BBC1’s decision to screen the film Seven as a spoiler against ITV’s Reckless, has ended with both programmes failing to attract more than 9 million viewers. Seven, which starred Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and a headless Gwyneth Paltrow, was watched by 8.7 million viewers. Over on ITV the conclusion of Reckless attracted 9 million people.Channel… Continue reading TV Viewing Summary W/E 11/10/98
Manchester United has hit back at the group of shareholders calling on City institutions to reject BSkyB’s offer for the football club. The media giant made the bid back in August, offering £625 million for the club (see Newsline)Campaigning group Shareholders United Against Murdoch (SUAM) urged investors to hold on to their shares as they… Continue reading BSkyB And Manchester United Create Controversy
Dennis Publishing’s Maxim has poached Chris Maillard, managing editor at Top Gear, to become the magazine’s new editor. Maillard will join next month, and fills the space left by previous editor, Nigel Ambrose, who left recently for ‘personal reasons’.In the latest set of consumer magazine ABCs, Maxim reported the strongest relative growth in the men’s… Continue reading Top Gear Editor Moves To Maxim
The ITC has decided that Channel One Liverpool and the Performance Channel should be exempted from the prohibition on minimum carriage requirements (MCRs) for the duration of their current contracts.In June the ITC removed MCRs for existing analogue cable and satellite channels by 1 January 2000, with the exception of those channels already restricting themselves… Continue reading Channel One And Performance Exempt From MCR Removal
ITV2, ITV’s digital network to be launched in December (see Newsline), has awarded a third of its programme commissions to independents. ITV are believed to be ‘furious’ at this decision – the group is footing the bill for the digital service and had hoped to maximise its commissions in order to recoup start-up costs. S4C… Continue reading Newsline Brief
BSkyB is planning to offer a slashed rate cable company ratecard in an attempt to encourage operators to buy more of its premium packages.Elizabeth Murdoch, managing director of Sky Networks, made the announcement at the European Cable Communications Conference this week. The Office Of Fair Trading is in the process of considering the new rate-card,… Continue reading Sky To Cooperate With Cable Companies
Gerald Kaufman, the chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, yesterday attacked ITV executives by claiming that plans to move the News At Ten are based on a ‘hope or hunch’ that it may yield more viewers.This criticism furthers Kaufman’s public opposition to ITV’s planned schedule re-shake (see ITV’s News At Ten Move… Continue reading News At Ten Move ‘Based On Hunch’, Says MP
In an attempt to make news ‘more attractive in the age of digital television and the internet’, news agency Reuters has developed an on-demand news service called NewsBreaker. The multi-media product has been designed specifically to work in a digital TV (DTV) and internet environment, making use of their interactive capabilities.Users will be able to… Continue reading Reuters Offers News-On-Demand To Digital TV
Politicians and other well-known public figures are to present Powerhouse, Channel 4’s new weekday political programme. The list of presenters includes Virginia Bottomley MP, Liz Forgan and (Lord) Roy Hattersley when the show returns next week.Powerhouse is broadcast every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 11:30am, and is made for Channel 4 by ITN. The presenter will… Continue reading Politicians To Run Powerhouse
David Arculus, chairman of IPC Magazines, yesterday told the PPA’s annual Magazine Subscriptions conference that subscriptions and an investment in effective database marketing are the future of magazine publishing. “They are an expensive investment, but we must treat them as a valuable asset to our industry,” he said.Arculus pointed out that the subscribers who make… Continue reading IPC Chairman Says Subscriptions And Databases Will Drive Magazine Growth
