Struggling newspaper group Johnston Press set for activist investor meeting September 11, 2016 Newspaper publisher Johnston Press could come under pressure this week when its chairman meets with an activist investor. The company’s share price has fallen from close to 100p this time last year to 8p. Johnston Press publishes more than 200 regional and local newspapers and bought the national i newspaper from the Independent publisher earlier this year. [...]
Channel 4 set for first meeting with new culture secretary amid uncertainty over ownership and London HQ September 11, 2016 Channel 4 executives are set for their first meeting with the new culture secretary this week and will be seeking clarity over ownership and the location of its headquarters. It emerged this time last year that the government was considering privatising Channel 4, a move that strongly opposed by bosses at the broadcaster. Read more: [...]
Government set to make BBC reveal pay packets of stars on more than £150k September 10, 2016 The next BBC royal charter will force the organisation to divulge the names of more than 100 of its stars who are paid more than £150,000 a year. The charter, which is due to be published on Thursday, is understood to slash the level at which the BBC must disclose the pay of its leading [...]
First the coffee shop, then the events shed, and now this: The Guardian closes its T-shirt business September 9, 2016 Another month, another abandoned venture at the Guardian. News reaches the Capitalist that the newspaper group’s shop – retailer of T-shirts with slogans such as “48%er”, “I’m the one the Daily Mail warned you about” and, alongside a picture of Jeremy Corbyn, “Old Labour New Start” – is to close next month. The online store also sells bags, [...]
Absolute Radio founders launch new DJ-less station to promote British music September 9, 2016 The founders of Absolute Radio have launched a new DJ-less national radio station featuring the voice of a popular sci-fi actor. The Union Jack radio station, which promises to celebrate British artists, will go live at 11am today. Read more: Top Gear and Radio Times magazine owner on for £300m sale The station is launching [...]
Why more firms – from ad agencies to video game companies – are considering EMBAs September 8, 2016 Since Henley Business School started its MBA for Music and Creative Industries in 2011, the number of industry-specific courses being launched has shown little sign of letting up. Most recently, Hertfordshire-based Ashridge Executive Education announced it would offer an EMBA for the Creative Industries for the first time this year. A key group the part-time [...]
Union uproar over ITV plans to close pension scheme September 7, 2016 Broadcaster ITV is under fire from unions over plans to close its pension scheme. The company has told staff it plans to shut its defined benefits pension scheme to future accruals. Under the change, those benefits built up within the current scheme would remain in place. However, future proceeds would be put into a new defined [...]
It’s a date: Time Out owner sells majority stake in online dating service September 5, 2016 Oakley Capital Investments’ share price jumped by more than five per cent today after it announced the sale of its controlling stake in a German online dating service. Oakley, which is headed up by entrepreneur Peter Dubens, has sold part of its share in Parship Elite to German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1. The deal values Parship Elite at [...]
The reason for Britain’s dearth of digital media unicorns – the funding gap September 5, 2016 Much has been written in these pages about the dearth of British start-up success stories in comparison to our US cousins. Digital media companies are no exception. But what is causing this discrepancy? Perhaps most significant is the funding gap. In the UK, there is a strong angel investment culture thanks to seed enterprise investment [...]
Adverts selection: OpenX’s Tim Cadogan and John Murphy on why ad exchanges are a market for lemons and how to improve the quality of traffic September 5, 2016 In the eyes of OpenX, advertising has – or had – a distinctly economic problem. For brands and publishers which trade advertising space programmatically over ad exchanges, information asymmetry and adverse selection are all too common. “It's like a market for lemons”, says John Murphy, vice president of marketplace quality, referencing the famous 1970 paper [...]
