The national press market continued to decline during 2000 with overall circulation down 1.3% and readership slipping 5.5%. The popular papers were the worst affected by circulation falls while quality titles took the brunt of the fall in readership.Popular Sunday papers suffered the worst circulation falls over the year, losing 3.4% of average annual sales… Continue reading National Press Market Round-Up – 2000
Penetration of broadband services reached 26.5% by October 2000, up 1.4 percentage points. The year was marked by a period of consolidation within the industry as the field was narrowed to just two contenders: NTL and Telewest Communications.NTL’s £8bn merger with Cable & Wireless Communications (see NTL Spends £8.2bn On Cable & Wireless Communications) was… Continue reading Annual Cable & Satellite Round-Up – 2000
Channel 4 has revealed its schedule line-up for the Spring and Summer. Last summer’s success story, Big Brother, will be hard to match, and as expected the series is returning with a new set of housemates ready to bare all in the quest for fame and fortune. Among other programmes set to reappear during the… Continue reading Channel 4 Includes Big Brother 2 In Spring/Summer Line-Up
Confidence in TMT stocks took a dive once again yesterday, with the majority of media stocks falling in value. Reuters was particularly affected by concerns about the US economy and ended down £1.05 at £8.27.Johnston Press turned in healthy full year results yesterday (see Johnston Press Reports Pre-Tax Profit Up 20%), but investors were unmoved,… Continue reading Sharewatch
Regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press yesterday reported better than expected year-end financial results and offered an optimistic outlook for the coming year (see City News). This goes against the current trend of profits warnings and an advertising downturn. The Times commended the management of Johnston for the ‘sensible and limited’ way in which it has… Continue reading Johnston Press Financial Results – Reaction
SMG has increased its interest in Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) once again, this time acquiring a further 150,600 shares in the company – equivalent to a 0.5% stake. The £2.3 million deal values SRH shares at 1,495p and takes SMG’s holding to 28.5%.
Adam Singer, chief executive of cable company Telewest Communications, this morning described events in the last twelve months as the business equivalent of ‘changing jobs, getting married and giving birth all in one year.’ He was referring to Telewest’s move from analogue to digital, the merger with Flextech and the roll-out of its unmetered high-speed… Continue reading Telewest Chief Sees Rosy Future Despite £701m Losses
ABN Amro has downgraded its recommendation of European broadcaster RTL from Hold to Reduce this morning, following the release of the group’s year-end financials results (see RTL Says 2001 Earnings Will Be Flat In Current Ad Climate). The broker says: “For the first time a European broadcaster has admitted that there will be no H2… Continue reading ABN Downgrades RTL
New figures from market research group AC Nielsen show that Germany’s advertising expenditure in February was 8.8% lower than the previous year. January was 1.4% down and gross television revenues were 4.7% lower than 2000, according to an analysis of the figures by ABN Amro. The fall is mainly due to lower spend from the… Continue reading Germany Experiences Ad Downturn
International media group Independent News & Media (INM) has this morning reported a pre-tax profit increase of 13% to €155 million for 2000. This is slightly below most analysts’ expectations and has caused the shares to drop during trading today. Executive chairman Anthony O’Reilly said that it is too early in the year to make… Continue reading Independent Reports Positive Results, But Below Expectations
