Sharewatch: ITV Falters Despite Several Big Deals

Few media stocks broke the 1% increase barrier yesterday, with many seeing a decline in share price. ITV suffered badly, slipping by 3.12% to 124źp as the company moves to secure several high profile deals and aquisitions.

The broadcaster has announced continuing rights to Formula 1 racing as well as the acquisition of the ITV News Channel earlier this month, buying NTL’s 35% stake to gain complete control of the station (see ITV Gains Complete Ownership Of News Channel).

Radio giant Chrysalis also dipped yesterday, falling by 1.14% to rest at 216p. Yesterday the company announced that its London-based speech station, LBC 97.3 FM, would be promoted by an £800,000 television campaign in reaction to a recent flurry of marketing activity from its rivals (see LBC Gears Up For Breakfast Battle With Ferrari Promotion).

Telewest remained characteristically steady, sticking at 1˝p as the beleagured cable operator unveiled a cut price digital TV package to tempt customers away from Sky. Telewest hopes its offering of the most popular entertainment channels, dubbed Essential TV, will appeal to those with less time, or with no desire for Sky’s niche market channels (see Telewest Tunes In To Cut Price Digital Television).

The FTSE 100 closed down 1.1% yesterday at 4,524.5 while the FTSE 250 dipped by the 0.8%, resting at 6,311.3.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were:

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