Newsquest’s acquisition of two Yorkshire-based advertising freesheets from Adscene drove shares up by 30p to close at 397˝p. Newsquest released its annual financial results on Monday this week (see Newsquest ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ For 1999). Share in Adscene remained static at 154˝p.The announcement that Granada is to buy an 18.6% stake in Scottish Media Group from… Continue reading Sharewatch
The Television Corporation, the production company behind all Channel 5’s sports coverage, is set for rapid growth after winning a succession of large contracts in 1998.The company’s biggest coup of the year was landing the contract to produce the England Test match and NatWest trophy cricket for Channel 4, which analysts estimate to be worth… Continue reading Cricket Coup Boosts TV Corporation
The Guardian has today announced the details of its spring revamp, promising, amongst other things, increased sports and business coverage in the main broadsheet newspaper. There is also to be an increase in colour throughout the paper.The changes, which begin on Monday 19 April, will see the G2 tabloid supplement published on Fridays, as well… Continue reading Guardian Reveals Spring Changes
Granada is set to take an 18.6% stake in Scottish Media Group (SMG) off the hands of Mirror Group for approximately £110 million. The deal is conditional upon agreement from Mirror Group shareholders at its Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 March.Mirror said it wished to dispose of the holding, described as a non-core asset, earlier… Continue reading Granada To Buy Mirror’s Scottish Media Stake
Telewest Communications strengthened yesterday, closing up by 16p at 253˝p. The telecommunications company this morning announced that it is offering Senior Discount Notes to institutional buyers in the US, in order to raise £300 million to reduce amounts drawn under the company’s credit facilities.Despite some positive financial results and outlook (see Newsquest ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ For… Continue reading Sharewatch
Following a number of warnings in recent months (see Satellite Channel Licence May Be Revoked), the Independent Television Commission (ITC) yesterday issued a suspension order to Kurdish satellite TV station, Med TV, which runs for a period of 21 days.The announcement led to protests outside the ITC’s offices as well as negative reaction from Kurdish… Continue reading ITC Suspension Of Med TV Prompts Protests
A survey by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, on behalf of Marketing magazine, has found that over half of UK businesses believe that a ‘corporate style’ brand is needed for Britain in order for the country to gain more recognition. However, 44% of those companies that believe this are unwilling to pay a business levy… Continue reading Newsline Brief
Inflation has fallen below the Government’s target of 2.5% to 2.4% in February according to figures from the Office for National Statistics released this morning. Inflation has been steady at 2.6% for the last two months.The fall is expected to raise hopes of a further cut in interest rates by the Bank of England when… Continue reading Inflation Down To 2.4%
BSkyB has expanded the transmission space available on its Astra satellite through two ten year contracts with SES, the satellite operating company. The deals give Sky six additional transponders on its current Astra 2A satellite along with 3 more transponders on the upcoming Astra 2B satellite.This means that BSkyB is able to augment its digital… Continue reading Sky Makes Space For More Digital Channels
The BBC’s spring and summer schedule, released yesterday, signals the Corporation’s capitulation in the battle with ITV for high ratings. Perhaps the recent strong performance of ITV during peak time (see Goldeneye Nets 52% Share For ITV), since the Network dropped the News At Ten, has led the BBC to rethink its position in the… Continue reading BBC Surrenders In The ITV Ratings Battle
