The rise in the media sector, which followed a positive day's trading on Wednesday, helped the FTSE 100 gain 0.8% to be valued at 5,257.8 points at 3pm today.
Reuters rose 5.8% to 733p and Telewest jumped 6.6% to 64.25p, while rival cable operator NTL rose 6% in New York to 89 cents, staging a recovery after the near-collapse of its share price at the end of last year amid concerns about its £12bn debt burden.
ITV companies Carlton and Granada were also up, as investors renewed their confidence in the companies, despite the news that ITV1 lost the 2001 ratings battle with the BBC.
Carlton rose 3.2% to 256.75p and Granada climbed 1.9% to 147.5p. BSkyB, a rival broadcaster to Carlton and Granada's troubled joint venture digital broadcaster ITV Digital, rose 4.2%.
Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, rose 4.1% to 846.5p, as shareholders returned to the company after losing confidence at the end of last year, when it admitted that it expects advertising revenues in the first quarter of 2002 to fall.
Trinity Mirror, the publisher that was created from the merger of Trinity Newspapers and the Mirror Group, rose 1.8% to 414.5p, despite news that the Competition Commission has concerns about its proposed sale of eight regional newspapers to Johnston Press.
In the advertising sector, Cordiant Communications gained the most, up 4.2% to 100p. This was followed by media-buying group Aegis, which rose 2.5% to 93.75p. WPP Group climbed 1.9% to 763.5p and Chime Communications rose 0.8% to 133.5p.
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