impacts. All audience categories are up for ITV, particularly Housewives/Children, rising by 17.9%. The strong performance of the Network is the result of the new ITV evening schedule, minus News At Ten, which was unveiled on 8 March (see First… Continue reading TV Round-Up – March 1999
Haymarket Business Publications has acquired Internet Business for an undisclosed sum from its independent publisher. The editor of the title, Tim Wilson, will retain his position. Cable & Wireless Communications’ brand director John Aarons is leaving the company on 14 June. He departs amid reports that CWC is in preliminary merger talks with Telewest (see… Continue reading Newsline Brief
It is rumoured that within the next couple of weeks, Virgin will announce plans to sell videos and CDs, via the internet, for a lower price than its High Street Megastore shops.According to industry sources, Richard Branson’s VirginNet website will offer CDs and videos for a cheaper price than the stores. A spokesperson for VirginNet… Continue reading Virgin May Undercut High Street Stores With Online Sales
Newsquest has dismissed rumours that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), the US venture capital group, was planning to sell its 36% stake in the regional publisher. The publisher is valued at £900 million. Caroline McDevitt, Chief Executive of BARB, has appointed Tony Wearn as director of research. He replaces Bill Meredith who retires this month. The… Continue reading Newsline Brief
Manchester United’s European Champions League game against Juventus in Turin last night drew in over 13 million viewers for ITV.According to early live overnight figures from the Network Centre, a peak audience of 13.2 million viewers tuned in to the game, giving ITV an audience share of 53% at that time. The match attracted an… Continue reading Man Utd Victory Gives ITV 48% Viewing Share
Capital Radio sustained a 37p drop in its share price yesterday, closing at 772p. Emap on the other hand showed a strong rise of 31p, climbing to 1,314p. Emap and Capital Radio’s joint venture, CE Digital, has submitted bids for a number of local digital radio multiplexes (see Newsline).Both Cable & Wireless and CWC made… Continue reading Sharewatch
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has announced plans to launch the UK’s first ‘flat rate’ internet service. Called Connect, the package, which is due for launch on 1 June, combines internet access and telephone charges. Each subscription also offers five free email addresses and 20Mb of web space.Connect 12, which is the cheapest package at… Continue reading Cable & Wireless Announces First ‘Flat Rate’ Internet Service
The Competition Commission has written to the two regional newspaper publishers interested in buying the Mirror Group and has raised questions about their ability to manage national newspapers. Trinity International and Regional Independent Media (RIM) have both submitted bids for Mirror Group, but these were rejected by Mirror’s board as ‘inadequate’ (see Mirror Group Swiftly… Continue reading Competition Commission Questions Mirror Group Suitors
Digital cable television, due for launch later this year, is expected to win up to 555,000 subscribers by March 2000 according to The Digital Update figures published by BMRB International. Cable & Wireless Communications, NTL and Telewest are all due to launch their digital cable television services later this year (see Newsline), and these uptake… Continue reading BMRB Predicts Over Half A Million Digital Cable Subscribers In First Year
Following an announcement by OFTEL and the ITC that they have set up a joint consultation on the bundling of television and telephony services by cable operators (see Newsline), the share prices of cable telecoms companies fell substantially by the close of trading yesterday. Cable & Wireless Communications lost 31˝p from its share price, dropping… Continue reading Sharewatch
