Despite weekend speculation regarding a dispute with a prominent creditor, Telewest is confident that it will complete its financial restructuring early in 2003.The indebted cable firm is currently negotiating a new £2 billion loan that will enable refinancing to take place. Telewest is planning to convert £3.5 million of its £5.3 billion debt to shares… Continue reading Telewest Positive On Restructuring Plan
The underlying rate of inflation rose to 2.8% last month, its highest level for more than four years, according to the latest figures from the Office Of National Statistics (ONS).It is understood that rising house prices helped push the figure above the Bank of England’s target rate of 2.5%.The headline rate of inflation, which includes… Continue reading Inflation Rises To Four Year High
The ITC has suspended a TV ad for alco-pop WKD on the grounds that it may encourage the teasing and bullying of effeminate men.The ad takes place in a changing room and features a group of football players laughing at a man who they have tricked into standing in an effeminate fashion.The ITC received a… Continue reading ITC Rulings Suggest Increasing Homophobia In Ads
Week on week analysis of the media sector paints a rather grey picture, with stocks falling across the board following the FTSE 100 under the key 4,000 level. Bearish sentiment was compounded by investors’ unwillingness to stake major positions before the Christmas break.Cable & Wireless saw the sector’s most significant loss, down 47.90% week on… Continue reading Sharewatch
The IPA is to set up a new policy group to tackle the issues surrounding sponsorship in the marketing and communications industry.The new group will be led by David Peters, head of sponsorship at Carat, who will work alongside 11 other members. He commented: “More and more clients are seeing sponsorship as a legitimate and… Continue reading IPA Sets Up New Sponsorship Policy Group
NTL has announced that it now has half a million residential broadband internet customers.The cable company launched the new 1-Megabit service earlier this year, claiming that a combination of a powerful cable modem and NTL’s fibre optic network make the service twenty times faster than a normal dial-up internet connection (see NTL Unveils UK’s Fastest… Continue reading NTL Reaches Half A Million Residential Broadband Users
NRS figures for the May to October period reveal a relatively positive period for national newspaper readership, which increased by 1.2 year on year.The most activity was seen in the broadsheet market, which appears to be flourishing despite the recent series of coverprice rises. The sector’s biggest increase was made by The Times, which was… Continue reading NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – October 2002
The BBC’s highly criticised foray into reality-TV, Fame Academy, has silenced its critics drawing a peak audience of 8.2 million for its two part Friday night final.According to the BBC, the final show was the second highest rated entertainment programme on BBC1, below Test The Nation, which gained 9 million viewers in March.The first half… Continue reading BBC’s Fame Academy Finishes On A High Note
Joe Sinyor, chief executive of Trinity Mirror’s newspaper division, is believed to be stepping down following the appointment of Sly Bailey as chief executive of the group last week (see Bailey Leaves IPC To Replace Graf At Trinity Mirror).According to a report in the Sunday Times, Sinyor, who has been at Trinity Mirror for two… Continue reading Sinyor Rumoured To Be Departing Trinity Mirror
The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Ad Size Committee has introduced a range of new larger sized formats as part of its initiative to simplify the planning and buying process.The Ad Size Committee, whose members include MSN, AOL Time Warner and Yahoo, has created the new larger ad sizes, in order to provide more choice for… Continue reading IAB Promotes New Large Ad Formats
