BSkyB has bought a 9 per cent stake in Leeds United for pounds 13.8
million.
Under the deal, BSkyB will act as agent for the club for the next five
years in negotiating football rights outside those negotiated
collectively by the Premier League. General release
The BBC1 controller, Peter Salmon, has said that the BBC is considering
moving its nine pm news strand to ten pm in an attempt to catch up with
ITV in the ratings battle. The Daily Telegraph
Sam Chisholm and David Chance, the former BSkyB
executives, have issued a writ against the Premier League for allegedly
not paying the pair the next tranche of payments in a pounds 30 million
consultancy deal to advise the League on the sale of television football
rights. The Times
The COI has shortlisted Delaney Fletcher Bozell, Abbott Mead Vickers
BBDO, TBWA GGT Simons Palmer and DMB&B to pitch for the Department of
Social Security’s fraud prevention advertising account. General
release
BSkyB is to plough pounds 20 million into original programming this
year, according to its chief executive, Tony Ball. He said that he would
like to see half Sky One’s prime-time shows being UK-produced
programmes. The Observer
W. H. Smith has hired the former Boots Opticians marketer, Stephen
Sinclair, to take up a strategic marketing role following a boardroom
shake-up in which W. H. Smith’s current UK marketing director, Don
Sloan, has moved to the US to head the marketing for its travel chain.
Marketing Week
Levi’s is launching a new range of jeans to replace the 501 and at the
same time it has opened the first of a number of unbranded stores in
London under the name Cinch.
Levi’s Red will feature neither the trademark leather patch nor the
brand name on the trousers.
Cinch stores will also stock non-Levi’s accessories such as watches,
magazines and art books. The Sunday Telegraph
Carlton is planning to rebrand Central and Westcountry under the Carlton
banner. The move will make it the first of the three big ITV companies
to have its name span all its franchises. Financial Times
Grey Advertising has picked up the pounds 20 million task of launching a
new range of foods from Novartis Consumer Health. The range, which will
be marketed under the name Aviva, and contains a high content of
vitamins, minerals and enzymes, will roll out across European markets at
the end of the next year. Marketing Week
The BBC’s plans to launch a dedicated children’s television programming
on its digital channel, BBC Choice, has angered commercial operators
such as Nickelodeon and Fox Kids, which fear they will be hard-pressed
to make sufficient financial returns. Daily Express
ITV’s chief executive, Richard Eyre, used the annual McTaggart lecture
at the Edinburgh International Television Festival to call for a
shake-up in the regulations governing television. He argued that the
quality of programming would not decrease if all regulations governing
the content of TV were stripped away. The Guardian.
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