Analysts Merrill Lynch downgraded Johnston Press yesterday, causing shares to fall 4p to £3.11. The group has today also reduced forecasts for both Granada Media and Carlton. Shares ended yesterday up 5p at £3.95 and up 8½ at £5.50 respectively.Pearson held an investor seminar in New York yesterday regarding its education business. It will run… Continue reading Sharewatch
Rosie Boycott has quit her position as editor of The Express after three years in the job, putting an end to the speculation about her possible departure that began with Richard Desmond’s surprise takeover of the Express Group newspapers last year (see Gossip And Girlie Publisher Takes On Express And Star). Her deputy editor, Chris… Continue reading Rosie Boycott Resigns From Express
25 January 2001 Luxembourg-based media group RTL has won permission from the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) to take a 20% stake in French radio group Sud Radio. The holding will be acquired from Sud Communications for €5.48 million (£3.46 million) and the transaction should be completed by the end of the month. RTL Group… Continue reading RTL Takes 20% Stake In France’s Sud Radio
Cable company NTL today said that its earnings will come in at £385 million this year and will rise to £825 million in 2002. At a Q4 operations presentation today, the group said that figures so far have been artificially low due to the cost of the acquisitions, consolidation and marketing that has been necessary… Continue reading NTL Is Beneficiary Of Recent Consolidation, Says Q4 Review
Programmes The month was marked by the run-up to Christmas as channels pulled out all the stops to produce a strong festive line-up. BBC1 continued its ratings war with rival ITV into the season of goodwill by announcing a winter programming budget of £158m, including a massive £42m for the two-week Christmas period.Its Christmas Day… Continue reading TV Viewing Round Up – December 2000
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) gave a wake-up call to one advertiser of an energy drink last week, but some critics say that it is the ASA that has been sleeping on the job for taking so long to challenge the claims made.The advertisements in question were published in the September of 1997 for Red… Continue reading ASA Drags Its Feet In Adjudicating On Wake-Up Drink Ads
BSkyB’s latest attempt to wrest the contract for ITV news provision from ITN has sparked an undignified war of words between the two groups. BSkyB announced yesterday that it was joining with two American and two UK broadcasters to form a consortium which would bid for the new contract beginning at the end of next… Continue reading Fighting Over News Moves To Fresh Battleground As Sky Consortium Eyes ITV Contract
RevenueAll but one of the terrestrial TV channels increased their December revenue year on year, according to agency estimates. The exception was GMTV, which dropped 10.7% compared to 1999, to £4.8m. The largest increase among the terrestrials was Channel 5, which went up 15% year on year to reach £16.3m. Its revenue is still dwarfed… Continue reading TV Market Round Up – December 2000
Talk of an imminent recession has filled the media trade press in recent weeks. AC Nielsen and the IPA disagreed over the extent of the slump but the message from all sides was the same: the next six months will be tough for the sector as a whole.Blame has been laid on excessive dotcom spend… Continue reading Feature: Media Sector Slumps After Unparalleled Year Of Deals
Yesterday the overnights from the first News at Ten head-to-head (see ITV And BBC1 Go Head To Head With Evening News) indicated that ITV had won this latest bout in the ratings war (see ITV Victorious In News At Ten Clash). ITV franchisees Carlton and Granada Media, which have been weakened recently by fears of… Continue reading Sharewatch
