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Avesco is planning to demerge its corporate presentation operations from its media rights business, with both companies being traded on Aim and the media rights company being renamed Investin Media. 31-Dec-2003 Centaur, the publisher of trade magazines, is said to have put itself up for sale with a price tag of about £140m. 29-Dec-2003 Mersey Television, the Liverpool-based TV production company, is considering plans to put itself up for sale with an estimated value of £30m. 22-Dec-2003 Independent News & Media has announced a £38m restructuring programme, which will involve the loss of 600 jobs in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. 18-Dec-2003 NTL is to relocate its customer accounts department from Stockton to Nottingham, which could lead to the loss of up to 40 jobs. 11-Dec-2003 Conduit is to close its telephone inquiries call centre in Gloucester with the loss of 100 jobs. 11-Dec-2003 Granada, the TV broadcaster, is to close its Albert Dock site in Liverpool and relocate up to 20 staff once a suitable alternative has been found in the city centre. 03-Dec-2003 Winchester Entertainment, the film distributor, is to undergo a reverse takeover by Content Film of the US, and will be renamed Content. 01-Dec-2003 The BBC is planning to set up giant TV screens in city centres across the country, following a six-month trial in Manchester. 01-Dec-2003 The BBC is planning to sell its BBC Technology commercial subsidiary and transfer 1,400 staff to the successful bidder, in order to save up to £20m a year. 28-Nov-2003 Western Mail & Echo, the regional newspaper publisher, is to shed 50 jobs over the coming months by restructuring various departments and streamlining management. 24-Nov-2003 The Department for Education & Skills is to invest £1m in the development of a digital TV station for teachers next year, in partnership with Brook Lapping, Carlton and the Institute of Education. 24-Nov-2003 Thus is to scrap its 118 directory inquiries service, which was contracted out to an unnamed provider. 24-Nov-2003 Scottish Radio Holdings is looking to acquire radio stations in England, in order to benefit from the relaxation of media ownership laws. 21-Nov-2003 NTL, the cable operator, is to reduce its headcount from 14,000 to 12,000, as part of a strategy to integrate its eight billing systems and 28 customer management databases. 21-Nov-2003 The BBC is looking into the possibility of relocating more TV production operations from London to Manchester, as part of the review of its Royal Charter which expires in 2006. 21-Nov-2003 Anglia TV is to shed 19 jobs in Norwich in January, which will mainly affect senior managers in a number of departments. 21-Nov-2003 Granada Media is to relocate Meridian Broadcasting from Southampton to a new £6m site near Fareham, with the loss of 175 jobs, while some work will transfer to London. 21-Nov-2003 LBM is to open a 30,000 sq ft direct marketing call centre in Altrincham in September 2004, with the creation of 600 jobs. 20-Nov-2003 The Radio Authority has awarded an FM licence to Saga Radio to broadcast to 1.6m people in the Glasgow area, and Saga will invest £2.5m in the station. 10-Nov-2003 Storm Digital Broadcasting, the operator of in-store radio stations, is to create a new company called Immedia Brodcasting, which will raise £5m in a flotation on Aim. 10-Nov-2003 Sanctuary is to raise £30m to fund the acquisition of any record labels and catalogues that become available through the expected rationalisation of the music industry. 07-Nov-2003 Conduit is said to be seeking merger talks with The Number, which could be the start of consolidation in the newly-created market for telephone directory inquiries. 06-Nov-2003 MGt is to create a further 100 jobs at its call centre in Kirkcaldy, having won contracts from broadcasters ITV1, Channel 4 and Five. 27-Oct-2003 The Number is recruiting 150 additional staff at its telephone directory call centre in Cardiff. 24-Oct-2003 Independent News & Media is expected to seek a new buyer for eight regional newspapers after the government blocked a £60m deal to sell 23 titles to Newsquest. 22-Oct-2003 Telegate is to shed 100 jobs at its 118866 directory inquiries call centre in Dumfries. 22-Oct-2003 ITN is to take over the production of regional news for ITV in London, which is expected to lead to the loss of 40 jobs at existing supplier the London News Network. 20-Oct-2003 Proquest Alison, the car manufacturer's information service, is to set up a 30,000 sq ft office at Aspen House in Reading. 20-Oct-2003 The Irish News is planning to invest £8m in the installation of a new printing press in Belfast, in order to bring its newspaper printing operation back in-house. 17-Oct-2003 Archant is to invest £12m at its Thorpe newspaper printing plant near Norwich by December 2004, with the creation of 14 jobs. 14-Oct-2003 Granada Media is said to be considering plans to relocate its Meridian regional news operation away from Southampton, and a number of sites in Hampshire are being considered. 14-Oct-2003 RWS Holdings, the patent translation company with 65 staff, has announced a flotation on Aim following the reverse takeover of cash shell Health Media. 13-Oct-2003 BSkyB is to create 300 new jobs at its customer contact centres in Livingston and Dunfermline. 03-Oct-2003 Jaywing is planning to establish a new direct mailing business at Pride Park in Derby, with the creation of up to 25 jobs over the next two years. 30-Sep-2003 Reed Elsevier, the publishing group, is to set up a new 25,000 sq ft headquarters at Trafalgar Square in London. 29-Sep-2003 Telewest is to shed 25 jobs in Plymouth, in order to transfer some of its credit control and administration work to other offices in Sheffield and Preston. 26-Sep-2003 Howell Petersen, the public relations and marketing company with 24 staff, is considering plans to open a new headquarters at Cardiff Gate Business Park. 25-Sep-2003 The Number is to recruit a further 100 staff for its directory enquiries call centre in Plymouth, taking the total to 850. 25-Sep-2003 Maverick Entertainment is to raise £2.1m in a share placing to fund the expansion of its children's programming and video distribution business. 24-Sep-2003 Reuters is planning to relocate its London headquarters from Fleet Street to a 281,000 sq ft office at Canary Wharf in spring 2005. 23-Sep-2003 AnswerCall Direct is to shed 40 of the 200 jobs at its call centre in Armagh, following the loss of a contract. 19-Sep-2003 North West Vision has secured a £6m European grant to invest in the local film and TV industries on Merseyside, with the creation of about 200 jobs. 17-Sep-2003 Acxiom is to recruit a further 150 telephone-based staff and about 40 executives at its 2Touch customer contact call centre in Sunderland. 15-Sep-2003 Archant has acquired French Property News, the publisher of a French property magazine with 17 staff at sites in Wales, Wimbledon and Lille. 11-Sep-2003 Conduit is to shed 250 temporary jobs at its new directory inquiries call centres in Cardiff and Welwyn Garden City. 05-Sep-2003 DNA Films is forming a joint venture with Fox Searchlight of the US to fund the production, distribution and marketing of British films around the world. 05-Sep-2003 AskAlix has announced plans to recruit an extra 40 staff at its call centre in Stockton, following a rise in demand for its internet business directory. 01-Sep-2003 Loop Customer Management is to set up a new call centre at Thornbury in Bradford over the next few months, with the creation of 250 jobs. 28-Aug-2003 Johnston Press, the regional newspaper publisher, is to set up a new £40m printing plant in Sheffield by 2006. 28-Aug-2003 Chum Television of Canada is seeking UK-based partners to help with its plans to establish local TV stations in London, Manchester and Birmingham. 26-Aug-2003 United Business Media has acquired The Caring Business, a magazine for care homes, for £1.7m. 20-Aug-2003 Liverpool Film Office is setting up a new headquarters on Wood Street in partnership with North West Vision, in order to promote the city as a location for movies. 19-Aug-2003 Anderson Manning Associates is to set up a new telesales call centre in Londonderry with the creation of 100 jobs, and its existing site in Bangor will be expanded with a further 150 jobs. 19-Aug-2003 Response Handling is to create 190 jobs through a £1.5m expansion of its call centre in Glasgow. 11-Aug-2003 Economist Group has appointed GVA Grimley to find a suitable location for a 50,000 sq ft office in central London. 11-Aug-2003 Reed Elsevier is looking to make a further £90m of cost savings, which will involve an unspecified number of job losses and the outsourcing of some of its printing operations to Asia. 08-Aug-2003 Positive Contact is planning to increase the workforce at its telemarketing call centre in Runcorn from 100 to about 400 over the next few years. 07-Aug-2003 Guardian Media Group is to pay £590m for the remaining 52% stake in Trader Media Group, the publisher of Auto Trader magazine. 07-Aug-2003 Reuters is considering plans to transfer some back-office functions to India, which is likely to affect its Content Creation Services division. 06-Aug-2003 Chrysalis has sold its television production business to a newly-formed company called MBI for £45m, as part of a strategy to focus on music and radio. 01-Aug-2003 Pearson is to shed an unspecified number of the 600 commercial and production staff at the Financial Times newspaper. 28-Jul-2003 The BBC is planning to open a new radio station in Coventry, using a city centre site. 09-Jul-2003 The BBC has awarded a £5.7m contract to Mowlem to build a new broadcasting centre in Leicester by September 2004. 09-Jul-2003 Bowmer & Kirkland has won a £4.5m contract from The Gazette Media Company to build a press printing facility on Teesside. 09-Jul-2003 The Number is to double the number of staff being recruited for its new directory enquiries call centre in Plymouth to 600 by August. 04-Jul-2003 Incepta is to raise £26m in a share issue, in order to reduce debt in its communications and public relations business. 03-Jul-2003 Incisive Media has acquired Insurance Age, the trade magazine, from Informa for £1m. 03-Jul-2003 The BBC is to raise £800m in the bond market to finance the redevelopment of its Broadcasting House headquarters in London, which will be a two-stage project involving Land Securities and Morgan Stanley. 02-Jul-2003 Yell, the telephone directories company, is planning to raise up to £500m in a share offer, in order to reduce debt. 01-Jul-2003 Ealing Studios has announced that Vanguard Animation is to set up a digital studio at its site in Ealing this summer, as part of the £50m redevelopment of the site. 26-Jun-2003 Amaro Professional Distribution is planning to create up to 400 jobs at its Gateshead-based leaflet distribution business this year, and aims to set up warehouses in Yorkshire, London, the north-west and Scotland. 26-Jun-2003 Havas of France is planning to merge its eight UK subsidiaries into a single London-based marketing and advertising agency called Euro RSCG Partners. 25-Jun-2003 Trinity Mirror is considering plans to sell its regional newspapers in Northern Ireland, and a number of financial buyers are thought to be interested. 23-Jun-2003 Quadrant is to relocate its corporate communications business and 30 staff to a new 4,200 sq ft corporate headquarters at Greenmeadow Springs in Cardiff in July. 19-Jun-2003 AskAlix is to create a further 35 jobs at its internet directory telesales centre on Teesside this year. 16-Jun-2003 The BBC is considering plans to redevelop its site in Manchester city centre, including a new public square and entertainment district. 10-Jun-2003 Cordiant has sold its 77% stake in Scholz & Friends, the German advertising group, to management for £16m. 10-Jun-2003 The Football Association and the Premier League are planning to establish their own in-house media sales operations, in order to sell broadcasting rights abroad. 09-Jun-2003 MORI is planning to conduct a controlled auction of its polling and market research business, and the company has an estimated value of more than £75m. 06-Jun-2003 Huddersfield New College is seeking permission to build a £1.5m media and IT centre. 05-Jun-2003 BSkyB is considering plans to expand its in-house advertising department, in order to produce low-cost commercials for first-time TV advertisers. 03-Jun-2003 Carlton Communications is to dispose of its 25,000 sq ft Knightsbridge headquarters in London, and staff may be relocated to its office in St Martins Lane. 02-Jun-2003 Cordiant is to raise £25m from the sale of a 70% stake in its Australian marketing communications business to a new corporate entity called The Communications Group Holdings. 30-May-2003 Friday-Ad, the publisher of an adverts-only newspaper, is to set up a call centre at the former ITV Digital site in Pembroke Dock, with the creation of 120 jobs. 30-May-2003 Emap is looking to create the largest commercial radio group in the UK, and could borrow up to £650m to fund organic growth and acquisitions. 29-May-2003 Channel 4 is said to be planning to open a new office at the Pacific Quay site in Glasgow. 29-May-2003 Guardian Media Group is seeking acquisitions to expand its radio division, which currently includes five regional radio stations. 27-May-2003 Kingston Communications has warned that it may have to close its interactive TV service in Hull unless an external backer can be found. 23-May-2003 GWR has agreed to sell its 49% stake in Vibe Radio Services to Scottish Radio Holdings for £18m, while its Hungarian radio interests are being sold to Advent International and Mezzanine Management for £18m. 23-May-2003 Mice is looking to spend up to £120m on acquisitions to expand its exhibitions and conferences business. 20-May-2003 Cinram UK is said to be considering significant job cuts at its video production business in Ipswich, where 213 staff are currently employed. 19-May-2003 Ideal Shopping Direct, the TV shopping group, is to close the order-taking part of its Peterborough call centre with the loss of 150 jobs, in order to transfer the work to India. 19-May-2003 The BBC is launching a new venture capital subsidiary called BBC Vecta, in order to start up new companies to develop and sell broadcasting services around the world. 12-May-2003 Sports Resource Group, the sports marketing company, is considering plans for a management buy-out. 09-May-2003 MGt is to create a further 200 jobs at its Kirkcaldy call centre, which provides a range of customer support services to leading companies. 07-May-2003 Pearson is to invest £20m in a joint venture with Edexcel, which will administer public examinations under the name of London Qualifications. 02-May-2003 Cordiant Communications, the advertising group, is considering a number of preliminary takeover approaches from possible bidders. 30-Apr-2003 Chrysalis is in discussions to sell its TV production division to a management buy-in team, in order to reduce debt and focus on the radio market. 28-Apr-2003 WPP has acquired a 40% stake in Marktest Investimentos, the Portuguese market research and media audience management company with 210 staff, in order to expand its Kantar Media Research division. 25-Apr-2003 Littlewoods is to relocate about 250 jobs in its JCM media business from Edge Lane in Liverpool to a new office in Whiston, while 50 staff in its Business Express division will also move to Whiston. 18-Apr-2003 AnswerCall Direct is setting up a new £7.3m telemarketing call centre in Armagh with the creation of more than 400 jobs. 17-Apr-2003 Pearson is in talks with the Department for Education and Skills about the acquisition of a stake in the Edexcel examinations board. 14-Apr-2003 The BBC is to close its special effects department in Acton, west London, next month with the loss of 22 jobs, as its work has been superseded by computer animation. 11-Apr-2003 Carlton is to shed 75 jobs at its Lenton Lane studio in Nottingham, following the decision to stop producing the Crossroads programme. 11-Apr-2003 Carnyx Group has acquired Adline, the advertising and marketing magazine, from Wilmington Group, and the editorial office is moving from Birmingham to Glasgow. 08-Apr-2003 BT has confirmed plans to close its directory inquiries centre in Torquay by the end of September, with the loss of 115 jobs. 04-Apr-2003 Express Newspapers is planning to relocate its London headquarters from Blackfriars to a 198,000 sq ft building in Upper Thames Street next year. 28-Mar-2003 Independent News & Media has sold its UK regional newspaper titles to Gannett of the US for £60m, and has also announced plans to raise £66m in a rights issue. 27-Mar-2003 World Sports Solutions, the sports marketing company, is to be voluntarily wound up. 14-Mar-2003 The BBC is to shed 23 of the 33 jobs at its new media division in Bristol, although some staff may transfer to its interactive TV operation. 14-Mar-2003 Voicentric is setting up a new call centre in Consett, with the creation of up to 60 jobs over the next 12 months. 13-Mar-2003 MGt is to create 25 new jobs at its call centre in Kirkcaldy, having won an outsourcing contract from Simply Television. 06-Mar-2003 MM Group is setting up a new £1.5m customer relationship call centre in Bangor, with the creation of 41 jobs. 26-Feb-2003 Bradford Council is drawing up plans to replace the city's Central Library with a new complex linked to the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, including a digital technology centre for training and research in creative industries. 26-Feb-2003 Cordiant Communications is looking to sell its 77% stake in Scholz & Friends, Financial Dynamics International and a majority interest in its Australian business, in order to focus on its core Bates Group advertising and marketing operations. 21-Feb-2003 BBC Worldwide is planning to acquire a 12.5% stake in Opus Arte, the Anglo-Dutch music and TV production company, as part of a joint venture to distribute arts programmes. 17-Feb-2003 MEPC is to proceed with plans to replace the Leavesden movie studios near Watford with a new 200,000 sq ft studio, as part of the £400m redevelopment of the site. 17-Feb-2003 Wireless Group has won a digital radio licence for Stoke-on-Trent and will start broadcasting in January 2004. 10-Feb-2003 Propaganda, the marketing and PR consultancy with 23 staff, is to open a new head office in Leeds city centre. 04-Feb-2003 LBM is to create up to 500 jobs at a new £1.5m direct marketing call centre near Stockport, which is due to open in April. 30-Jan-2003 Screen Network is to expand its TV network service to a further seven shopping centres nationwide this year, providing shoppers with advertising, news, features and traffic information. 27-Jan-2003 The BBC has announced plans to shed up to 61 of the 3,500 jobs in its news division. 27-Jan-2003 WPP is to expand its Red Cell communications services network in London with the acquisition of a 49% stake in HHCL from Chime Communications for £3.5m. 16-Jan-2003 Grampian Records, the Wick-based CD manufacturer, is going into voluntary liquidation with the loss of more than 30 jobs. 15-Jan-2003 Reuters is said to be preparing plans to shed a further 1,000 jobs in its news and information business. 13-Jan-2003 Kroll Buchler Phillips is to be appointed liquidator of UK Direct Media Solutions, the Leeds-based direct mailing company that has shed 83 jobs. 09-Jan-2003 The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report. 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