Week commencing 17th March 2008
 Virgin Media is to launch a TV channel next week based around
Arsenal Football Club - the latest move by the cable company to
bolster its sports offering.The new channel, Arsenal TV, will be
available from 18 March, free for subscribers to Virgin Media's
XL package and to subscribers of certain Setanta Sports packages.
The channel, which will air 5 days a week for 11 hours each day,
will feature delayed live coverage of all Arsenal fixtures. It will
also carry a nightly news programme, Arsenal Today, interviews with
Arsenal players and feature a fans forum, a live phone-in show hosted
by Tom Watt. Virgin Media's sports offering includes the Setanta
Sport and Sky Sports channels, along with Premiership highlights
on virginmedia.com. Soruce: Media Week
GMTV has launched a tool that users can
install on their desktops, which alerts them when items such as
news, gossip or online competitions have been posted on the breakfast
station's website. The service uses Elertz technology and has been
designed to attract more visitors to the GMTV website, especially
outside GMTV's transmission hours, which are between 6am and 9.25am.
The site hosts a mixture of news, fashion, advice, video clips,
competitions and user-generated content. The alerts service enables
users to opt-in to receive notification on their PC desktops within
30 seconds of new information becoming posted. Source: Brand Republic
 Sport magazine is preparing several changes to its format,
including an increase in pagination, as the woman credited with
launching the free weekly, Nadia Nardonnet, leaves the publisher.
Nardonnet left her role as managing director of Sport last week
after nearly three years with the French-owned title. The day-to
day running of the magazine will now be undertaken by publishing
director Greg Miall, who has taken over the managing director role
on a permanent basis. Her exit comes as Sport plans to increase
its pagination by at least 16 pages in future editions. The magazine
is upping the pagination of every issue from 48 pages to at least
64 pages, and, from 28 March, will reduce its page size from 310high
x 265wide, to 300high x 242wide. The reduction follows the title's
move to a new printing facility in Peterborough, which prints The
Economist and Time Out titles. Miall claims that the title has secured
new advertising from Sony, Vodafone and Magners, which last week
signed a two-page cover wrap sponsorship deal with the magazine.
Source: MediaWeek
The Sun is planning an extensive redesign
which will see it move closer in look to News International freesheet
thelondonpaper, according to a report. The Guardian reports that
the changes, which will be introduced over the next two months,
will include colour-coded sections and a more modern design. It
is understood that the Sun is planning to introduce its design changes
before the full-colour relaunch of Trinity Mirror's Daily Mirror.
The News International paper is currently in the process of showing
dummies of proposed design changes to media buying agencies, said
the Guardian, which the Mirror has not yet done. The Sun has already
redesigned the bylines for columnists including Jeremy Clarkson,
Lorraine Kelly and Ally Ross, and also the TV Biz page. The latest
ABC figures, for February 2008, show that the Sun added over 4,500
copies to its total year on year, with its final figure creeping
towards the 3.1 million mark. Meanwhile, the Mirror reported a downturn
of more than 4% to give it a circulation of a little over 1.5 million.
Source: Newsline
 GCap
Media has bought a majority stake in fledgling business listings
and reviews website WeLoveLocal.com for a total of £600,000.The
website's previous owners, Duncan and Max Jennings, have sold a
majority stake for £450,000 in cash. GCap will make further
payments of £150,000 over the coming weeks. WeLoveLocal.com
has been set up to help people find businesses in their area based
on reviews by other locals, and by sharing their own recommendations.
GCap plans to combine its online audience with its own network of
local radio stations, integrating listings into its Capital 95.8
and One Network sites. The acquisition comes as GCap continues talks
with suitor Global Radio, which has offered £370m to buy GCap.
GCap has until March 26 to make a decision over whether it will
accept Global Radio's offer -- if it rejects it, Global Radio will
be barred from making another bid for six months. Source: Brand
Republic
Communications regulator Ofcom has unveiled plans to auction
a large portion of radio spectrum for services such as mobile TV.
The provisional deadline for applications is 10 April, with the
auction likely to start at the end of April. Ofcom said the 1452-1492
MHz band, the so-called "L-Band", could potentially be
used for mobile multimedia services such as mobile TV, satellite
digital radio and wireless broadband. The regulator added that the
L-Band is part of a wider programme to release around 400 MHz of
prime spectrum in the coming years to the media industry. Ofcom
spectrum policy partner Philip Rutnam said the spectrum will provide
an opportunity for citizens and consumers to benefit from new services
and greater competition. Source: Media Week
 Avanti
Screenmedia, the digital out-of-home contractor, has extended
its contract to provide advertising in Spar convenience stores.
The deal extends Avanti's Spar contract for a further two years,
covering Spar stores owned by Tates, the largest site operator for
the retailer. The company, which operates around 200 stores in the
UK, is currently two years through a three-year deal with Avanti.
Today's deal will extend the contract until the end of 2011. The
news comes weeks after Avanti signed a deal with Bluewater, the
North Kent shopping mall, to replace its digital advertising media.
Avanti now has the rights to sell ads in 34 shopping malls across
the UK, offering advertisers a potential annual audience of 433
million consumers. Source: Media Week
Clear Channel Outdoor is gearing up for
what it labelled a period of "aggressive expansion", led
by plans to double its digital roadside presence. Barry Sayer, regional
president for the UK, Ireland and North Africa, said that one of
Clear Channel's expansion plans this year will be to install 10
additional digital roadside screens in May. It currently operates
eight roadside screens across the UK. Source: Media Week
 Yahoo has reaffirmed its opposition to Microsoft's takeover
attempts, unveiling plans to double revenues over the next three
years. Yahoo said its three-year plan would double operating cash
flow over the next three years from $1.9bn (£940m) to $3.7bn
(£1.8bn). The company said it "expects its growth to
outpace the currently anticipated market rate of growth in online
display/video advertising". The company also expects $1.4bn
(£692m), in added search revenue. The financial plan was first
presented to Yahoo's board of directors in December 2007, before
it received the unsolicited acquisition proposal by Microsoft. Chief
among its other plans, Yahoo plans to enhance its front online pages,
Yahoo.com and My Yahoo, as well as its search, mail and mobile services
to boost their user appeal. In addition, it plans the development
of a new ad platform designed to simplify online advertising buying
and selling, as well as improvements to the Panama search advertising
platform. Source: Media Week
Bebo plans to deliver targeted media to
users for the first time, which will then act as a basis for delivering
ads, following AOL's $850m (£424) takeover of the social network.
Bebo intends to use the array of targeting technologies housed within
AOL's Platform A unit to deliver relevant content from media owners
such as Sky, ITV and Channel 4 - three of the 400 media owners that
have signed up to Bebo's Open Social project.
Source: Brand Republic
 UK Box Office Chart:
1. 10,000 BC
2. Vantage Point
3. The Game Plan
4. The Other Boleyn Girl
5. The Bank Job
6. The Cottage
7. In Bruges (Ireland only)
8. The Accidental Husband
9. Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus
10. There Will Be Blood
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Edited by Pedro Martin's Media Team |
