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

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… Continue reading Panellists Show Little Sympathy For ITV’s CRR Woes

Stuart McDonald, head of advertising insight at News International, dissects last week’s NRS release for the free London papers, explaining why NI is not totally happy with their ‘second place’ result and why the company believes the NRS must change…Last week the NRS released the first readership figures for the free evening newspapers in London,… Continue reading NRS – In Second Place But Still Dabbling In Performance Enhancers

The Office of Fair Trading has announced that it is to conduct a review of the imposed contract rights renewal (CRR) on ITV.The review, to be conducted in partnership with Ofcom, is scheduled for early next year.The OFT said that further information will be published “when the review commences”.ITV responded to the news in a… Continue reading OFT To Conduct Review Of CRR

Aegis Group has reported a first-half pre-tax profit of £41.3 million, up 8.7% from £38 million a year earlier. The group also reported organic revenue growth of 9.6%, whilst its revenue was up 7.7% to £499 million. Aegis Media and its market research company Synovate both delivered revenue growth ahead of their markets, at 9.8%… Continue reading Aegis First-Half Profits Up

Vincent Bolloré, chairman of Havas, has increased his stake in Aegis, the UK media buying group, to almost 30%. Bolloré Group, Bolloré’s holding company, has increased its holding in Aegis from 29.15% to 29.86%, almost reaching the threshold where it would have to make a bid for the company. So far, Bolloré has made four… Continue reading Bolloré Increases Aegis Stake

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has begun an investigation into Virgin Media following claims that its broadband advertisements are misleading customers.The ‘Truth, Lies and Broadband’ campaign featuring ads in national newspapers, on radio and online, state that the cable company’s broadband is “delivered via a fibre optic cable – meaning that it is officially the… Continue reading ASA Investigates Virgin Media Ads

In May, a study carried out by StrategyOne for Motorola’s Connected Home Solutions Division revealed that almost half of Europe is now regularly watching TV over the internet. France emerged as the most enthusiastic nation for consuming video on demand, with 59% watching previews and episodes of their favourite shows over the web, while the… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Media Healthcheck – May 2007