French entrepreneur Vincent Bollore has increased his stake in Aegis to “close to 9%”, further fuelling industry speculation that he will enter the bidding for overall control of the firm.Bollore, chairman of rival agency Havas told a French news conference: “Maybe Aegis will be a long-term shareholding one day, but for the moment it is… Continue reading Bollore Raises Aegis Stake To 9%

Future has announced that trading for the second half of 2005 has continued at levels below expectations, with the specialist magazine publisher attributing the demise to newsstand weakness in the UK and France, combined with a higher level of new product development expenditure.According to its trading statement, total group turnover for the 11 months to… Continue reading Future Reveals Trading Below Expectations

Over 60% of advertisements in regional newspapers and 68% in popular magazines fail to comply with new advertising regulations, according to a review carried out across the UK by the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT).The nationwide review found a poor rate of compliance with the Consumer Credit Advertisements Regulations, with most of the breaches concerned… Continue reading Adverts Fail To Comply With Industry Standards

GCap Media has revealed a number of changes concerning the structure of its management, with commercial director Linda Smith, and operations director Paul Davis both leaving the company while Duncan George, operations director now assumes responsibility for all operational aspects of the business, including content and commercial areas.According to the group’s trading statement, published this… Continue reading Smith And Davis Leave GCap Media

Mobile phone handset providers are finding it increasingly hard to up their market share, with penetration of the market rising at an alarming rate and forcing vendors and operators to look towards new features and supported services to rekindle growth over the next five years.In its new report, Informa Telecoms & Media predicts handset sales… Continue reading Increasing Mobile Phone Penetration Causing Providers To Deepen Content

Text message usage in August continued to advance with gusto, extending July’s groundbreaking trend as a total of 87 million text messages were sent on average per day, according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA).The MDA revealed that the number of text messages sent in August topped 2.7 billion, with the… Continue reading Text Messages Break Records In August

Media group, Emap, has revealed a positive trading update for the first half of 2005, predicting radio revenues will “outperform” the market, enjoying an increase of 2% year on year, reflecting the group’s strong presence in the digital arena.Total revenues for the first six months of 2005 are expected to grow by 5%, with underlying… Continue reading Emap Radio Revenues To Outperform Market

Johnston Press has announced the acquisition of two regional newspaper businesses in Northern Ireland, adding Local Press Limited and Leinster Leader Limited to its publishing portfolio.The two companies bring a combined total of 18 publications into the fold, with Local Press bought for £65 million and Leinster Leader for £138.6 million.In a statement to the… Continue reading Johnston Extends Reach In Northern Ireland

Freeview penetration is predicted to overtake BSkyB as the UK’s leading digital television platform by 2010, with research from media consultancy Spectrum Strategy forecasting the platform to enjoy a healthy performance over the coming years.The latest figures for digital adoption in the UK, published by Ofcom yesterday, reveal that 63% of UK households have some… Continue reading Freeview To Overtake Sky By 2010

Digital penetration in the UK has reached 63% of all UK households, up from 61.9% at the end of the first quarter of 2005, according to Ofcom’s latest Digital Television Update.The report shows that by June 30 2005, the total number of digital TV households in Britain rose by almost 298,000, reaching 15.7 million, with… Continue reading Digital TV Reaches 63% Of UK Households