U K
The information below comes from the
UK Activity Report.
International Call Management, the supplier of telemarketing services, is setting up a new head office in Cirencester, and will also retain its existing offices in Swindon. 22-Dec-2000
Daily Mail & General Trust is to launch a free evening newspaper in Manchester early next year. 19-Dec-2000
The BBC has confirmed plans to move its Birmingham headquarters from Pebble Mill to the Mailbox development in the city centre, but said there will be no major job losses for the 600-plus staff. 15-Dec-2000
Express Newspapers has sold the four internet sites inherited from United News & Media to stockbroker Seymour Pierce Ellis, in order to reduce costs and shed 46 London-based staff from its payroll. 15-Dec-2000
IPC is to close the Melody Maker music magazine and merge it with its sister publication NME. 15-Dec-2000
United News & Media is to halve its online investment to £60m in 2001 by reducing the number of business-to-consumer projects on the web, prompting speculation that some dotcom businesses could be sold off. 15-Dec-2000
The government has announced plans to launch Ofcom, a single regulatory body for the broadcast and telecoms industries, with a view to providing universal internet access by 2005. 13-Dec-2000
VFG is to set up a national network of local TV stations having secured the rights to 36 local TV licences through its Local Broadcasting Group subsidiary. 12-Dec-2000
The BBC is considering plans to launch a separate sports channel on digital TV next year, and discussions are taking place with potential partners. 11-Dec-2000
MEPC has submitted plans to set up a £500m film and media business park at Leavesden Park near Watford. 11-Dec-2000
Taylor Nelson Sofres has acquired a 46% stake in Central Viewer Survey & Consulting Centre, the Chinese group that measures media viewing figures. 11-Dec-2000
Wireless Group is planning to close its radio monitoring research centre in Carlisle with the loss of 14 jobs. 08-Dec-2000
CSS Stellar has raised £5m in a flotation on Aim, in order to fund acquisitions for its sports management business. 07-Dec-2000
BSkyB is to be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading due to concerns that the new Competition Act may have been breached in the supply of wholesale pay-TV to rival companies. 06-Dec-2000
BSkyB is linking up with Harrods to produce an interactive shopping programme this Christmas, which will enable digital TV subscribers to buy goods direct from Harrods as they are featured on the show. 05-Dec-2000
United News & Media is to invest £20m in the Creative Planet online trading exchange for the US film and TV industry. 05-Dec-2000
The BBC has shortlisted seven architects to build a new £30m BBC Scotland headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, while Channel 4 has announced plans to relocate its Glasgow office to the site by 2005. 04-Dec-2000
Experian has announced plans to create a further 1,000 jobs at its information services business in Nottingham over the next three years. 04-Dec-2000
The BBC has sold 95% of its BBC for Business training division to Knowledge Chase of the US for £8m, as part of a strategy to generate new revenue streams by forming partnerships. 04-Dec-2000
QXL Ricardo has secured £30m of funding from a group of investors to see its online auction business through to profitability by 2003, but a strategic partner is still being sought. 01-Dec-2000
Reed Elsevier is raising £1.2bn in a share issue in order to reduce debt and fund the acquisition of US publisher Harcourt General. 30-Nov-2000
Euromoney Institutional Investor is looking to acquire traditional media companies, and is particularly interested in business-to-business, cross-border and emerging markets publishing. 30-Nov-2000
BBC Worldwide is forming a joint venture with Alliance Atlantis Communications to launch digital TV channels in Canada, and further opportunities are being sought in countries such as India. 29-Nov-2000
Sportal is forming an alliance with Fox Kids Europe to develop a new internet sports service for children. 29-Nov-2000
British Airways has put out to tender the publishing of its Business Life and High Life magazines. 29-Nov-2000
The BBC has announced plans to spend £45m on regional programming over the next three years, including investments in radio, TV and online media. 28-Nov-2000
Telewest is to expand the Liverpool-based technical support centre for its high-speed internet service, with the creation of 70 new jobs. 27-Nov-2000
Associated Newspapers is terminating a newspaper distribution contract with WH Smith News, in protest against Smith's plan to set up a national distribution network for Tesco and Safeway. 27-Nov-2000
BSkyB is in talks with British Telecom and other potential partners about the introduction of DSL technology to offer movies on demand and fast internet access. 27-Nov-2000
Wireless Group is to acquire a 33% stake in Delta Radio, which is planning to launch a new long wave radio station off the coast of the Netherlands and targeted at the over-45 age group in the UK. 24-Nov-2000
TheWebShed is to move its web site design business to larger premises in Liverpool in December, and hopes to create 50 new jobs in the next two years. 23-Nov-2000
Datamonitor, the market research consultancy, is planning to raise £28m in a flotation this month, in order to fund expansion into the US and Asia. 23-Nov-2000
L Gardner is planning to demerge its Direct Message advertising division, in order to focus on its core aerospace engineering business. 23-Nov-2000
CitiKey, the supplier of city information services for mobile internet devices, has gone into liquidation with the loss of about 90 jobs. 23-Nov-2000
Golley Slater, the advertising agency, has opened a new office at St Augustine's Yard in Bristol. 20-Nov-2000
Rank is planning to sell its Deluxe video services division for about £400m by early next year, and is in negotiations with three financial bidders. 17-Nov-2000
The BBC is said to be considering plans to quit its Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham in order to move to the £150m Mailbox development. 16-Nov-2000
National Archives of Scotland is planning a £9.4m redevelopment of its Edinburgh headquarters. 15-Nov-2000
Scottish Enterprise has announced plans for a £4m campaign to establish Tayside as the capital of Scotland's digital media industry, using the slogan Interactive Tayside. 14-Nov-2000
Incisive Media, the financial magazine publisher, is planning to raise £40m in a share placing, with £12m being used to repay debt. 14-Nov-2000
Emap is to reduce its planned investment in new media operations by nearly half due to the downturn in investor sentiment, and will now spend £120m over the next three years. 14-Nov-2000
EMI is to conduct merger talks with Bertelsmann of Germany, which could lead to the creation of the world's largest music group. 13-Nov-2000
CSS Stellar, the sports and entertainment agency, is planning to float on Aim. 13-Nov-2000
Clear Channel Communications is planning to launch a free bicycles scheme in a number of UK cities, and the bikes will carry adverts. 13-Nov-2000
Princeton University Press of the US has opened its first European office in Oxford, in order to find academic authors to add to its publishing list. 10-Nov-2000
Capital Radio is looking to expand into continental Europe by setting up alliances with radio companies in a number of unspecified countries. 10-Nov-2000
Wireless Group is planning to move into TV programme making by setting up a joint venture with 3BMTV to produce sports documentaries. 10-Nov-2000
Granada Media is to combine LWT Productions and United Productions under one management structure, creating a new partnership that will make about £175m of TV programmes a year. 08-Nov-2000
Carrick Council is to consider plans from South West Film Studios for the development of a £5m film and TV studio at St Agnes in Cornwall. 07-Nov-2000
Media Content is forming an alliance with Sportel to develop an online marketplace for sports programming rights. 07-Nov-2000
Emap has won the digital radio multiplex licence for Humberside, where it will launch eight channels. 06-Nov-2000
NTL is planning to cut 1,300 of its 22,000 UK jobs over the next 15 months, in order to achieve annual cost savings of up to £90m. 03-Nov-2000
Winchester Entertainment has raised £22m in a share placing in order to move into film distribution, marketing and the acquisition of rights to children's TV. 03-Nov-2000
Newsquest has proposed plans to bid for the whole of Regional Independent Media and then carve the regional newspaper business up between rivals Guardian Media and Johnston Press. 02-Nov-2000
Helicon, the multimedia publisher, is planning to move to a new office in Oxford, following the acquisition of two databases of atlases and maps to produce books and CD-ROMs as well as travel information for mobile phones. 31-Oct-2000
The BBC is planning to centralise its news and information services at a new facility at Broadcasting House in London from 2008, and the World Service headquarters at Bush House will be vacated. 31-Oct-2000
Orange Music is planning to set up a network of music download booths in high-street shops, which will enable customers to transfer tracks to their MP3 players. 31-Oct-2000
Friday Ad is to set up a call centre for its publishing business in Milford Haven, with the creation of 50 jobs. 27-Oct-2000
Shop America is planning to set up an international call centre for its shopping TV channel in Yorkshire with the creation of 300 jobs, and is seeking suitable sites. 25-Oct-2000
Telewest is forming a joint venture with the Atomic Tangerine subsidiary of the Stanford Research Institute to develop interactive TV services for broadcasters, retailers and advertisers. 23-Oct-2000
Einstein Channel has announced a satellite distribution deal with S4C2 for its science programming. 23-Oct-2000
The BBC is considering plans to open up some of its buildings for public access and to move its regional radio sites into city centres. 23-Oct-2000
Reuters has confirmed plans to float its Instinet electronic brokerage business in the US, although a date has yet to be fixed. 23-Oct-2000
WPP is in negotiations to acquire Finsbury, the public relations company. 20-Oct-2000
NTL, the cable operator, is planning to transfer its listing from Nasdaq to New York in order to make it easier to raise funds and make acquisitions. 20-Oct-2000
United News & Media is to change its name to United Business Media, in order to reflect its new focus on business publishing. 20-Oct-2000
Wilmington is looking to spend up to £50m on acquisitions to expand its specialist media and electronic information business. 17-Oct-2000
Daily Mail & General Trust is looking to sell its business media division, which publishes 50 magazines and 22 trade directories and employs 300 people. 13-Oct-2000
Pearson is putting its newsletters business up for sale, and expects to raise about £85m. 13-Oct-2000
Granada Media is forming a joint venture with Boots to set up a health and beauty digital TV channel and e-commerce business, and the two companies will invest £18m in the first year. 13-Oct-2000
Channel 4 is linking up with BSkyB and Arena Leisure to submit a bid to the Racecourse Association for the media rights to UK horse racing. 13-Oct-2000
BSkyB has won government permission to acquire full control of British Interactive Broadcasting, the operator of the Open interactive TV service. 13-Oct-2000
ITE Group has received a £30m investment from VS&A Communications Partners of the US, which will be used to reduce debt and expand its trade exhibitions business through acquisition. 12-Oct-2000
Angus Council is seeking organisations that may be interested in setting up a digital media centre in Brechin, in order to provide a range of media facilities and training to the public, students and businesses. 11-Oct-2000
Sportsworld Media is looking to make up to 10 acquisitions over the coming months, as part of the ongoing consolidation in the sports marketing sector. 10-Oct-2000
McGraw Hill, the US information services company, is planning to consolidate its London operations into a new 500,000 sq ft headquarters at Canary Wharf. 06-Oct-2000
United News & Media has received a £75m takeover offer from Press Holdings for its Express newspaper business. 06-Oct-2000
EMI and Warner Music are looking to dispose of a series of assets in order to gain approval to merge, after the European Commission indicated that their proposed £13bn merger would be blocked. 06-Oct-2000
Sterling Publishing is looking to raise up to £10m from the sale of Debrett's, which could be developed into a luxury goods brand. 05-Oct-2000
Sport First has received a £3m investment from 3i, which will be used to increase the circulation of its national sports newspaper. 04-Oct-2000
MM Group, the direct marketing company, is to create 295 jobs in North Down over the next three years, in a £4m investment that will provide a virtual communications centre to link its existing operations in Bristol to Bangor. 02-Oct-2000
NTL is forming a joint venture with Universal Studios Network of the US to launch a UK movie channel called The Studio. 02-Oct-2000
The BBC is planning to launch five new digital radio stations, in order to increase its coverage in drama, music, comedy and sport. 02-Oct-2000
BBC Scotland is planning to cut 30 more jobs at its finance and business departments in Glasgow. 28-Sep-2000
Music Choice Europe has raised £46m in a flotation to fund the development of its digital audio broadcasting business on the internet and interactive TV. 28-Sep-2000
TV Travel Shop is forming a joint venture with TUI Group of Germany, as part of a strategy to expand its TV holidays business across Europe. 20-Sep-2000
Mice Group is looking to spend up to £20m on acquisitions to expand its promotions and exhibitions business, and will open its first US office in San Francisco next month. 20-Sep-2000
Chrysalis has bought a 65% stake in Rivals.net, the internet sports site, for £2.5m. 18-Sep-2000
Granada Media is planning to acquire a 45% stake in TV3, the Irish commercial TV broadcaster, for £19m, which will mark the start of an alliance with CanWest, the Canadian company that owns 45% of TV3. 12-Sep-2000
Taylor Nelson Sofres is seeking further acquisitions to expand its market research business, and is particularly interested in IT, health and vehicles. 12-Sep-2000
Future Network is planning to invest £33m in the launch of more than 30 magazine titles this year. 12-Sep-2000
Granada Media is acquiring a 5% stake in Arsenal for £47m, and will invest a further £30m if the football club can secure planning permission for a new £150m stadium. 08-Sep-2000
BSkyB is planning to launch a personal TV recorder next year, which combines a hard-disk video recorder with a digital decoder and is seen as the future of interactive TV. 07-Sep-2000
Emap is bidding to acquire Times Mirror Magazines from Tribune in order to expand its US publishing business, but is facing competition from a number of other bidders. 04-Sep-2000
Hollinger is planning a £10m relaunch for the Electronic Telegraph newspaper, with the creation of a network of sites covering areas such as jobs and travel. 04-Sep-2000
Channel 5 is set to receive additional investment from RTL Group, as part of a strategy to transform it into a mainstream TV station. 30-Aug-2000
Ambient has announced plans for the £85m flotation of its WMRC e-commerce division in September, in order to raise £19m to develop new services. 29-Aug-2000
The BBC and Telewest are considering plans to float their UKTV cable TV joint venture, which would help the BBC meet the funding shortfall between its licence fee revenues and spending plans. 28-Aug-2000
Telewest is to spend £30m improving customer services for its cable TV business, with the number of call centres being reduced from 14 to five. 28-Aug-2000
Scottish Enterprise has announced plans for a £25m investment in Scotland's creative industries, including a new digital media centre at Glasgow's Pacific Quay and the building of a creative media campus on Tayside. 25-Aug-2000
SMG has raised £43m in a share placing in order to reduce debt and participate in further consolidation in the media sector. 23-Aug-2000
The BBC is selling a 13.5% stake in its Beeb Ventures commercial internet subsidiary to TH Lee Global Internet Managers of the US for £32m, in preparation for the launch of a new marketing campaign for Beeb.com. 23-Aug-2000
Metal Bulletin is looking to spend up to £40m on the acquisition of value-added information providers. 22-Aug-2000
Scoot has bought a 20% stake in Quod Bonum for £5.7m, in order to take control of its directory services business in Belgium and the Netherlands. 18-Aug-2000
Liverpool City Council has approved plans for the development of a film production and training studio in Dingle, which will be run by a new company called the Liverpool Film Academy. 17-Aug-2000
RMR is planning to set up a US office in Austin, Texas, this month, in order to further the expansion of its online conference and exhibition business. 16-Aug-2000
Emap is forming a joint venture with Attic Futura to launch the FHM magazine in Germany in October. 15-Aug-2000
Candover is considering a number of bids for Shepperton Studios, including one from Pinewood that would result in the creation of a £120m movie production business. 14-Aug-2000
Daily Mail & General Trust has bought Underoneroof.com, the online service for housebuyers, for a sum thought to be less than £10m. 11-Aug-2000
Warman & Bannister is planning to relocate its 40 public relations staff from Meadowcroft to a larger site in the Cambridge area. 11-Aug-2000
Hudson Sandler, the City-based public relations firm, has received a takeover approach from Havas Advertising of France. 09-Aug-2000
The BBC is considering plans to launch two new TV channels - BBC3 for younger viewers and BBC4 for culture. 07-Aug-2000
Marketing Management Services International is planning to set up new research offices across the UK, Europe, America and the Middle East, with the creation of 740 jobs. 04-Aug-2000
John Wiley & Sons, the publishing company, is planning to build a £9m office complex in Chichester, and up to 400 staff will be relocated from other sites by 2002. 04-Aug-2000
WPP has acquired a 4% stake in Inferentia, the Italian e-business consultancy, for £5m, as part of a strategy to develop its new media operations. 03-Aug-2000
Granada Media and the BBC are forming a Manchester-based joint venture to provide broadcast production facilities to TV programme makers in the north-west. 02-Aug-2000
Arena Leisure is looking to win the interactive TV rights to horse racing, having offered a £178m deal to the country's 59 courses. 01-Aug-2000
BSkyB has announced plans to launch an online betting service for its Sky Sports channel and a video recorder service in conjunction with TiVo of the US. 27-Jul-2000
Granada Media is investing £20m in a joint venture with Liverpool Football Club to develop an online platform to broadcast delayed coverage of live matches, and the new company will be called Liverpool FC Broadband. 26-Jul-2000
Capital Radio is linking up with Chrysalis, Jazz FM and Guardian Media to form the MXR consortium, which will bid for digital radio licences throughout the country. 26-Jul-2000
On Digital is seeking 1,100 staff for a new call centre in Pembroke and a further 400 to add to its Plymouth call centre, in order to strengthen its customer services operation ahead of its internet TV launch. 25-Jul-2000
Ashley Public Relations is seeking permission to set up a £5m film and TV studio near Liskeard in Cornwall. 25-Jul-2000
United News & Media and Carlton Communications have dropped plans for a £8bn merger, following a ruling by the Competition Commission that the combined group would have to dispose of the Meridian TV franchise. 24-Jul-2000
Red Dragon Radio is to relocate its Cardiff-based radio station to a larger site in Atlantic Wharf in November. 24-Jul-2000
Pearson is to close the recently-acquired Family Learning division of Dorling Kindersley, which will affect up to 13,000 people who sold the books on a part-time basis. 21-Jul-2000
Kingston Communications and Kingston upon Hull City Council are considering plans for a £40m project to give every household in Hull free access to interactive TV. 20-Jul-2000
BSkyB has increased its stake in the Open interactive TV business to 80%, which will lead to the launch of a number of new services. 18-Jul-2000
Huntsworth, the marketing services company, has put itself up for sale. 18-Jul-2000
NTL is planning to float off its nationwide network of television transmitters later this year, with an estimated value of about £2bn. 17-Jul-2000
Taylor & Francis is to digitalise its 17,000 scientific and academic books in a deal with Versaware of the US, in order to benefit from rising demand for electronic books. 14-Jul-2000
Reuters is forming a personal finance joint venture with Handelsblatt to offer services to German private investors. 14-Jul-2000
Pearson is planning to float Ricoletos, its Spanish newspaper subsidiary, with a valuation of about £1.3bn. 13-Jul-2000
Two Four Productions is to develop a new web-based TV service from its site in Plymouth with the creation of up to 70 jobs, allowing its corporate clients to include real-time and interactive images in their web presentations. 13-Jul-2000
Granada has raised £1.3bn from the flotation of a 20% stake in its media interests, which will help to clear the way for the merger of its hotel and catering business with Compass later this month. 12-Jul-2000
The BBC has announced plans to shed 900 support jobs over the next three years, as part of a strategy to release a further £750m for programming. 11-Jul-2000
Forever Broadcasting is planning to raise £15m in a flotation on Aim, in order to fund the acquisition of commercial radio stations. 10-Jul-2000
News International is to set up an administration headquarters at a 30,000 sq ft office being built in Chandlers Ford near Southampton. 10-Jul-2000
The BBC is planning to launch a new technology subsidiary later this year, which will employ 1,300 staff and provide IT services to both the BBC and external companies. 07-Jul-2000
Elmsdale Media has won a licence to provide video-on-demand services to the pay-TV market in Hong Kong, through its Yes Television business. 05-Jul-2000
RTL Group, the TV and radio group formed by the merger of Pearson Television and CLT-Ufa, is planning a £14bn flotation in London this month, in order to make acquisitions in the European media sector. 05-Jul-2000
Advanced Alchemy Group is looking to recruit a further 50 researchers and operations staff, following the recent move of its marketing research and consultancy business to Oxford. 04-Jul-2000
Solsoft, the Bristol-based developer of web sites, is looking to recruit a further 160 staff this year, and will soon need to move out of its Clifton premises and into larger offices near Temple Quay. 04-Jul-2000
Pearson is forming a joint venture with Pacific Century Cyber Works to develop interactive education channels for Asian TV and online networks. 03-Jul-2000
Capital Radio is in negotiations to buy Beat 106FM, the Scottish radio station, for £33m. 29-Jun-2000
United News & Media is negotiating the formation of alliances with mobile phone operators in order to expand its internet-related businesses into the mobile data market. 28-Jun-2000
Winchester Entertainment is planning to form a film distribution division in order to exploit its international rights to movies and TV programmes. 28-Jun-2000
Regional Independent Media, the newspaper group, is facing the prospect of a takeover approach from Gannett, as the US owner of Newsquest has asked the Department of Trade & Industry for permission to make a bid. 28-Jun-2000
Channel Television Group has sold the ITV licence for the Channel Islands to Media Holdings, a management buy-in team led by former HTV executives, for £16m. 15-Jun-2000
Chime Communications has bought a 33% stake in Web Marketing, the online advertising company, for £5.8m. 15-Jun-2000
Experian is planning to build a new £10m e-commerce centre in Nottingham, and expects to create up to 1,000 jobs in the city over the next three years. 12-Jun-2000
Capital Radio has announced plans to roll out its first local radio digital multiplexes across London, Manchester and Birmingham. 08-Jun-2000
TV Travel Shop is considering plans for a flotation in order to fund the expansion of its cable and satellite channel into other European markets. 08-Jun-2000
United News & Media is planning to invest £120m in its Miller Freeman online publishing operations over the next two years. 08-Jun-2000
ITN is being considered for flotation by its five parent media companies, which would give it more freedom to develop news services for TV, radio and digital channels. 07-Jun-2000
SR Communications is to create 150 jobs in Leicester, having opened a new direct marketing, print management and storage office at the Meridian Business Park. 02-Jun-2000
Emap is planning to launch two cable TV channels, and has also announced a joint venture with Channel 4 to develop web-based services for teenagers. 31-May-2000
IPC is planning to expand its internet business by launching new web sites for its home decoration and country living magazines. 31-May-2000
Corpdata, the Teignmouth-based market research company, is planning to expand its staff from 70 to 130 over the next two years, and is seeking new premises in the town. 30-May-2000
BSkyB is seeking to increase its 32.5% stake in the Open interactive TV consortium, in order to use to launch its own interactive service. 30-May-2000
Daily Mail & General Trust has paid £61m for a new commercial radio licence in Sydney, Australia. 25-May-2000
Carlton Communications is planning to form a pan-European internet investment alliance with TF1 of France, Telecinco of Spain, Mediaset of Italy and Kirch of Germany. 25-May-2000
Guardian Media Group is planning to form a joint venture with BC Partners to create a new consumer publishing group called Trader Media Group, which will combine the two halves of the Auto Trader magazine business. 24-May-2000
Scottish Radio Holdings is looking to spend up to £150m on acquisitions, in order to expand its core businesses of radio, outdoor advertising and newspapers. 23-May-2000
Telewest is planning to expand its cable TV business beyond its network areas by offering services that use wireless technology and DSL telephone lines. 19-May-2000
Associated Newspapers is planning to franchise out its free Metro newspapers to other publishers, with the first being awarded to Trinity Mirror in Newcastle and Birmingham. 18-May-2000
TMA Global, the Plymouth-based marketing strategy company, is planning to open a branch office in New York. 18-May-2000
Saga Group is launching a national radio station called Primetime Radio, which will be part of the Digital One multiplex and aimed at the over-50s. 16-May-2000
Carlton Communications is looking to sell its Technicolor film processing business, in order to raise £1.5bn to invest in its TV and online operations. 15-May-2000
Scoot is linking up with Cambridge Positioning Systems to develop location-based mobile internet services, which could for example be used to book a nearby restaurant and then receive a map showing how to get there. 12-May-2000
Chrysalis, the music and media group, has announced plans to invest £15m in its new internet and digital radio operations. 12-May-2000
Capital Radio is to combine its national sales force with the radio assets of recently-acquired Border Television, and is also planning to apply for analogue licences in Yorkshire and the West Midlands. 10-May-2000
Static 2358 is planning to raise up to £50m in a flotation in order to finance the international expansion of its interactive digital TV business. 08-May-2000
Lego, the Danish toy company, is to launch a TV business with offices in London and Los Angeles, and is seeking strategic alliances with existing broadcasters and programme makers. 08-May-2000
Reuters is forming a joint venture with Aether Systems of the US, in order to provide wireless data systems and mobile dealing facilities in Europe under the name of Sila Communications. 08-May-2000
Elateral has raised £9m of venture capital funding in order to develop its internet-based marketing consultancy, and is planning to float early next year. 03-May-2000
United News & Media is in negotiations to sell the London-based Premier League Hall of Fame, in order to secure the future of the £8m tourist attraction. 02-May-2000
BSkyB and Guardian Media Group are to each take a 20% stake in Artsworld, the arts TV channel that will be launched on Sky digital later this year. 27-Apr-2000
Internet Business Group, the supplier of a range of new media services, is planning a flotation on Aim with a valuation of about £21m. 25-Apr-2000
Scoot is in negotiations to acquire Loot, the classified advertising magazine, for up to £200m. 25-Apr-2000
Thomson Intermedia, the supplier of advert monitoring services, is planning to raise £7m in a flotation on Aim next month, with £4.8m of the proceeds being used for marketing. 20-Apr-2000
Granada is forming an alliance with PowerChannel Europe to offer free internet access via TV, and set-top boxes will be offered through its high-street rental stores. 19-Apr-2000
EMI Music Publishing is forming an alliance with Net4Music to distribute sheet music online, and will acquire a 9% stake in the web portal. 19-Apr-2000
News Communications & Media has sold two regional newspapers - the Swindon Messenger and the West Wiltshire Advertiser - to Bristol United Press for £1.8m. 18-Apr-2000
Scoot has announced a deal in which IBM will host its internet services and help the company develop its telephone directory service in Europe. 14-Apr-2000
Filmgroup is planning a flotation with an expected value of up to £300m, in order to raise funds for the development of an internet-based video on demand service. 14-Apr-2000
The BBC is looking for a company to form a joint venture to manage its property portfolio, which is expected to lead to an expansion of its properties around the Television Centre in London. 11-Apr-2000
Scottish Media Group is to set up a holding company to highlight its four main activities - TV, radio, publishing and outdoor advertising - and has also announced plans to drop the word "Scottish" from its name. 11-Apr-2000
Emap has won the local digital multiplex service licence for the Leeds area from the Radio Authority. 07-Apr-2000
Pearson is said to be planning to merge its TV business with CLT-Ufa, in order to create a pan-European TV and radio group worth more than £12bn. 07-Apr-2000
Digital Animations is raising £12m in a share placing to fund the development of virtual character technologies for TV, video and the internet. 07-Apr-2000
GWR has acquired a 5% stake in Altodigital, the web site services provider, for £7m. 03-Apr-2000
The BBC is planning to shed hundreds of management jobs in a restructuring programme designed to release a further £100m for programming. 03-Apr-2000
Cambridge University is linking up with the British Library, the London School of Economics and three US institutions to invest £50m in the creation of a web-based global public library called fathom.com. 03-Apr-2000
Pearson and Carlton Communications are in discussions to acquire TalkBack Productions, the producer of TV comedy programmes. 03-Apr-2000
BSkyB is considering plans to develop online and TV betting services in partnership with Ladbroke. 31-Mar-2000
Zone Vision, the London-based broadcaster of thematic TV channels, is planning to raise more than £20m in a flotation on Nasdaq in order to fund its expansion across Europe. 30-Mar-2000
MetroMail, the direct mailing house, is to invest £5m at a new factory on the Whitehouse Industrial Park in Peterlee, with the creation of about 30 jobs. 30-Mar-2000
Loot, the classified advertising magazine, has put itself up for sale in an auction being organised by Broadview, the US new media investment bank. 27-Mar-2000
Wireless Group is planning a flotation that could value the radio company at up to £200m, in order to raise funds for further media acquisitions. 27-Mar-2000
Scoot, the telephone and internet directory service, is setting up a 44,000 sq ft office in Uxbridge. 27-Mar-2000
Future Network is to invest £25m in internet development and US magazine launches this year. 21-Mar-2000
Dawe Media has announced that Red TV, the Cambridge-based community TV station, will cease broadcasting in April. 21-Mar-2000
Trinity Mirror has sold the Belfast Telegraph to Independent News & Media for £300m, and has also announced plans to invest £150m in the development of its internet operations. 20-Mar-2000
Getmapping.com is planning to raise £7m in a flotation, in order to fund the completion of its online map of aerial photographs of the UK. 20-Mar-2000
Emap is to invest £250m in its internet activities over the next three years, in order to increase revenues from its 42 web sites. 17-Mar-2000
Border Television has rejected a £116m takeover bid from Scottish Radio Holdings. 16-Mar-2000
IMS has announced plans to demerge its Teamtalk.com football news service, raising funds to expand its European operations and to extend coverage to other sports. 16-Mar-2000
RMR, the provider of internet-based virtual conferences, is planning to raise £10m in a flotation on Aim next month, in order to fund research and development. 15-Mar-2000
Enic is planning to float Paradigm Media on Aim in order to raise £20m and finance the expansion of its sports and media investment business. 14-Mar-2000
Chelsea, Aston Villa and Southampton are planning to launch their own digital radio stations in partnership with Radio First. 13-Mar-2000
Stratus Holdings, the book publisher, is planning to raise £5m in a flotation on Aim, in order to expand its printing capacity and set up a London sales office. 13-Mar-2000
Pearson has sold its 50% stake in the AFX news service to Agence France Presse for a small consideration. 10-Mar-2000
Cordiant Communications is looking to make another major acquisition in the healthcare marketing sector in the next few months, and has also announced plans to launch an e-business consultancy. 09-Mar-2000
British Telecom is forming an alliance with Yes Television to trial an interactive TV service in London, using ADSL technology. 08-Mar-2000
Aegis is forming a £62m joint venture with Warburg Pincus to provide equity funding to e-marketing companies, and has also announced the acquisition of Asia Market Intelligence for an initial £15m. 08-Mar-2000
Highland Council is to consider plans from Robertson Group of Elgin for the construction of a £10m movie studio in Inverness, as part of a £100m project that would also include housing and a hotel. 08-Mar-2000
NTL is to create 500 new jobs at its call centres in south Wales, following the announcement of plans to launch a new service providing free internet access. 08-Mar-2000
Pearson is forming an alliance with AOL to develop an internet-based education network, and has also announced the acquisition of minority stakes in a number of online educational companies. 07-Mar-2000
Parallel Pictures is raising £3m in a share placing in order to fund its transformation into a supplier of internet-based business-to-business services. 07-Mar-2000
Whereonearth.com, the Ipswich-based digital mapping company, is considering plans for a £250m flotation in order to fund the development of its database of world place names. 06-Mar-2000
BSkyB has acquired a 9.9% stake in Chelsea, in a £40m deal that will also see the development of a joint venture internet portal for the football club. 06-Mar-2000
Emap has invested £4m in two web-based businesses, gaining an 18% stake in Alloutdoors.com of the US and a 13.5% stake in the Thematis entertainment site in France. 06-Mar-2000
Telewest is forming an alliance with Andersen Consulting to develop new technology for video-on-demand and interactive TV. 06-Mar-2000
BSkyB has agreed a £2m deal to operate Tottenham Hotspur's web site, prompting speculation that another media agency agreement could follow. 03-Mar-2000
BSkyB is forming an alliance with TiVo of the US to launch a personal video recorder in the UK that enables viewers to personalise their TV viewing. 29-Feb-2000
The BBC is in discussions with a number of potential partners for its Beeb.com internet service, in order to exploit new commercial opportunities. 28-Feb-2000
United News & Media has announced plans to invest £370m in the internet over the next three years, and will bring its European internet operations together into a single new division. 25-Feb-2000
Reed Elsevier is planning to invest £750m in its online businesses over the next three years, and is also launching a £250m cost-cutting campaign. 24-Feb-2000
Rank has acquired a digital disk duplication business from Pioneer North America for £11m, and will spend £6m expanding the facility. 23-Feb-2000
Scottish Media Group is planning to spend £10m on its internet business over the next 18 months, including online recruitment, radio stations, auto trading and house buying. 23-Feb-2000
Teamtalk.com is planning to raise £60m in a share placing, in order to improve the content of its football web sites and establish offices in continental Europe and the US. 22-Feb-2000
ITN is to launch a 24-hour news channel later this year in partnership with NTL. 21-Feb-2000
Wilmington is to raise £28m in a share placing in order to reduce debt and expand its specialist publishing business through acquisition. 18-Feb-2000
Dorling Kindersley is to shed 40 jobs at its Covent Garden offices in London, as part of a cost-cutting campaign. 18-Feb-2000
GWR is to set up a £6m internet business called Ecast Ventures, which will include a network of local web sites and a radio entertainment portal. 17-Feb-2000
Photobition is planning a US share listing, as part of a strategy to double its sales of display graphics in the US within a year. 15-Feb-2000
Elmsdale Media is planning to float Yes Television, the supplier of video on demand services over the telephone network. 14-Feb-2000
Rank is looking to sell Pinewood Studios for about £50m, in order to focus on holidays and restaurants. 14-Feb-2000
Perth & Kinross Council is to consider plans from the Scottish Film Studio Partnership for the development of a £225m commercial film studio next to the Gleneagles golf course in Perthshire. 10-Feb-2000
BSkyB has announced plans to invest £250m over the next 18 months on the development of its internet business, by putting more content on computers and mobile handsets. 10-Feb-2000
BSkyB has paid £6m for a 14% stake in Streets Online, the internet-based seller of books, music, games and videos that is planning a £150m flotation. 10-Feb-2000
NTL is to set up a customer management centre in Waterford with the creation of 250 jobs, having recently acquired Dublin cable provider Cablelink. 09-Feb-2000
Granada has bought a 9.1% stake in Australia's Seven Network for £56m, and has also set up a joint venture TV production company with Seven. 09-Feb-2000
Reuters is planning to invest £500m in its internet operations over the next four years, and has announced a joint venture with Aether of the US to distribute its services to mobile handsets. 09-Feb-2000
United News & Media and Carlton Communications have had their proposed merger referred to the Competition Commission, which is expected to lead to a major review of ownership of the ITV network. 09-Feb-2000
Sports Internet has acquired a 49% stake in Sports e-tail from Hay & Robertson for £20m, in order to sell sports merchandise and tickets online. 09-Feb-2000
Gameplay.com has reached agreement with NTL to provide games software for an interactive TV shopping channel run by NTL. 09-Feb-2000
Chrysalis has bought a 65% stake in Ride the Tiger, an internet-based music and lifestyle company, for £4m. 09-Feb-2000
Independent News & Media is setting up a new office at the Lothbury Building in London's Docklands, in order to house 150 staff. 07-Feb-2000
Eurobell is to set up a new customer call centre for its cable TV business in Exeter in June, with the creation of 150 jobs. 04-Feb-2000
BBC Worldwide is forming a £62m joint venture with merchant bank Veronis Suhler to build a new publishing-based consumer media company in the US. 04-Feb-2000
Turner Broadcasting has awarded a £4.5m contract to Ibex for the fitting out of offices at Great Marlborough Street in central London. 03-Feb-2000
Sportal, the developer of sports-based internet sites, is receiving a 5.4% equity investment from BSkyB, thought to be worth about £10m. 02-Feb-2000
Aberdeen Journals, the local newspaper publisher, is looking to shed up to 40 jobs following a fall in advertising revenue. 01-Feb-2000
United News & Media is in discussions with a number of companies about the planned sale of 40% of its Miller Freeman business publishing interests for about £690m. 01-Feb-2000
Britt Allcroft has received a £224m takeover approach from HIT Entertainment, the media group that specialises in cartoon characters. 01-Feb-2000
QXL is forming strategic partnerships with four internet service providers in the Netherlands, in order to strengthen its position in the Dutch online auction sector. 01-Feb-2000
Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council is considering plans from Avanti Television to set up a £1.3m TV recording studio and national media centre at the Welsh Hill Works at Porth. 31-Jan-2000
Paradigm Corporate Communications has acquired KDA, the Bristol-based marketing communications agency, for undisclosed terms. 28-Jan-2000
News International is buying a 25% stake in Scottish Knowledge, the supplier of distance learning courses on behalf of Scotland's 13 universities, in a £3.5m deal. 28-Jan-2000
Pearson has raised £250m in a share placing, in order to fund the expansion of its internet operations over the next two years. 27-Jan-2000
Dorling Kindersley, the multimedia publishing company, has expressed interest in giving up its independence and may consider possible takeover offers. 27-Jan-2000
Capital Radio is to become a national broadcaster with the launch of Life, a new music station available on the Digital One network. 26-Jan-2000
Newsquest is acquiring a 9.9% stake in Freeserve Auctions, the internet-based auctions division of Freeserve, in return for £10m of advertising support in its local newspapers plus £2m cash. 25-Jan-2000
Sports & Outdoor Media, the sports marketing company, has received a preliminary takeover approach from an unnamed company. 25-Jan-2000
Dennis Publishing is to relocate its London headquarters to a 38,000 sq ft facility in Cleveland Street. 24-Jan-2000
Chrysalis is planning to build alliances with new media companies and internet start-ups, in order to develop new outlets for its radio and TV content. 22-Jan-2000
Scottish Radio Holdings is raising £75m in a rights issue, in order to reduce debt and finance further acquisitions in its three divisions - radio, newspapers, and outdoor advertising. 21-Jan-2000
Newsquest has linked up with Chrysalis to launch a temporary radio station in Oxford called More 106.8FM, with a view to obtaining a new licence from the Radio Authority. 19-Jan-2000
Shandwick International, the public relations consultancy, has closed its Leeds office in order to consolidate its north of England base in Manchester. 19-Jan-2000
Reuters is planning to float a 25% stake in its Greenhouse Fund of new media investments, as part of a revamp of its internet activities. 19-Jan-2000
Virgin Cinemas is to sell its 25% stake in The Film Consortium to Whitecliff Film & Television, which will give Whitecliff access to £33m of Arts Council production funding. 19-Jan-2000
William Reed has formed a joint venture with the Society of Licensed Victuallers to take over publication of the Morning Advertiser pub trade newspaper. 18-Jan-2000
Scoot.com has secured £100m of new funding from Vivendi of France, in order to expand its telephone and internet directory service. 18-Jan-2000
Octopus, the book publisher, is spinning off its internet operations into a new company called digitaloctopus.com, in order to sell its media content to other web sites. 13-Jan-2000
Emap has acquired a 45% stake in Kick Media, the US developer of magazine web sites, for £4.8m. 13-Jan-2000
BSkyB is to have its position in the pay TV market reviewed by the Office of Fair Trading, which could lead to restrictions being lifted on how the company supplies channels to cable operators. 12-Jan-2000
Independent News & Media is planning to float a stake in iTouch International, the mobile information service that is valued at about £300m. 12-Jan-2000
Talk Radio is to launch a new bid to win a digital radio licence in London, and has also announced plans to relaunch itself as a sports-focused radio station. 11-Jan-2000
Geo Interactive Media is planning to raise £196m in a share issue, in order to fund the expansion of its international multimedia business through acquisition. 11-Jan-2000
Future Network has acquired four music and home entertainment magazines from Dennis Publishing for undisclosed terms. 10-Jan-2000
Granada has expressed interest in bidding for either Carlton Communications or United News & Media, which is expected to increase the chances of the proposed merger between Carlton and United being referred to the Competition Commission. 08-Jan-2000
United News & Media has offered to increase its stake in Channel 5 by 6% to 35%, and CLT-Ufa and Pearson are also expected to be interested in acquiring additional equity from Warburg Pincus. 06-Jan-2000
IMS is looking to raise up to £70m from the flotation of Teamtalk.com, its internet and telephone-based football news service. 06-Jan-2000
Guardian Media is selling its 15% stake in GMTV for £18m, with equal shares being acquired by Scottish Media, Granada and Carlton Communications. 05-Jan-2000
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