22nd July
From 2006, top European football matches will have to be shown on the internet at the
same time as they are televised live.
MediaCom View: UEFA are set to ensure that broadcasters showing live
Champions League games are obliged to broadcast games live across the internet. The experiment is designed
to placate broadcasters who fear their contracts will be diluted by online viewing.
ITV launches Autumn schedule in 50th year.
MediaCom View: Big-budget dramas are the focus for ITV this autumn
as they look to rejuvenate ITV1. Big names including Ray Winstone, Rik Mayall and Robert Carlyle, starring
in Class of 76, will look to secure large mainstream audiences, whilst the return of Celebrity Get Me
Out of Here and X-Factor will target the youth audiences. It remains to be seen whether the strategy will
be successful, but with new funds in the programming pot, the purchase of the second Harry Potter film
highlights ITVs desire to improve the performance of the jewel in their crown.
RTL Group is set to become the full owner of Five after striking a 247.6m deal to buy
the remaining 35.4% stake from United Business Media.
MediaCom View: The deal should be finalised in the Autumn, and Five
Chief Executive Jane Lighting welcomed the news as a massive vote of confidence from Fives biggest shareholder.
Both parties highlighted the need for complete partnership as they look to take Five forward in the future.
ABCs reveal another slump in newspaper sales.
MediaCom View : The outlook is looking increasingly bleak in the National
Press marketplace, with the majority of titles posting circulation decreases in the latest set of ABCs. Yet again,
the compacts seemed to be the only triumphant titles, with the Independent and Times circulations rising to 262,000
and 683,000 respectively. It is clear that publishers need to take drastic action if they are to survive this
downturn. The Guardian are the latest to jump on the bandwagon, with the Berliner size format launching in the Autumn.
Lord Heseltine, chairman of Haymarket Publishing, has urged publishers to show a united front.
MediaCom View : With the OFT saga drawing to a close, Lord Hestletine has
accentuated the need for publishers to stick together in a bid to turn the ruling around. Despite newspaper
distribution qualifying for exemption, changes to magazine distribution will have a knock-on effect on the whole
sector. Increased power will be placed in the hands of the supermarkets, and thus a significant number of smaller
retailers could be put out of business.
Research from Ipsos UK names the Financial Times and National Geographic magazine the
favourite reads of choice for Europe s spending elite.
MediaCom View : Participants in Europe 2005, a study of personal and
business lifestyles of 10 million high-earning individuals across 16 countries, voted National Geographic the
most widely read magazine for the sixth year running. The FT managed to hold onto the lead in the newspaper
market and The Economist won the battle of the weeklies. The survey, which also looks into the lifestyle of
these individuals, showed that readers enjoyed a luxurious standard of living and embraced new technology at
home and work.
The Newspaper Society has criticised the BBCs plan to expand into regional media.
MediaCom View : The BBC are planning to develop highly localised TV and expand
their Where I Live websites which the Newspaper Society fears will damage the regional media marketplace. We agree
that the BBC does not come close to matching the journalistic resource and output of local newspapers, but feel this
is just one of the possible threats to the market. The challenge is for the regional publishers to continue to grow
innovative platforms to entice new and younger readers to stop this happening.
The Internet Advertising Bureau and the Radio Advertising Bureau say that one in five
online users are also listening to the radio at any given time.
MediaCom View : Anecdotally and logically we have always believed that
radio and the internet are complementary media and this study goes some way to endorsing that view. Radio is
the only medium you can consume while doing something else, and with the growth of broadband, there is greater
opportunity to play an ad and have listeners instantly go to the site to get more info or to purchase.
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