Ofcom has announced new measures to strengthen viewer protection in participation TV, introducing new mandatory licence conditions for television broadcasters.The new measures come after a host of phone-in scandals rocked the industry, with the watchdog handing out massive fines to Channel 4 (see Ofcom Fines Channel 4 £1.5m Over Phone In Quizzes) and GMTV (see… Continue reading Ofcom Announces New Licence Conditions For TV Phone-Ins

This week will see Sky launch its appeal against the Competition Commission’s ruling forcing it to reduce its 17.9% stake in ITV to under 7.5%. The news comes three weeks after business secretary John Hutton followed the Competition Commission’s recommendation, leaving Sky until next Monday to lodge an appeal (see Sky Told To Reduce ITV… Continue reading Sky To Launch ITV Stake Appeal This Week

Havas chairman Vincent Bolloré is understood to be preparing a takeover bid of rival Aegis. According to a report in Campaign, Havas sources predict that Aegis, the parent company of Carat, Vizeum and the market research company Synovate, will be under Bolloré’s control by the end of the year. It is expected that if Bolloré… Continue reading Vincent Bolloré Could Make Aegis Bid

Last week was jam-packed with city news, as Microsoft announced that it was making a bid for Yahoo! and the government decided that Sky must reduce its stake in ITV.On Friday it was revealed that Microsoft had launched a $44.6 billion takeover bid to buy Yahoo!, saying that it is confident of delivering up to… Continue reading Media In The City: Microsoft Makes Move On Yahoo!

The takeover watchdog has given Global Radio five weeks to decide whether to make a second bid for GCap Media. The Takeover Panel has given Global until 5pm on March 5 to indicate a firm intention to make a bid for GCap or it will have to wait another six months. The panel said that… Continue reading Global Radio Gets Five Week Deadline For New GCap Bid

The Competition Commission has recommended that Sky be forced to sell down its 17.9% stake in ITV to under 7.5%.The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform today published the 163 page Competition Commission report, which found that the acquisition could be “expected to operate against the public interest”.The Competition Commission said that there are… Continue reading Competition Commission Recommends Sky Sell Down ITV Stake

IPC Ignite is launching an NME radio station next year in a major strategic partnership with multimedia music company DX Media.The new station will be available from mid-2008 on various national digital broadcast platforms, and to users of NME.COM.It will broadcast from new DX Media studios at the NME HQ, the Blue Fin Building, Southwark.NME… Continue reading NME To Launch Radio Station

ITV has made a submission to the Competition Commission arguing that BSkyB should be made to divest its 17.9% stake to address issues of “material influence”.The broadcaster’s submission is part of an ongoing consultation which is due to be completed by early December when the Commission hands over a full report to the secretary of… Continue reading ITV Wants Total Divestment Of Sky Stake

ITV’s submission to the Competition Commission asks that BSkyB is forced to dispose of its entire 17.9% stake, as it gives the satellite broadcaster a “material influence” in ITV’s plans for future investments. According to ITV’s submission, the “only remedy” to the problem of Sky’s influence over its own decisions on future investments is the… Continue reading ITV Wants Sky To Dispose Of Its 17.9% Stake

ITV’s programming woes are not a direct result of the Contract Rights Renewal mechanism, but rather a lack of investment in the 1990s, according to Jim Marshall, chairman of Starcom Mediavest Group, who was speaking at MediaTel Group’s ‘Future of Television’ seminar in London yesterday.“The company spent a decade sorting out the business of the… Continue reading Panellists Show Little Sympathy For ITV’s CRR Woes