Sanctuary Group, the heavy metal rock music management company, is to join the Stock Exchange in January by reversing into the Burlington investment company. [31-Dec-1997]
Reed Elsevier is close to agreeing to a £900m management buy-out of its IPC Magazines business, in a deal being negotiated with the Cinven venture capital group. [29-Dec-1997]
Reed Elsevier is to acquire Editions Prat, the French legal publisher, for undisclosed terms. [27-Dec-1997]
Fairway, the printing services group, has received an approach which could lead to an offer being made for the company. [27-Dec-1997]
Johnston Press is acquiring Home Counties Newspapers, the family-controlled publisher of the Hampstead and Highgate Express, for £52m. [23-Dec-1997]
Southern Newspapers has acquired Bailey Newspaper Group, the Gloucestershire-based regional newspaper publisher, for £35m. [23-Dec-1997]
British Digital Broadcasting has won three ITC licences to start up 18 pay-TV channels from October 1998. [20-Dec-1997]
UDO, the reprographics and office supplies company, is to be acquired by Grupo Picking Pack of Spain for £46m. [20-Dec-1997]
Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the London-based advertising agency, is to sell a 49% stake in itself to the Leo Burnett agency of Chicago for undisclosed terms. [18-Dec-1997]
Mirror Group's Live TV subsidiary has won a High Court injunction forcing CableTel to carry its cable TV channel in the Sample Choice package, a decision which could prevent other cable companies from unbundling channels into simpler and cheaper packages. [17-Dec-1997]
Discovery Channel of the US is trying to buy a stake in the BBC's UK pay television business, as part of a deal that would give it the right to set up channels based on BBC programmes around the world. [16-Dec-1997]
The proposed merger between Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer is undergoing an in-depth investigation by the European Commission due to concerns that the merged group would have a dominant position in taxation and legal publishing. [12-Dec-1997]
Pearson is said to be interested in acquiring a financial information business from Primark of the US for about £600m, but it could face competition from Thomson of Canada and Bridge Information Systems of the US. [11-Dec-1997]
Ginger Productions is acquiring Virgin Radio for £85m, thereby preventing Capital Radio from succeeding with its £87m bid. [09-Dec-1997]
Wilmington Group has completed the acquisition of 12 titles from Macmillan Publishers for almost £1m. [09-Dec-1997]
Telewest Communications is said to have held preliminary discussions that could lead to its acquisition by US West, the US telecoms and media group that already has a 27% stake in Telewest. [08-Dec-1997]
British Digital Broadcasting is in discussions with internet television providers, such as Microsoft and Oracle, to offer interactive and internet-based services via telephone lines and set-top boxes when it launches digital TV next year. [04-Dec-1997]
United News & Media is considering the sale of United Provincial Newspapers, its regional newspaper business thought to be worth about £400m, having received a number of approaches. [02-Dec-1997]
BSkyB is planning to start making made-for-TV movies for its Sky One and Sky Movies channels. [01-Dec-1997]
ITN is acquiring a 49% stake in Euronews, the pan-European TV news service, from Alcatel-Alsthom for £5.1m. [29-Nov-1997]
Time Warner of the US has expressed interest in acquiring the IPC consumer magazines group from Reed Elsevier, but it may have to compete against a number of European publishing companies. [28-Nov-1997]
More's Adshel division is acquiring the bus shelter advertising franchise for Washington DC for £5m. [28-Nov-1997]
Flextech is to take a 87% stake in Marchbrand, a new company being set up to provide a television-based travel service. [27-Nov-1997]
The Radio Authority has revised the terms for next year's auction of frequency bands to allow broadcasters greater flexibility in transmitting data as well as sound over the new digital channels. [26-Nov-1997]
Creation Records is considering plans to float its Creation Songs music publishing business on Aim, although it may instead decide to sell a large stake to a major music group. [25-Nov-1997]
Granada is considering the future sale of its 10.7% stake in BSkyB due to a conflict of interest in the increasingly competitive UK pay TV market. [21-Nov-1997]
WPP has acquired an initial 37% stake in Batey, the Singapore advertising agency, and has the option to take control of Batey for about £30m. [21-Nov-1997]
Financial Times Television is cutting 56 jobs as it expects to lose a programming contract with CNBC. [21-Nov-1997]
Taylor Nelson AGB is to acquire Sofres, the French market information company, for £119m, in order to improve the market research services offered to multinational companies. [19-Nov-1997]
Emap is to launch another TV music channel called Magic, which will be similar to The Box but aimed at an older audience. [19-Nov-1997]
Abbott Mead Vickers has acquired Colour Solutions, the digital photography business, from Diversified Agency Services for £850,000. [18-Nov-1997]
Emap is acquiring medical magazines and exhibitions from Macmillan Magazines at a cost of £102m. [18-Nov-1997]
M-R Group has acquired PCL Group, the information supplier, for £4.5m. [15-Nov-1997]
Ginger Productions has made a £80m offer to merge with Virgin Radio, following regulatory problems which have delayed Capital Radio's £87m agreed bid. [14-Nov-1997]
Timothy Benn Publishing, which prints the Post Magazine, is being sold to a management buy-in for £17m. [13-Nov-1997]
BSkyB is launching a pay-per-view movies service in December in an attempt to establish Sky Box Office before the introduction of digital TV. [13-Nov-1997]
Telewest, General Cable, Diamond Cable and NTL are planning to offer a pay-per-view movie channel to telephone-only cable subscribers using a set-top box, in sharp contrast to BSkyB's policy of insisting that customers subscribe to premium channels before receiving pay-per-view. [12-Nov-1997]
Cable & Wireless Communications is planning to offer internet web television and home shopping services to its 3.8m cable customers, and is in discussions with a number of US software and internet service companies. [11-Nov-1997]
Tele-Cine Cell, the television production company, has ended talks which could have led to a bid for the company, and has also announced the acquisition of the remaining 50% of XTV. [11-Nov-1997]
BSkyB is to submit proposals to provide a nightly news programme for Channel Four, and expects to undercut the current ITN service on price. [08-Nov-1997]
Cable & Wireless Communications and BSkyB have agreed to co-operate on the launch of the UK's first digital television services next spring with joint promotional and marketing activities. [07-Nov-1997]
Elstree Studios is to invest £4.5m in its film studios in order to expand capacity by 150% and attract US movie makers. [06-Nov-1997]
Hays has acquired DEI, the document management company, for an initial £17m, in order to expand its range of back-office support services. [05-Nov-1997]
British Digital Broadcasting has announced that digital TV set-top boxes will be sold for about £200, offering consumers about 30 channels from next autumn. [05-Nov-1997]
Channel Four has invited outside bodies to suggest innovative ideas for its 7pm news programme, which could result in ITN losing the contract. [05-Nov-1997]
Daily Mail Group (DMG) has won a concession to operate the Hungarian commercial radio station Danubius, in partnership with the Radiotrust Investment Fund and Hungary's OTP Bank. [03-Nov-1997]
VNU is increasing its stake in Scoot, the Freepages business directories service, from 4.4% to 10% to help the two companies forge closer commercial ties. [31-Oct-1997]
Telewest Communications is in discussions with Flextech over the creation of a basic package of BBC television programmes that would rival BSkyB's package. [31-Oct-1997]
Visual Action, the corporate presentations company, is being acquired by Carabiner of the US. [30-Oct-1997]
Hit Entertainment, the children's television rights distributor, has announced expansion plans which will involve the purchase of rights to children's stories and acquisitions in product licensing and merchandising. [29-Oct-1997]
WPP is said to be planning to acquire a minority stake in Chime Communications, the public relations company that is preparing to acquire the Henry Chaldecott Lury advertising agency. [28-Oct-1997]
Reed Elsevier has announced plans to sell its IPC consumer magazines division, which could fetch up to £1bn, and interested companies are likely to include United News & Media and Bertelsmann. [28-Oct-1997]
Granada is considering the sale of a minority stake in Granada Sky Broadcasting, its pay TV joint venture with BSkyB, in order to improve its image in the City. [27-Oct-1997]
Channel Four is to increase its output of original programming during peak viewing hours to 70% under a proposed revision to its operating licence, following criticism that it has been using US comedies to grow its audience share. [24-Oct-1997]
Photobition is acquiring Novo, the distributor of films to airlines and studios, for £28m with the intention of converting the films into a digital format. [23-Oct-1997]
Mirror Group has won government approval for the £297m acquisition of Midland Independent Newspapers, its first major move into regional newspapers. [22-Oct-1997]
Telewest, NTL, Diamond Cable and General Cable have signed an agreement with Warner Brothers for the supply of movies for a pay-per-view cable service that will be launched next year. [22-Oct-1997]
General Cable is substantially increasing prices for new cable TV customers and will only accept subscribers that also order its telephone service, in order to stem losses. [16-Oct-1997]
Reed Elsevier is thought to be likely to sell its IPC Magazines division if the government goes ahead with plans to abolish advance corporation tax. [16-Oct-1997]
Reed Elsevier is planning a £17.5bn merger with Wolters Kluwer of Amsterdam, creating the world's largest professional and scientific publisher with combined sales of about £5bn. [14-Oct-1997]
Daily Mail & General Trust has acquired 25 Australian radio stations from Regional Broadcasters Australia for £40m, as well as nine FM licences. [11-Oct-1997]
Virgin Radio has revealed that there are a number of other interested suitors should its proposed takeover by Capital Radio be blocked by the Monopolies & Mergers Commission. [11-Oct-1997]
CanWest of Canada has increased its stake in Ulster Television to 7.4%, and says it would consider joining any consortium that may bid for the company in future. [10-Oct-1997]
The BBC has won government permission to set up a 24-hour television news channel on cable networks from next month. [10-Oct-1997]
Johnston Press has acquired North Derbyshire Newspapers for undisclosed terms. [09-Oct-1997]
GGT Group is merging its two London advertising agencies into a new company called BDDP GGT in order to give the group a higher profile. [09-Oct-1997]
Bloomsbury, the book publisher, is moving into electronic publishing by creating a worldwide quotations database for Microsoft's Bookshelf CD-ROM. [08-Oct-1997]
ITV is to create a smaller programming policy group in order to streamline the decision-making process for programme scheduling at its member companies. [08-Oct-1997]
Four cable companies - Telewest, General Cable, NTL and Diamond - are close to agreeing a deal with Warner Brothers about setting up their own movie channels in competition with BSkyB. [04-Oct-1997]
Vitec has acquired Lumiere Productions, the US maker of intercom systems for the broadcasting industry, for £12.4m. [03-Oct-1997]
Avesco is acquiring 94% of Jongenelen Holdings, the Dutch giant screen rental company, for up to £2.3m. [03-Oct-1997]
GMBM, the recruitment advertising agency, has been acquired by a management team from Osprey Communications for about £1m. [03-Oct-1997]
Pearson has acquired All American, the US TV production company, for £233m, and now claims that its Pearson TV subsidiary is the largest international producer of entertainment and serial drama. [02-Oct-1997]
The Independent Television Commission has received 31 applications to run city-wide TV franchises on a sixth terrestrial channel, and licences are likely to be awarded early next year. [02-Oct-1997]
Cordiant, the advertising group, has announced plans for a demerger, which will result in two separate companies - Saatchi & Saatchi and Cordiant Communications Group, which will own the Bates agency. [01-Oct-1997]
Capital Radio is planning to sell its 14.9% stake in GWR via a placing. [30-Sep-1997]
The Stationery Office is acquiring Whitaker's Almanac, the annual reference book, from J Whitaker & Sons for undisclosed terms. [29-Sep-1997]
Reed Elsevier is expected to negotiate compensation for advertisers following the revelation that it has been overstating circulation figures for some of its travel guides since 1991. [29-Sep-1997]
Manchester United is expected to announce a plan to set up its own TV channel in conjunction with BSkyB and Granada, although it will not have the rights to show its Premier League matches until at least 2002. [27-Sep-1997]
Pearson is forming an alliance with Telefonica which will take a stake in Antena 3, the Spanish commercial TV channel, in order to provide a base for expansion into Spanish and Latin American TV. [26-Sep-1997]
Alliance of Canada is acquiring Electric Pictures, the UK film distributor, as part of a strategy to expand into the UK entertainment sector. [25-Sep-1997]
WPP has confirmed plans to merge the media operations of J Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather to create a new company called Mindshare, and it will also go-ahead with the acquisition of Buchanan Communications. [23-Sep-1997]
Elmsdale Media is planning to set up an interactive cable television channel which will offer pay-per-view movies in competition to BSkyB, and is currently in negotiations with Hollywood studios. [23-Sep-1997]
Carlton Communications is forming a joint venture with Intermedia to prepare feature films for production, and Carlton will merge its international sales operation with Village Intermedia Pictures. [20-Sep-1997]
WPP is planning to merge the UK media buying operations of its two advertising units, J Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather. [20-Sep-1997]
The government is considering the possibility of offering financial incentives for people to switch to digital broadcasting in order to maximise the number of people benefiting from the new technology. [19-Sep-1997]
Daily Mail & General Trust is linking up with the Press Association to provide a news service covering five London regions for its Channel One cable TV channel. [17-Sep-1997]
Pearson is said to be considering a takeover of All American Communications, the £300m television production company, although a number of US companies are also interested. [17-Sep-1997]
Cypher Group has been created to acquire Library Services (UK) from Blackwell and Morley Books and Greenhead Books from Johnston Press, for a total consideration of £7.5m, making it the leading supplier of library books. [16-Sep-1997]
Carlton Communications has acquired Metrocolor London from Time Warner Entertainment for £3.8m, and will combine it with its Technicolor film processing business. [12-Sep-1997]
WPP is to acquire Buchanan Communications, the public relations company, for up to £15m. [12-Sep-1997]
Bristol United Press has acquired the Wessex regional newspapers business, which includes 11 West Country newspapers, from Newsquest for £35m. [11-Sep-1997]
Independent Newspapers of Dublin is looking to make a large acquisition of up to £200m, and has identified continental Europe and south-east Asia as target areas. [11-Sep-1997]
Cable & Wireless Communications is launching a mass consumer survey to determine what channels and services are most in demand by cable TV subscribers. [10-Sep-1997]
Aegis, the media buying company, is planning further international expansion via acquisitions in Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. [10-Sep-1997]
Scottish Media has announced its intention of retaining its 18% stake in Ulster Television and may launch a full bid next year. [09-Sep-1997]
LLP, the publisher of 300 business publications including Lloyds List, has acquired MRC Business Information Group, the provider of market reports, for undisclosed terms. [08-Sep-1997]
VFG has bought GP Film Services, the broadcast equipment rental concern, for £1.4m. [06-Sep-1997]
Cable & Wireless Communications is negotiating an exclusive programme supply deal with BSkyB, a move which is likely to disrupt attempts by the cable industry to develop their own programme supply business and a movie channel. [04-Sep-1997]
Johnston Press, the regional newspaper company, is discussing the sale of its bookbinding and library bookselling businesses. [04-Sep-1997]
Cable & Wireless Communications is planning a £50m marketing campaign aimed at establishing its reputation as the largest cable company, a move which will end hopes for a generic all-industry campaign. [03-Sep-1997]
United News & Media is acquiring Telecom Library, the US publisher of computer-telephony magazines, for £80m. [02-Sep-1997]
On Demand Information, the multimedia publishing concern, is looking for a buyer having failed to stem continued losses. [30-Aug-1997]
Photobition Group is acquiring Scanachrome, the graphics business, for up to £3m in order to expand its product range and geographical coverage. [30-Aug-1997]
Rushmere Wynne, the financial publisher, is acquiring Coutts Consulting's training division for £6.5m, which includes the Eynsham Hall and Chewton Place training companies. [28-Aug-1997]
Telewest and General Cable are said to have pulled out of talks with NTL to create the UK's largest cable company, following a disagreement over price. [28-Aug-1997]
The European Commission is to review the arrangement between BSkyB, British Telecom, Midland Bank, and Matsushita Electric, for the launch of home banking and shopping because of fears that they may restrict competition by subsidising the set-top boxes. [28-Aug-1997]
Trinity International is acquiring Post Publications, the Dublin-based publisher of the Sunday Business Post, for £4.9m. [20-Aug-1997]
Carlton Communications has bought the Rohauer Film Collection of classic movies for undisclosed terms. [20-Aug-1997]
WPP is taking a 49% stake in two new market research ventures in China - one in Hong Kong and the other in Guangzhou. [18-Aug-1997]
Pearson is to sell its Churchill Livingstone medical publishing operation to Harcourt General of the US for £57m. [16-Aug-1997]
Scottish Media has increased its stake in Ulster Television to 14.99% at a cost of over £14m. [15-Aug-1997]
Emap is acquiring Mason Stewart Publishing and Bounty Services in Australia for £5m. [13-Aug-1997]
IBC has bought the Unix & NT News and IBM System User magazines from ComputerWire for up to £1.7m. [13-Aug-1997]
Reed Elsevier has sold its Tigerprint greeting cards business to management for £12.5m, as part of a plan to sell off its Reed Books division. [11-Aug-1997]
Telewest has announced a restructuring programme in which it will cut over 1,000 jobs in order to cut costs by 20% and concentrate on sales and marketing instead of the construction of cable TV networks. [08-Aug-1997]
Reed Elsevier is soon expected to announce the sale of its children's books publishing business, and interested parties are said to include Random House, Britt Allcroft, and Egmont International. [08-Aug-1997]
Aspen has sold its 80% stake in GP Film, the television equipment hire company, to management for £1.6m. [08-Aug-1997]
WPP has bought a 69.7% stake in Bellanger Foucaucourt & Associes, the French direct marketing company, for £2.65m, and has an option to buy the remainder. [07-Aug-1997]
Chrysalis is to acquire Faze FM Radio, which runs Kiss 102 in Manchester and Kiss 105 in Yorkshire, for £17.5m. [07-Aug-1997]
WPP, the marketing services company, has acquired Addison Investments, the producer of corporate literature, for £5m. [05-Aug-1997]
Telewest is considering a proposal from NTL that they should merge to form an enlarged cable TV group. [04-Aug-1997]
Daily Mail & General Trust is to reduce losses at its Channel One cable TV news service by cutting staff by nearly half and restructuring its programmes. [02-Aug-1997]
Capital Radio's £65m bid for Virgin Radio has been referred to the Monopolies & Mergers Commission, due to concern over the possible effect on the radio advertising market in London. [01-Aug-1997]
More Group, the outdoor advertising company, has expanded its Belgian business by acquiring a 50% stake in Publifer and a 100% stake in Sape Belgium. [31-Jul-1997]
CDA Media has bought Broadcast Satellite Television, the narrow band cable TV company, from Atlantic Telecom for £400,000. [31-Jul-1997]
Quantum Publishing has bought 14 business publications, including Media Week and Press Gazette, from Emap for £14m. [31-Jul-1997]
The BBC has announced a major restructuring of Radio 4, which will include many scheduling alterations in order to reverse the decline in the station's share of listeners. [31-Jul-1997]
Television Corporation, the television services company, is opening a Virtual Art studio which it will rent out to companies wanting to generate artificial moving images, and it has also announced the acquisition of 200 hours of Royal Family footage which should boost sales by £100,000 a year. [30-Jul-1997]
The government has decided to phase out the Channel 4 funding formula by 1999, meaning that the channel will no longer have to make special payments to ITV and will instead have a further £80m a year to invest in programmes. [29-Jul-1997]
More Group has set up a new subsidiary called MoreSport which will sell advertising space at rugby and other sports grounds. [29-Jul-1997]
Abbott Mead Vickers, the advertising agency, has acquired Aurelia Public Relations, which specialises in the fashion industry, for up to £4.2m. [25-Jul-1997]
Camelot has won regulatory approval to run a TV game show based on National Lottery scratchcards, and it is expected to be launched in the new year. [25-Jul-1997]
Euromoney Publications has acquired Institutional Investor, the US business press company, from Walt Disney for £85m. [17-Jul-1997]
Bloomberg has launched a 24-hour satellite channel that will include business news, general news, weather and sport. [12-Jul-1997]
Avesco, the television services concern, has acquired a 51% stake in AVTS, the US supplier of video-based technical services, for about £5.9m. [10-Jul-1997]
The BBC has announced plans to invest about £1bn in digital television over the next five years, with a further £500m going on existing services. [09-Jul-1997]
Mirror Group is acquiring Midland Independent Newspapers for £297m, making it a major force in regional newspapers. [05-Jul-1997]
Pearson is selling its 49% stake in Troll Communications, the children's books distributor, to Torstar of Canada for £55m. [02-Jul-1997]
Independent Television News is discussing the acquisition of a 49% stake in Euronews, Alcatel's lossmaking European TV news channel. [28-Jun-1997]
United News & Media has made a recommended £262m bid for the remaining 70% of HTV, the Welsh broadcaster, signalling further consolidation in the independent TV sector. [28-Jun-1997]
The Independent Television Commission has awarded the main licence for digital terrestrial television to British Digital Broadcasting, the consortium made up of Carlton Communications and Granada. [25-Jun-1997]
Reed Elsevier is acquiring the three main divisions of Chilton Business Group, the US trade press publisher, for £270m. [24-Jun-1997]
United News & Media is acquiring FPG International, the stock photography business, from Visual Communications Group of the US for undisclosed terms. [24-Jun-1997]
BSkyB is to withdraw from the British Digital Broadcasting consortium, which is expected to win the digital terrestrial television franchise, following pressure from the Independent Television Commission. [23-Jun-1997]
BSkyB has been told by the Independent Television Commission to drop its stake in one of the digital television consortia, otherwise its British Digital Broadcasting joint venture with Carlton and Granada will be ruled out of the contest. [18-Jun-1997]
Midland Independent Newspapers, the regional newspaper publisher worth up to £300m, has received a takeover approach from Mirror Group and talks are progressing. [18-Jun-1997]
Megalomedia is acquiring Computer Film Holdings, the supplier of digital effects on movies, for up to £8.6m. [17-Jun-1997]
MTV is to launch a video music channel targeted specifically at a UK audience in July, called MTV In The UK. [16-Jun-1997]
Time Inc of the US is buying Wallpaper, the new UK design and travel magazine, for £1m. [14-Jun-1997]
Daily Mail & General Trust is to review the future of Channel One, its cable TV channel that is thought to be losing about £7m a year, and may consider satellite distribution in order to reach a larger market. [13-Jun-1997]
GWR is to pull out of Media Sales and Marketing and will instead sell its own airtime on its radio stations. [12-Jun-1997]
Scottish Media, which is acquiring Grampian Television for £105m, wants to loosen its ties with ITV as Scottish devolution gathers pace, but would retain an affiliate status that enables it to select programmes that are most suitable for Scottish viewers. [11-Jun-1997]
Granada is planning a takeover of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television, which is thought to be worth about £800m, in a deal that would create a dominant force in independent television in the north of England. [10-Jun-1997]
Sunset & Vine has agreed a £1.5m deal with France Galop which gives it international TV rights to 33 French horse races. [09-Jun-1997]
BSkyB is in discussions with Cable & Wireless Communications, the largest cable group in the UK, about the launch of joint pay-per-view television services. [06-Jun-1997]
Thomson Directories, the information services company, is being sold by US West International to a consortium that includes existing management for £80m. [05-Jun-1997]
WPP is acquiring a 14.4% stake in CIA, Europe's second largest independent media buying company, and some analysts believe that a closer alliance or a full bid could follow. [04-Jun-1997]
The BBC is said to have amassed a cash mountain of £500m over recent years, due to the sale of its transmitter systems, advanced TV licence fee payments, and cost savings. [02-Jun-1997]
Scottish Media, the owner of Scottish Television, is to acquire Grampian, the other Scottish ITV company, for over £100m. [02-Jun-1997]
The government has indicated that it is considering ending the Channel 4 funding formula, which has resulted in the channel paying over £250m to the ITV companies since 1993. [31-May-1997]
Granada Group has decided against demerging its television interests from its leisure business, and will now focus on expanding it internationally. [23-May-1997]
CIA Group, the media buyer, is to acquire Mar-Media Group of Sweden and Media Marketing of Norway, for almost £30m. [23-May-1997]
General Cable is planning to offer small packages of cable TV channels to its subscribers later this year, and hopes that the channel owners will agree to these more flexible arrangements. [22-May-1997]
Chrysalis Group is to apply for commercial radio licences in the north-west and north-east of England, and has also announced plans to start filming its first TV soap opera which is called Breakers and is set in Sydney. [17-May-1997]
The BBC is continuing with plans to invest £30m in setting up a 24 hour digital television channel, despite an announcement by BSkyB that it is delaying the launch of digital satellite TV until next spring. [16-May-1997]
Southern Star Group of Australia has launched a recommended £8.3m takeover bid for Circle Communications, the UK television rights company. [15-May-1997]
Reuters has acquired Hardwick Stafford Wright, the supplier of information to the mutual fund industry, for undisclosed terms. [15-May-1997]
United News & Media has agreed to invest £120m for a 30% stake in Digital Television Network if DTN wins the bidding for one of the digital television frequencies. [09-May-1997]
Telewest is linking up with Cable & Wireless Communications to revolutionise the marketing of cable TV channels by persuading channel owners that subscribers should be able to choose exactly which channels they want to receive. [09-May-1997]
Capital Radio is acquiring Virgin Radio Group, which owns a national commercial licence and an FM licence in London, for £65m, giving Capital a total of three radio stations in London. [07-May-1997]
BSkyB is to form British Interactive Broadcasting, a £700m joint venture with British Telecom, Midland Bank and Matsushita, to launch 200 digital TV channels and interactive services in the UK. [05-May-1997]
Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE), the Irish state-owned TV company, is expected to be given authority to transmit into Northern Ireland from July, making it available in two-thirds of households. [02-May-1997]
Carlton Communications and its partners in the British Digital Broadcasting consortium have started discussions with British Telecom to develop interactive set-top boxes for digital TV. [30-Apr-1997]
Channel 5 is launching a marketing campaign next month aimed at the 20% of people who are believed not to have yet tried tuning into the channel. [29-Apr-1997]
Scottish Television has agreed a 5-year contract with Glasgow Rangers football club to provide big screen programmes for match-day crowds. [26-Apr-1997]
Channel 5 is to be launched on the Astra satellite to enable it to be seen in areas with poor reception. [19-Apr-1997]
Prospect Media Group is to buy the Capital Studios television studio from Capital Radio for £2.5m. [17-Apr-1997]
BSkyB is in discussions with leading cable companies to jointly develop the pay-per-view movie business, and hopes that joining forces will enable them to secure better terms from the Hollywood studios. [12-Apr-1997]
Enterprise Group is acquiring Sundial, the computer services division of TSMS, the television airtime sales company. [10-Apr-1997]
Scottish Television is to change its name to Scottish Media Group following its move into newspaper publishing. [10-Apr-1997]
Discovery Communications of the US is to launch Animal Planet, a TV channel about animals, in the UK this summer. [04-Apr-1997]
Carlton Communications has acquired Rank Film Distributors from the Rank Group for £65m. [03-Apr-1997]
Routledge Publishing is acquiring Carfax, the academic journals publisher. [02-Apr-1997]
Channel 5 was launched on March 30 and claims to have attracted 5.8% of the TV audience during its first evening. [01-Apr-1997]
Reed Elsevier is to acquire MDL Information Systems, the US manager of research and development information, for £201m. [25-Mar-1997]
Mirror Group's Live TV cable television channel has issued a High Court writ against International CableTel for breach of contract as the cable group has recently launched a mini-basic package of channels which excludes Live TV. [21-Mar-1997]
Channel 5 is to get an additional 4m viewers following a government decision to give it use of frequency channel 35 from 9 transmission sites. [20-Mar-1997]
The BBC and Flextech have announced two joint ventures, one of which will run 8 new TV channels and the other will acquire UK Gold. [18-Mar-1997]
Pearson is planning a £100m expansion for the Financial Times newspaper with the aim of increasing international circulation, including new printing plants in Italy and Singapore and additional US coverage. [18-Mar-1997]
Channel 5 has received approval from the Independent Television Commission to launch on March 30. [14-Mar-1997]
Mirror Group plans to cut costs by introducing a training programme to give newspaper production journalists responsibility for entire pages, rather than just text editing. [14-Mar-1997]
Emap has acquired Presse Publishing, the publisher of health and beauty magazines, for undisclosed terms. [13-Mar-1997]
Border Television has won radio authority approval to run Sunderland City Radio. [13-Mar-1997]
The BBC and Flextech are expected to soon announce details of their joint venture to launch up to eight new TV channels, a deal which is likely to give Flextech access to BBC programmes for the next 30 years. [12-Mar-1997]
Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television is in discussions with Laser, the Granada-owned advertising sales house, about marketing the whole of the north of England to advertisers in order to try to prevent the further shift of ad revenue to London. [12-Mar-1997]
Telewest Communications, Bell Cablemedia and Nynex Cablecomms, have appointed General Instrument as supplier of equipment for their launch into digital TV, and orders for blackboxes are expected in the next few weeks. [08-Mar-1997]
Two Way TV is planning the commercial launch of its interactive TV service next week, with a £3m ad campaign in the Midlands. [08-Mar-1997]
BSkyB is ending its digital satellite joint venture with Kirch of Germany, which was intended to give it access to the German pay TV market, due to failure to agree on a number of issues. [07-Mar-1997]
The BBC has sold its radio and television transmission system to a consortium headed by Castle Tower of the US for £244m. [01-Mar-1997]
Rank is discussing the sale of Rank Film Distribution to a company thought to be Carlton Communications. [01-Mar-1997]
HTV is discussing a possible alliance with Warner Brothers of the US, in which it will provide Warner with a way of expanding its European TV production interests. [28-Feb-1997]
Pearson is selling its 10% stake in Television Broadcasts of Hong Kong to Shaw Brothers for £111m, as the investment has failed to provide Pearson with adequate distribution and production opportunities in Asia. [22-Feb-1997]
The BBC has appointed EDS and Coopers & Lybrand to run its finance and business systems in a 10-year contract. [18-Feb-1997]
Video rental transactions in the UK rose 6% last year to 230m, generating revenue of £491m according to the British Video Association. [17-Feb-1997]
Pearson may have to write off £100m from its 1996 profits due to "improper accounting" at Penguin USA. [14-Feb-1997]
Euromoney Publications has acquired 75% of Business Traveller (Holdings) for £1.95m, a company set up to buy Perry Publications. [13-Feb-1997]
United News & Media has acquired three companies for a total £18m - Lemos Britto, the Brazilian trade show organiser, Technology & Learning Magazine of Ohio, and Southwest Newswire of Dallas. [13-Feb-1997]
Carlton Communications has said it will spend up to £100m on the production of programmes for the British Digital Broadcasting consortium. [11-Feb-1997]
Daily Mail & General Trust has acquired a 30% stake in Dolphin Software, the US publisher of information on hazardous chemicals, for £1.8m. [07-Feb-1997]
BSkyB is linking up with Carlton Communications and Granada to bid for the rights to introduce digital terrestrial television in the UK. [31-Jan-1997]
Reed Elsevier is to buy about 50 US legal publications from Thomson Corp, for undisclosed terms. [30-Jan-1997]
Euromoney Publications is to acquire the remaining 49% of its Latin Finance businesses for about £5.4m. [28-Jan-1997]
The BBC is to link up with Telecommunications Inc of the US to launch a range of own brand TV channels in the US next year. [27-Jan-1997]
Rank is planning to sell Rank Film Distributors, which distributes classic British films, as part of a programme to raise £300m. [27-Jan-1997]
United Broadcasting and Entertainment has won a £33m contract to supply its Survival natural history programmes to Discovery Communications of the US. [27-Jan-1997]
Daily Mail & General Trust has been denied permission by the Radio Authority to acquire 80% of Leicester Sound, as it owns a local newspaper and this could be against the public interest. [22-Jan-1997]
Reed Elsevier has acquired Colofon, the Dutch publisher of scientific and business material, for up to £80m. [21-Jan-1997]
MTV Networks Europe is planning to launch two new music channels in the UK later this year - MTV in the UK and M2:Music Television. [20-Jan-1997]
United News & Media has decided against selling its UPN South East regional newspaper division and will instead merge it with UAP, its advertising periodicals division. [20-Jan-1997]
XFM has won an FM commercial radio licence in London, and will be aimed at the 15-34 age group. [17-Jan-1997]
United News & Media is to offer broadcasting consultancy services across Europe in a new joint venture with Havas, the French media concern. [13-Jan-1997]
Mentorn, the independent television production company, is merging with Barraclough Carey, in a move which represents the start of an expected consolidation in the sector as digital TV gets closer. [09-Jan-1997]
Castle Tower Communications of the US has been revealed as the preferred bidder for the BBC's UK transmitter network, which is being privatised in a £250m deal. [04-Jan-1997]
Chrysalis, the music company, has signed an agreement with VNU, the Dutch publishing group, to form CVI Media Group which will become the focus of their European TV production activities. [04-Jan-1997]
Reed Elsevier is planning to invest up to £18m in developing the world's largest scientific database, which will make all of its 1,200 journals available on the internet. [03-Jan-1997]
Goodhead has acquired the remaining 35% of Southwestern Ontario Publishing and Printing from its joint venture partner Newfoundland Capital Corp for £1.5m. [03-Jan-1997]
Trinity International Holdings has sold its Canadian newspaper publishing and printing business to Black Press for £25m. [03-Jan-1997]
A consortium called Ink has been formed to combine the advertising and distribution efforts of alternative magazines such as The Ecologist, Student Outlook and The Big Issue. [02-Jan-1997]
GWR has acquired Radio Wyvern, which operates in Hereford and Worcester, for £3.9m. [01-Jan-1997]