The Trinity Mirror Group is closing its television sales company
Cable Ad Sales.
Last week, the 20-strong sales team was notified that its employer will
cease to exist from 31 August.
The company handled regional sales for both Cable & Wireless and
Telewest in regions around the UK.
Some of the Cable & Wireless regions represented included Bournemouth,
Derby, Portsmouth, Brighton and Surrey. Cable Ad Sales also sold on
behalf of Birmingham Cable Midlands, owned by Telewest.
The reason given for the closure was that Trinity Mirror Group had lost
interest in its cable TV arm after Live TV was axed last October.
However, the company stayed up and running because it had already signed
off long-term contracts with two major cable TV companies.
Matthews said NTL was unhappy about the Trinity Mirror Group announcing
the closure and handing back the sales contracts at short notice.
NTL has just three weeks to close the gap in the market created by the
disappearance of Cable Ad Sales.
’You can’t walk away from a contract with precious little notice,’ said
one NTL source. ’It is not handing anything over - there are no people
coming across from Cable Ad Sales. There are a number of ways we could
handle sales in the regions, but it will take more than a little while
to get a new structure in place.’
The closure means another 20 sales people are looking for work, joining
the growing band of people soon to be released from TSMS.
Sales director of Cable Ad Sales Jon Waters is believed to be launching
a TV venture.
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