Sky Television has secured exclusive television rights for all of West Ham United’s European matches, including – should they qualify – the UEFA Cup. This coverage will include the Inter-Toto Cup, the qualifier for UEFA. The deal with West Ham augments Sky Sports’ offering of English clubs in Europe for the 1999-2000 season. The other… Continue reading Newsline Brief
Following trade speculation, United News & Media (UNM) has confirmed that it is in discussions with business magazine publisher, VNU, over the possible sale of CMP Worldwide Media (Europe).A deal would mean disposing of the UK and France interests of the IT publishing group so that UNM can concentrate on the US operations of CMP.… Continue reading UNM Confirms Possible CMP Sale To VNU
Dixons has today set the price of shares in internet service provider (ISP) Freeserve (see Dixons To Float One Fifth Of Freeserve) at between 130p and 150p. This values the hugely successful free Net access service at between £1.31 billion and £1.51 billion, significantly below some forecasts. Dixons has floated 18.25% of Freeserve and trading… Continue reading Float Values Freeserve At Up To £1.5bn
Radio group, GWR, has set up a new division called Now Digital which will bid for a series of regional and local digital radio multiplexes throughout the UK.Now Digital will initially target areas in which GWR already has a radio presence, starting with the licence for Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford, advertised by the Radio Authority… Continue reading GWR Forms Regional Digital Radio Unit
Carlton and Granada, joint owners of ONdigital, both suffered drops in their share prices despite the announcement yesterday by ONdigital that it had more than doubled its number of subscribers since March (see Newsline). Granada fell 16˝p to 646p, and Carlton Communications dropped back 13˝p to 556˝p.Digital TV competitor BSkyB fell just ˝p to 594˝p.The… Continue reading Sharewatch
The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations (IFABC) is to introduce a pan-European ABC certificate for titles published in a number of continental markets. The idea is that titles which are currently audited by a number of different European ABCs will be able to report them on a single combined certificate. The new certificate… Continue reading European Magazines To Receive Pan-European Circulation Audit
Telewest has appointed Chris Townsend as director of interactive services. He will oversee Telewest’s interactive programming and other services. BSkyB is to launch its new Sky Sports Extra service on Sky Digital at the start of the new football season, which will give viewers the chance to see games from different angles. Geordie Greig is… Continue reading Newsline Brief
The Electronic Telegraph has signed up with NTL to be included of the cable company’s interactive television service which launched at the end of March (see NTL Interactive Launch On Schedule). The online version of the Daily Telegraph will offer NTL viewers daily news, sports coverage as well as features and comment.From July the Electronic… Continue reading Electronic Telegraph Joins NTL’s Interactive TV
Global communications company Cordiant Communications has released a trading statement this week following its annual general meeting. It confirmed a strong financial performance in its first whole year as an independent company. Cordiant split from Saatchi & Saatchi towards the end of 1997 (see Newsline).In the first five months of 1999, the group reported a… Continue reading Cordiant Reports Positive Finances In First Independent Year
ITV’s latest attempt at situation comedy has got off to an impressive start, despite the critical mauling it received: 9.8 million people tuned in to watch the first episode of Barbara. It will be interesting to see if the show can maintain these figures considering the fairly negative reviews it has so far attracted in… Continue reading TV Viewing Summary W/E 27/06/99
