Scottish Media Group (SMG) has given up on its plans to move into video publishing through the acquisition of VCI (see SMG Makes £31m Offer For VCI Video Publisher), and has sold its 26.4% stake in the company to rival bidder, Kingfisher (see Battle For VCI Mounts).SMG originally made an 80p per share takeover offer… Continue reading Scottish Media Surrenders VCI Bid
Channel 5’s coverage of the European Championships qualifier between Luxembourg and England last night was watched by an average of 5.31 million people, with a peak audience between 9pm and 9:15pm of 6.13 million, according to unofficial overnight terrestrial viewing data.This figure is the highest audience that Channel 5 has received since it came on… Continue reading England v Luxembourg Gives C5 Record Audience
Following IPC Magazine’s acquisition of Link House Media yesterday (see Newsline), IPC’s chief executive, Mike Matthew, has announced some senior management changes at Link House Magazines.Link House managing director, Peter Cosgrove, is to depart, and Simon Owen, of IPC’s Country and Leisure Group, becomes general manager.Mike Matthew commented on the restructure: “Link House joins the… Continue reading Restructuring At IPC’s Link House
Hopes of further cuts in interest rates have been raised after it emerged that the keenest advocate of high rates at the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee switched his vote to demand a cut in September.Minutes of last month’s meeting, where rates were frozen at 7.5%, showed that while the MPC voted 7-2 in… Continue reading Bank Hardliner’s Switch Raises Interest Rate Cut Hopes
Sky Digital’s Pub Channel, planning to launch later this year, is currently in discussions with advertisers to offer in-pub promotions that link-up with the channel’s content. One of these ideas is to offer scratchcards to pub customers which will promote new drinks and brands.Around 40,000 UK pubs (56%) currently subscribe to BSkyB in order to… Continue reading Sky’s Pub Channel To Offer Promotional Advertising
Ericsson has launched ‘Internet Advertiser’, which it claims is the industry’s first intelligent network application that distributes targeted advertisements and guarantees that adverts are viewed by internet users.With Internet Advertiser, internet service providers (ISPs) can provide free or low cost internet access to subscribers while generating increased revenue from advertisers, says Ericsson. The system allows… Continue reading Ericsson Launches Internet Ad Targeting
Male television viewers show little curiosity about characters’ motivations for violence in films and TV programmes and are inclined to be dismissive about violent acts, according to new research from the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC).The report includes an analysis of the reaction of men and women to the portrayal of domestic violence on television. It… Continue reading Men Inclined To Be Dismissive About TV Violence, Finds BSC
Granada yesterday sold its 6.5% stake in BSkyB, its main rival in the digital television battle. Granada sold its chunk of the group directly to BT Alex Brown, the investment bank, for £429 million.BT Alex Brown are understood to have bought Granada’s BskyB shares for 400p each, and sold them on for 404p to a… Continue reading Granada Sells Stake In BSkyB
The first website for The Annual London Film Festival is to be produced by The Guardian. Already live at www.lff.org.uk, the site is intended to help festival-goers to navigate their way around all of the films featured at the festival, and will expand until the festival starts on 5 November.The site will deliver interviews by… Continue reading The Guardian Puts London Film Festival Online
Worldwide market research company, Taylor Nelson Sofres, has bought video research specialists Media Vision Research (MVR). TNSofres currently operates the BARB TV viewing measurement research, which is the basis for MVR’s VideoTrak data.Nic Lewisohn, MVR’s UK and Ireland director, said: “The video and its related industries will now benefit from one of the world’s largest… Continue reading Taylor Nelson Buys Video Research Group
