Sharewatch: BSkyB Dips Despite Talks With ESPN

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB saw a dip in share price yesterday, falling by 0.96% to 622p. The company is believed to be in negotiations with sports cable network ESPN about launching a special version of its 24-hour sports channel in the UK.

The new channel is believed to be a British version of ESPN Classic Sport, which replays famous footage from historic sporting events such as the football match between England and Germany at Wembley stadium in 2000. ESPN has also held discussions with cable operators, NTL and Telewest, but talks with BSkyB have progressed the furthest (see ESPN Could Launch Round The Clock Sports Channel).

Elsewhere Capital Radio also saw a slight decline, dipping by 1.57% to 440p ahead of the announcement that the broadcaster has created two senior positions to handle the marketing for its regional FM network outside of London. The company will also be developing its portfolio of Xfm, Choice FM and Capital Gold brands (see Capital Creates Two New Senior Marketing Roles).

ITV was similarly downbeat yesterday, losing 0.86% ahead of news today that the television giant has seen its audience share fall by 2.1% to 23.3% despite high profile programmes such as I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.

Growing momentum behind Government proposals to ban smoking in public places hit tobacco stocks hard yesterday, leading to a 1.1% tumble for the FTSE 100, which closed at 4,464.1. The FTSE 250 managed a minor increase of 0.3% to sit at 6277.9.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were: