UK cinema admissions reached 13.3 million in October, representing a 4.2% increase on the same month last year. Ticket sales were boosted largely due to the success of the Blair Witch Project which contributed to cinema’s best ever weekend, the 29-31 October, when the film opened. Total sales for this weekend clocked up £13 million;… Continue reading Blair Witch Project Boosts Cinema Admissions For October
Kelvin MacKenzie, chief executive of Talk Radio, has once again attack the BBC over its funding by the licence fee. Giving evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s investigation of future BBC funding, he said that the BBC’s operations should be privatised in the same way that other industries have seen once-nationalised business… Continue reading Newsline Brief
Satellite broadcaster BSkyB has secured a foothold in the growing German pay-TV market by taking a near £1 billion stake in the country’s leading subscription broadcaster, Kirch.Sky is to pay DM2.9 million (£930 million) for a 24% stake in KirchPayTV. The deal between Kirch and BSkyB follows months of discussions which were stalled, over the… Continue reading BSkyB Moves Into German Pay-TV Market
Following its AGM yesterday, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has decided on the new members for its Council. Competition for places on the Council was strong this year, particularly in the business press sector where nine candidates competed for just three seats (see Publishers Vie For Place On ABC Council). Similarly, the three regional… Continue reading ABC Announces New Council Members
Channel 5 has signed a £12.6 million deal with Warner Brother International Television securing exclusive rights to the terrestrial premieres of the studio’s 1999 film output. The contract is a boost for Channel 5, which has agreed with the Independent Television Commission (ITC), as part of its licence, to show a feature film every evening.Warner’s… Continue reading C5 Takes Exclusive Warner Films Terrestrial Rights For £12.6m
The world’s largest market research company, ACNielsen Corporation, has acquired Media Monitoring Services (MMS), a provider advertising measurement services in the UK, for an undisclosed sum.MMS, a privately held company, offers comprehensive coverage of the UK’s advertising industry. It tracks advertising activity, spending and creative content across the print, television, radio, direct mail, cinema and… Continue reading ACNielsen Acquires Media Monitoring Services
BSkyB has won the rights to broadcast the Ryder Cup golf tournament for the next four years, or two competitions. The deal will be a blow to the BBC which is understood to be hoping to win back sports rights under new director-general Greg Dyke. Sky took the live broadcasting rights to Cup away from… Continue reading Sky Extends Ryder Cup Contract By Three Years
The latest figures released by the National Readership Survey (NRS) this week show a continuing slight overall decline in the readership of national titles. The whole sector dropped back by 0.5% year on year for the six months to October 1999.Contributing to the decline in readers were the two Express papers, down by 12.8% and… Continue reading National Newspaper NRS Round-Up – October 1999
The shake-up in the world of ITV, caused by Carlton and United News & Media’s proposed £7.8 billion merger (see Media Merger May Hit Regulatory Obstacles), is continuing to have an effect of media companies’ stock this week. Granada, which has effectively been left out in the cold by the merger, strengthened 13˝p to 528˝p… Continue reading Sharewatch
The latest figures released by the National Readership Survey (NRS) this week show a continuing slight overall decline in the readership of national titles. The whole sector dropped back by 0.5% year on year for the six months to October 1999.Contributing to the decline in readers were the two Express papers, down by 12.8% and… Continue reading National Newspaper NRS Round-Up – October 1999
