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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has begun the formal review process of News Corporation’s proposed acquisition of the US satellite operator DirecTV. News Corp supremo Rupert Murdoch announced last month that a deal had been struck which would give his company a satellite foothold in the United States (see Murdoch Seals Acquisition Of DirecTV). The… Continue reading Murdoch Puts The Case For Sky America

UK magazine publisher, Highbury House Communications, says that trading in the first quarter of the year has been encouraging, with profits ahead of last year. The group says that the consumer portfolio is performing well, although difficult conditions remain in the business publishing market. However, a few business sectors have shown some improvement. Trading figures… Continue reading Highbury House Sees Encouraging Trading, Despite Iraq Glitch

Deals that see advertisers agreeing to commit a proportion of their budget to ITV in return for air-time discounts, could be banned by the Competition Commission if the proposed merger of Carlton and Granada is allowed to go ahead. The ban is one of a number of suggestions being put forward by the Commission, which… Continue reading Competition Commission May Ban ITV Share Deals

The widely anticipated consolidation of the commercial radio industry suffered a set-back this morning, with confirmation that the Competition Commission has blocked GWR’s bid to buy Chrysalis Radio’s Galaxy 101 and merge it with Vibe FM. GWR, which jointly owns Vibe Radio Services with Scottish Radio Holdings, announced its intention to buy the Bristol-based dance… Continue reading Watchdog Blocks GWR-Backed Acquisition Of Galaxy 101

Regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press continues to perform competently and is on target to achieve year-end targets, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch. The ‘modest’ growth seen in the first quarter (see Johnston Press Remains ‘Acquisitive’ As Profits Rise) has been maintained throughout April and May. Advertising revenue is up 2% in 2003, in line… Continue reading Advertising Upturn Helps Johnston To Prosper

Online retailer Lastminute.com yesterday reported its second successive quarterly loss as the war in Iraq and the SARS virus impacted on the travel industry. Although higher than envisaged, the deficit of £4.2 million (before goodwill, exceptional items and taxation) represented an improvement on the same period last year when losses totalled £5.3 million. Total transaction… Continue reading Losses Fail To Dent Confidence At Lastminute

Misfortune continues to stalk the corridors at Vivendi Universal, which yesterday reported a fall in sales for the first quarter of 2003. The once mighty media group recorded the biggest annual loss in French corporate history last year (see Vivendi Left Reeling By Staggering Losses) and has been forced to sell assets in order to… Continue reading Vivendi Sees Revenues Slide In Q1

The embryonic web services market is set to undergo significant expansion over the next five years, according to a new study from technology analysts IDC. The report, Western European Web Services Market Analysis, 2002-2007 details the forecast for spending on hardware, software and services used to implement web services projects in each of seven industries… Continue reading Web Services Spending Poised For Strong Growth

At a time of uncertainty in the general retail sector, online shopping sales rose by almost a half in the US last year and internet buying is becoming an increasingly profitable activity, according to a new report from Shop.org and Forrester Research. The State of Retailing Online 6.0 featured a survey of more than 130… Continue reading US Online Retail Revenues Near $100bn

Worldwide sales of wireless networking products increased slightly in the first three months of 2003, according to new figures from Dell’Oro Group. The market research firm calculates that the wireless LAN market grew by 1% quarter-on-quarter realising revenues of $411 million. Unit shipments rose 6% to 4.8 million during the period in question. The first… Continue reading Wireless Network Vendors See Growth In Q1