BSkyB has announced that it has acquired a 49% stake in Music Choice Europe with a view to providing music audio channels across its digital platform.Sky Music Choice will offer subscribers as many as 60 channels of music, 24 hours a day. The channels will contain neither DJs nor commercials as is Music Choice Europe’s… Continue reading BSkyB Plans Sky Music Choice Audio Channels
Only 36% of people knew what digital TV was, according to a new survey by Pace, the manufacturer of digital set-top boxes.Unsurprisingly, the group most familiar with the concept were males under the age of 55 and from the higher socio economic groups. Women (25% compared with 48% of men) and people over the age… Continue reading Digital TV Awareness Low, Report Finds
Former Tory MP Matthew Carrington and former Express Newspapers research and development director Iain McLellan have been appointed as the new heads of the Outdoor Advertising Association (OAA).Carrington, the new OAA chairman, was MP for Fulham from 1987 to 1998 and served on the Treasury Select Committee from 1994 to 1996. McLellan, the OAA’s new… Continue reading Outdoor Advertising Association Appoints Heads
Myatt McFarlane, publisher of titles such as Fun For Kids and Classic American , has bought Home & Life magazine from XL Communications, the company which went into receivership last week (subscribers see XL Calls In The Receivers).It is, as yet, unclear what the future of XL’s other titles will be, which include trade journals… Continue reading Home & Life Magazine Bought
POSTAR, the research body for the advertising industry, has developed a planning tool for use by advertising agencies. It will be available through Telmar, which will also provide training and back-up to agency users.The planner includes the pre-campaign planning and contractor summary sections of the full POSTAR system, designed to help agency planners compare the… Continue reading POSTAR Develops Planning Tool
The agreed takeover of Home Counties Newspaper Holdings by Johnston Press has been blocked by the Government.Nigel Griffiths, Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs, said he would not give his consent to the £52 million deal without a report from the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC).The proposed deal was unveiled in December (subscribers see Johnston… Continue reading Johnston’s Agreed Newspaper Takeover Blocked
This six monthly period saw Somerfield Magazine enjoy an impressive first July – December audit as its main rivals all suffered losses. Indeed Good Housekeeping lost over 30,000 buyers, whilst percentage wise House Beautiful slipped 8% and World of Interiors dropped 5%. Title Jul 96 – Dec 96 Jul 97 – Dec 97 Actual Change… Continue reading July – December 1997 – Home Interest Magazine Sector
The biggest developments in the music magazine sector year on year perhaps surprisingly fell in the ‘teeny-bopper’ area of Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops magazines. Both of these titles showed a dramatic circulation increase compared with ABC figures from July-Dec 1996.ABC Comparisons, Jul-Dec 1996 – Jul-Dec 1997 Title Jul 96 – Dec 96… Continue reading July-December 1997: Music Sector
The latest ABC figures show that only two titles in the women’s weeklies sector have improved their circulation year on year and the sector as a whole has actually shown a year on year drop of 355,206. Title Jul 96 – Dec 96 Jul 97 – Dec 97 Actual Change % Change OK Magazine… Continue reading July – December 1997 ABCs – Women’s Weeklies Sector
Some sports sector titles audit their circulations yearly, whilst the rest are six monthly. Looking firstly at the yearly audits (the periods Jan-Dec 1996 to Jan-Dec 1997), the biggest change is a large drop in circulation for Coarse Angling. This title lost just over 17% of its circulation year on year, taking its figure to… Continue reading July-December 1997 ABCs – General Sport
