Sharewatch: BSkyB Sees Rise As Schedules Cleaned Up

BSkyB was seen in focus yesterday with a good day’s trading pushing the broadcaster’s share price up by 1.38% to close at 477˝p. Sky One recently unveiled its autumn schedule with a focus on ‘distinctive, high quality and high concept’ programming in an attempt to clean up its image (see Sky One Cleans Up Schedule In Bid For More Viewers).

The move echoes that of terrestrial broadcaster, Five, which recently moved to strip its peak-time schedules of all soft-core pornographic content in order to distance itself from its downmarket image and attract a more discerning class of viewer (see Lygo Strips Channel Five Of All Adult Content).

Meanwhile, regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press also enjoyed positive growth yesterday rising by 1.07 to finish at 518˝p, as the company announced an impressive 16% rise in pre-tax profit for the first six months of this year, spurred by greater than expected advertising revenue (see Profits At Johnston Press Fuelled By Ad Revenue).

Radio operator UBC suffered the day’s largest dip, dropping by 3.33% to close at 21žp. The group is understood to be in talks with Channel 4 to launch a national, speech-based, digital radio station sometime next year, competing directly with BBC Radio Four (see Channel 4 Plans To Launch National Talk Radio Station).

The FTSE 100 endured a second day of relative stagnation yesterday, rising by less than 0.1% to 4,411.6, while the FTSE 250 fell slightly to close at 6,036.3.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were: