Sharewatch: ITV Rises Ahead Of Annual General Meeting

Broadcasting giant ITV saw a good day’s trading on Friday with share price rising by 3.17% to 130p. Stocks may be hit later today, however, as shareholders are expected to vent their anger over a £15 million award to former ITV boss, Michael Green (see Green Relinquishes Roles As ITV Chairman Designate).

Green was ousted as chairman in October and shareholders will have the chance to voice predictably fierce opinions at the company’s first annual general meeting since the merger of Carlton and Granada earlier this year.

BSkyB also enjoyed a 1.26% boost to 684˝p following the company’s broadcast of an exclusive interview with David Beckham’s alleged mistress and former PA, Rebecca Loos (see NewsLine). The hour-long interview drew a peak of just over two million viewers, with an average of 1.65 million, the highest rating for any satellite channel in the same time slot.

Capital Radio saw a dip of 0.71% on Friday, falling to 490p, ahead of Johnny Vaughan’s debut as the group’s breakfast host on flagship London station, Capital FM. Vaughan replaces Chris Tarrant after a marathon 16 year stretch at the show’s helm with a regular audience pull of 1.5 million listeners (see Capital Pushes Vaughan With TV Ad Campaign).

The closing prices of media company shares on Friday were: