Hot Topic - GCap Media

The Secret Sound’s fine secret - June 27, 2008
The games and contests radio stations play with listeners are meant to add to the entertainment. One UK broadcaster played a bit too much and the regulator imposed the biggest fine ever charged. Are contests and competitions good promotion or sleazy tricks? Or are radio ‘fun and games’ easy targets for poor losers and regulators?

A bright future for UK radio, broadcasters hope it arrives soon
Mood swings among UK broadcasters over the last several months have ranged from depression to reasonable well-being. The bright optimism of the earlier part of the decade is largely gone. UK radio is in a funk.

The first syllable in consolidation is con - March 27, 2008
Clear Channel Communications stock price fell 20% on the revelation that banks are unwilling to finance a leveraged buyout. America’s largest radio broadcaster by leaps is falling to a reality of its own creation. Consolidation fails. And UK broadcasters want to follow the same path.

Companies can split apart but some things never fade - March 7, 2008
When a large publicly traded company decides to dissolve itself, without the assistance of the bankruptcy courts, we are left to watch and wonder what could possibly have gone wrong. It’s an assumption mistaking longevity for success.

Liquidity, liquidity, come, please, to my door - December 17, 2007
The final billion euro media deal of the year is very likely German publisher/broadcaster Heinrich Bauer Verlag buying UK publisher/broadcaster Emap. UK and German media wags view it quite differently, either an end or a beginning. The whole story is far more interesting because it’s very real.

UK Radio Relieved That Summer is Over - October 29, 2006
Summer radio surveys are always the pits. Programmers know that listeners are distracted by, well, summer. And managers don’t want to waste the marketing budgets when nobody is around.

David Mansfield Exits GCap Media - September 20, 2005
Thus ends the short, five-month run of UK radio broadcastings dynamic duo: David Mansfield and Ralph Bernard. The announcement was made Monday (September 19) by Sir Ralph. David remains a company director until January but, yes, he’s a goner.

DAB Catching On With Commercial Broadcasters - July 11, 2005
Danish and Swiss private, commercial radio broadcasters announce new DAB plans. But a UK broadcaster resists more multiplexes.

Big Media Deals - Consolidators, Moguls, Private Equity and End Games

Big media deals are exciting to watch. The recent biggest deals - Dow Jones, ProSiebenSat, the Tribune Company and Emap - show the effects of the business cycle meeting dreams, strategies and private equity. This ftm Knowledge file details these four BIG MEDIA DEALS and their effects. 83 pages PDF (March 2008)

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