France Telecom last night agreed to acquire a 10% stake in UK cable and telecoms company NTL for $1 billion (£640 million). The backing by France Telecom offers NTL further leverage in its £8 billion merger discussions with rival UK cable company Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).If NTL’s bid for CWC were to succeed, France… Continue reading France Telecom Takes £640m Stake In NTL To Back CWC Bid
Trinity remains the largest of the UK’s regional newspaper publishing groups, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Society (NS). Johnston Press’ £266 million acquisition of Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers in June this year (see Johnston Wins Takeover Approval For Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers) pushed the group up from fifth to fourth place in… Continue reading Trinity Remains Top Of Regional Publishers League
Cable & Wireless jumped 16˝p yesterday to 816p, and CWC soared 23˝p to 720p. A full scale bidding war could well break out between NTL and Telewest for Cable & Wireless Communications. Yesterday, French Telecom invested $1 billion in a 10% stake in NTL, thus financing the potential bid by NTL for CWC’s assets (see… Continue reading Sharewatch
Deborah Bonello, assistant editor at Newsline for the last 12 months, is leaving the company this afternoon. Deborah has been top fun to work with and we all wish her the very best in her new job.Cheers and good luck, Dee….
US celebrity magazine, Globe, is to launch in the UK next Friday 23 June with an initial print run of 200,000. The weekly UK version, to be called The American Globe, will cover celebrity stories, interviews, gossip, scandals and crime stories.Advertising for the UK version of the magazine is being sold through the Publishing Constancy;… Continue reading US Celebrity Mag Launches In UK
Emap Metro has made three redundancies from the editorial team of its weekly entertainment title Heat. Martin Asteon, its music editor, is to go, as is Lisa Andrews – one of its news reporters. Phil Brooke from the subbing team is also to leave the magazine.Heat currently has a circulation of 65,000, but the publisher… Continue reading Staff Feel The Heat At Emap Metro
Carlton Online is losing its managing director, Carol Dukes, who is leaving the group to establish a new internet business of her own.Dukes, who has been with Carlton Online for 15 months, commented: “The start up phase of Carlton Online is complete. We’ve built a business with a strong team and award-winning websites. I now… Continue reading Carlton Online MD Departs To Start Internet Group
The Broadcasting Standards Commission’s (BSC) annual report, out this week, reveals that the number of complaints for the year ended March 1999 increased by 37%. Almost a quarter of these complaints were concerned with the portrayal of sex on television, a subject which an increasing number of people complained about last year.The first episode of… Continue reading Watershed To Remain At 9pm Despite Increased Complaints About Sex
News International (NI) chairman Les Hinton has appointed Alasdair MacLeod as the managing director of News International Digital Publishing (NIDP), the company’s internet and electronic media division. MacLeod is currently the general manager of Times Newspapers and takes up his new role next week.MacLeod’s responsibilities at NIDP will include the CurrantBun.com ISP, launched in March… Continue reading Times Newspapers Manager To Head NI Digital Publishing
Beck’s has resumed its sponsorship of drama output on Channel 4 (see Channel 4 And Beck’s Sign £2m Drama Sponsorship Deal) following a withdrawal from the £2 million deal in March this year. Beck’s pulled out of the deal whilst C4 was showing the hard-hitting gay drama series, Queer As Folk.The brewer’s decision to pull… Continue reading Becks Resumes Drama Sponsorship With Channel 4
