The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has told ITV to move its Nightly News programme to an earlier slot after it “unanimously rejected” the network’s proposals to improve audience figures for its evening news output. The regulator told ITV it could not accept its suggestions for additional investment in the 9pm-11pm peaktime period unless it scheduled… Continue reading ITC Tells ITV To Bring Forward Nightly News
NTL is continuing its football buying spree with the purchase of internet rights for Football League games. In a joint venture with the league the cable group will create an internet portal for all 72 clubs who wish to participate.The group will pay rights fees of up to £65m over five years and will share… Continue reading NTL Bags Football League Net Rights
A secret new project at IPC Media has lured Tessa Hilton from her position as editor-at-large at Women & Home. The only detail revealed about the launch so far is that it will be aimed at the “older” women, an increasingly crowded market (see Feature: Middle Youth Sector Strains As Two More Titles Plan To… Continue reading Appointments Brief
The fashion press may create its own self-regulatory body to monitor images of thin women in magazines and newspapers and even stop advertisers placing copy which shows “unnatural” body shapes. The proposal came out of yesterday’s “Body Image Summit”, organised by Minister for Women Tessa Jowell. The Broadcasting Standards Commission has also offered to play… Continue reading Fash Mags To Ban Waifs Following Body Image Summit
England’s defeat at the hands of Romania was watched by a peak audience of 19.3m when the BBC broadcast it on Tuesday night. Unofficial overnight figures put the average total of individuals watching at 17.5m. Of these 8.7m were adult men and 6.7m adult women.Despite Tuesday’s being the match that decided whether England would make… Continue reading UK TV Audiences Top 17m During England Defeat
A year on from its stock market flotation, Future Network was in positive mood for its AGM yesterday, celebrating growth and unveiling coming launches (see Future Looks Bright A Year On From Float). The market seemed less convinced, however, and share prices fell 17½p to £7.85.The deadline for ITV to submit its proposals to the… Continue reading Sharewatch
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation today unveiled a new company to house its satellite television assets, which include BSkyB. Sky Global Networks will consolidate the group’s satellite TV interests in preparation for a float on the New York stock exchange.An initial public offering for the combined group is expected to be completed by the end of… Continue reading News Corp To Float Satellite TV Assets
Sky Homes has announced a further two agreements to provide council-owned flats with its digital satellite services. The arrangements with Manchester and Aberdeen local authorities come in addition to seven similar deals with other local authorities and 66 pilot scheme partnerships with housing associations and local authorities. These could give BSkyB the competitive edge in… Continue reading Sky Homes Announces Further Local Authority Deals
The BBC has been criticised by its Board of Governors for not producing a consistent level of quality of programming on its flagship channel, BBC One. The governors voiced their opinion in the corporation’s annual report, released today.While the board said that BBC One had “scaled new heights” with programmes such as Walking with Dinosaurs… Continue reading BBC Criticised By Governors In Annual Report
Saatchi & Saatchi did not reach its 500p merger price yesterday (see Publicis Buys Saatchi & Saatchi For £1.24bn), because a fall in the value of Publicis shares reduced the value of the offer, which was all-stock. Shares in Saatchi & Saatchi ended down 1½p at £4.19½.Daily Mail group, which recently offloaded its DMG radio… Continue reading Sharewatch
