Independent Television News and Teletext are joining forces to
develop media services for digital television. The joint venture,
provisionally called the Information Channel, will combine text, video
and audio to provide the latest news and information from ITN and
Teletext broadcast around the clock on digital television.
The Radio Authority has awarded the East London licence to Active FM,
after the authority withdrew the licence from Asia FM for failing to
secure funding from sufficient culturally diverse sources in October.
Active FM’s programming will combine popular music with local news and
information.
The Cartoon Network has launched an integrated through-the-line campaign
for Toys ’R’ Us, including airtime slots and an in-store promotion
supported by the channel’s textline service, Toon Text. The tie-up
includes a competition focusing on the Cartoon Network series, the Mask,
and comprises a teaser campaign and ads to encourage children to pick up
entry forms from Toys ’R’ Us stores.
The complexities of digital television will be unravelled at a one-day
conference, ’What’s On Channel 400 Tonight’ on 2 December. The
Campaign-sponsored event will be chaired by Paul Edwards, the chief
executive of the Henley Centre, and speakers include David Elstein,
chief executive of Channel 5, Paul Woolmington, worldwide media director
of Ammirati Puris Lintas, and Richard Burdett, vice-president of
marketing at Flextech. For details, call 0171-413 4116.
United Broadcasting and Entertainment has appointed John Willis, the
former director of programmes at Channel 4, as managing director of
United Film and Television Production. Willis will have overall
responsibility for all of United’s programme productions.
Haymarket Business Publications has acquired Delegates magazine from
Miller Freeman. The bi-monthly controlled circulation title is to merge
with Haymarket’s Conference and Incentive Travel title from the
November/December issue.
The Paramount Comedy Channel has signed agreements with a number of
additional cable operators to increase its penetration by a further
30,000 homes. The deals with Westminster and Milton Keynes BT Cable TV
Services bring Paramount’s cable distribution to 88 per cent of the
total network.
Talk Radio has won the rights to broadcast live commentary of next
year’s World Cup, giving fans a choice of national radio commentary,
previously broadcast exclusively by BBC Radio 5. The station will tailor
its airtime packages for advertisers during the tournament.
VNU Business Publications is to publish the official magazine of the
London Society of Chartered Accountants, the London Accountant. The
revamped magazine will be published ten times a year and sent to more
than 33,000 LSCA members. VNU publishes Accountancy Age and will use the
magazine as a means of distribution for the London Accountant.
Future Publishing launches a monthly magazine called Internet.Works this
week, aimed at people in business involved with IT or marketing. The
magazine will carry a covermounted CD-Rom each month.
H. Bauer is launching a pilot Christmas special of its home and
lifestyle magazine, Beautiful Living, which is set to go monthly in
March. Edited by Penny Dash, launch editor of IPC’s Homes & Ideas,
Beautiful Living is priced pounds 2.20. Bauer anticipates a circulation
of about 150,000. It is is targeted at a core audience of 35-year-olds,
with a wider readership of 25- to 55-year-olds, who are second-time
home-owners with money to invest.
