More Uncategorised articles

A private equity consortium headed by the US group Providence Equity Partners could make a £7.5 billion bid for Virgin Media.A report in yesterday’s Observer said that the consortium is considering whether to take advantage of Virgin Media’s current share price of £24.Providence Partners is apparently in talks with its partners Blackstone, KKR and Cinven… Continue reading Consortium Could Bid For Virgin Media

Virgin Media has rebuffed Sky’s attempts to end the channel carriage dispute after James Murdoch, BSkyB CEO, wrote to Steve Burch, chief executive of Virgin Media, suggesting that the companies “meet in the middle”.In a letter released by Sky, dated May 10, Murdoch said: “The speedy return of Sky One, Sky News, Sky Sports News… Continue reading Virgin/Sky Channel Dispute Continues

Five has announced the launch of a new primetime TV quiz programme, which will transmit on weekday nights from Tuesday 29 May at 6.30pm.Produced by Two Four Productions and hosted by radio star Colin Murray, Payday will give eight players the chance of winning one of their fellow contestants’ annual salaries.“What excites me about Payday… Continue reading Five Launches New Weekday Quiz Format

Channel 4 Radio has become the first radio station to launch in the online virtual world of Second Life.The move see the station gain access to the estimated 6 million members of the online population, with Channel 4 Radio providing its own dedicated Second Life radio show, reporting on day-to-day developments.Subscribers will also be able… Continue reading Channel 4 Radio Launches in Second Life

Each week, MediaTel INSIGHT brings NewsLine readers a round-up of the latest news from the City affecting the media industry.This week saw Emap chief executive Tom Maloney quit the group with immediate effect, leading some to speculate that the company could soon be subject to a bid approach (Full Story).ITV also came under the spotlight… Continue reading Media In The City

Virgin Media could have access to an extra four million homes not currently served by its cable network, after the company signed a four-year agreement with Cable & Wireless to extend its services beyond its cable network over broadband telephone lines.The move could double the company’s potential market in the United Kingdom as Cable &… Continue reading Virgin Media Could Expand Its Reach By Four Million Homes

Five has snapped up the rights to long-running soap Neighbours, after the BBC decided not to pay the programme’s distributor, FremantleMedia, £300 million for the eight-year deal.The Aussie institution, which spawned the careers of the likes of Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce, has been with the corporation for more than 20 years, but will from… Continue reading Five Takes Neighbours From BBC One For £300m

The National Readership Survey (NRS) is to begin an experimental programme to produce UK audience figures for publishers’ websites.NRS says that if successful, this initiative means that the survey will be able to provide audience estimates and demographic profile data on the cross-platform reach of approximately 70 newspapers and magazines.The programme will attempt to estimate… Continue reading NRS To Produce Readership Figures For Publishers’ Websites

A third of British teenagers have at least four social networking profiles on sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, according to research conducted by Q Research for MediaGuardian.co.uk.The survey of 11 to 20-year olds showed that more than 90% of UK teenagers have used a social networking website and more than half use them… Continue reading Social Networking Sites Appeal To 90% Of British Teens

Emap’s Heat magazine is launching its website next Tuesday aiming to give its readers the latest celebrity news combined with the most up-to-date web 2.0 offerings.The new website, heatworld.com, will combine interactive blogs and user profiles along with many other interactive elements.The launch of the website will give Heat a digital presence across radio, internet… Continue reading Heat Gets Online Presence