ITV must now be a bargain. The current team clearly are an issue but you'd think the big American companies would recognise the bargain.

The yield is also high and can be reinvested. That really does limit the down side. You can even win here if it drops further!

Diary - 29/10 Ex Divi

10/11 Q3 2015 Trading Update.

The latter as always will determine progress of company and SP. Place your bets :0)

ITV to acquire UTV's television business

StockMarketWire.com

ITV plc today announced that it has agreed to acquire 100% of UTV Ltd, which owns the television assets of UTV Media plc, for a total cash consideration of £100 million.

This is subject to regulatory and UTV Media plc shareholder approval. The transaction will be financed through existing cash and debt facilities. The deal further strengthens ITV's free to air business and enables it to run a more efficient network. On completion of the acquisition ITV will own 13 of the 15 regional licences for the Channel 3 network and the combined business will benefit from ITV's continued investment in content, its advertising sales team and broadcast infrastructure.

UTV is the market leading commercial broadcaster and the most watched channel in Northern Ireland, broadcasting ITV content alongside high quality local programming. UTV Ltd also owns 100% of UTV Ireland, which launched a new dedicated channel for the Republic of Ireland on 1 January 2015. UTV Ireland is already the second most watched channel in peak in Ireland and ITV intends to strengthen the channel further with high-quality ITV programming at its core. "We have a long-standing relationship with UTV, which has been the leading commercial broadcaster in Northern Ireland for many years thanks to its strong regional identity and blend of excellent local programming and strong network shows," said ITV Chief Executive Adam Crozier.



Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5138063

A takeover of Sky would go a long way toward providing Vodafone with more pay-TV customers, but the company is expensive and the Murdoch family doesn’t seem all too keen on selling out. That leaves Vodafone in the position of needing to build and partner its way to a quadruple play offering. Its mobile networks alone aren't going to cut it.

ITV poaches hit talent show The Voice from BBC in blow to Corporation's weekend schedule

The BBC has refused to pay 'an inflated price' for the show amid a review of the way it spends licence-fee payers' money





By Paul Kendall

3:10PM GMT 07 Nov 2015

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The Saturday night singing competition The Voice is leaving the BBC and heading for ITV.


Mark Linsey, acting director of BBC Television, confirmed today that the fifth series of the show, which starts in January will be the last one to be shown on the channel. The corporation did make a bid to retain the rights to the series, it is understood, but walked away from the process when ITV offered “substantially more” money.




Mr Linsey said: "The BBC is incredibly proud of The Voice, but the fifth series which starts in January will be our last. We always said we wouldn’t get into a bidding war or pay inflated prices to keep the show, and it’s testament to how the BBC has built the programme up - and established it into a mainstay of the Saturday night schedule - that another broadcaster has poached it."


The decision follows criticism from John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, who has held up The Voice as an example of the way the corporation squanders licence fee payers' money.


Referring to the BBC’s original purchase of the rights to the series for £20 million, he said: “The Voice has been very popular, but the fact it was contested between the BBC and ITV, the result was to force up the money paid for it." He has also described the series as, “way outside the definition of what I call public service broadcasting.”



The BBC’s royal charter is set to expire at the end of 2016 and Mr Whittingdale is currently heading a widespread review of the corporation’s size and scope, and its right to levy a licence fee.

A BBC source said: “We made a final bid for The Voice that we wouldn’t increase. We understand that ITV offered substantially more and we refused to compete. We have to be careful with licence fee money and we didn’t think it was in viewers’ interests to pay over the odds.

"The BBC is still committed to big entertainment shows on Saturday night on BBC One and we are working hard with our suppliers to develop new exciting entertainment formats for our audiences."

The source added: “We hope, however, that we can give the show the send-off it deserves with a brilliant final series next year.”

The new deal with ITV has not been finalised, but an announcement is expected imminently.

The fifth series began filming in September, with singers Boy George and Paloma Faith, replacing Tom Jones and Rita Ora on the judging panel. Although a ratings success in America, the show has not attracted quite as enthusiastic a following in this country. The ratings for the final show of the last series were the lowest ever for a finale.

However, the series still had a healthy average audience of 8.6million per episode, and it is thought ITV can add to that. Some reports have suggested that the commercial broadcaster may even launch a youth counterpart called The Voice Kids.

ITV has been worried about its viewing figures between January and April since dropping Dancing On Ice in 2014. It could now run The Voice in this period and follow it with Britain’s Got Talent, which traditionally starts in April. The X Factor then takes over in August and continues until the end of the year, helping ITV to dominate Saturday night TV all year round.

A spokesman for ITV said the broadcaster would not be commenting at this stage.

Director activity http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5151994

How many shares does he still hold Stan any idea?

Looks like plenty from the blurb in the link CC, over a million.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter Fincham

Disposal of shares
9.
Number of shares, debentures or financial
instruments relating to shares acquired

10.
Percentage of issued class acquired (treasury shares of that class should not be taken into account when calculating percentage)


-

-
11.
Number of shares, debentures or financial
instruments relating to shares disposed

12.
Percentage of issued class disposed (treasury shares of that class should not be taken into account when calculating percentage)

300,000

0.00745%
13.
Price per share or value of transaction

14.
Date and place of transaction

259p

DATE: 10 November 2015
PLACE: London, United Kingdom
15.
Total holding following notification and total percentage holding following notification (any treasury shares should not be taken into account when calculating percentage)
16.
Date issuer informed of transaction

1,005,130 shares, 0.025%

11 November 2015

Exactly mate, can't take it with you. Don't blame him Xmas is coming :0)

Chris

Have you bought more on the dip today, my target is 271p

No alders, happy with what I have. Long term for me, if a bid comes along all well and good.

Goldman Sucks go below 20% http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5204092

Goldman Sucks go's above 20% http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5206388

Chris

It looks like another CINE

gosh!
that's pretty spiteful ...... perhaps PIs getting fed-up awaiting the long-predicted t/o ...... of course, something similar happened to HOME just b4 the offer from SBRY was raised and accepted

Just the market alders, prime position for a takeover now, but may well go lower.

prime position for a takeover now. I was thinking that as well

The Telegraph - Also among the bruised and battered was broadcaster ITV, slumping by 7.2pc to 237p after Deutsche Bank reported the results of a recent conference call with UK media buyers and advertising forecasters. The German bank warned that the ITV’s most recent statements to media agencies had flattered its recent performance.

Deutsche said that ITV had combined spending from its online video service, ITV Player, with its TV advertising income. While the business’ revenues appeared 5pc to 6.5pc higher collectively, separating out online income, Deutsche estimated that growth might more accurately look like 2pc to 3pc

Preliminary Results - year ended 31 December 2015

Delivering strong growth and building scale
Full year results for the year ended 31st December 2015
Revenue growth across all parts of the business
· Total external revenue up 15% at £2,972m (2014: £2,590m)
· 6% growth in Net Advertising Revenue to £1,719m (2014: £1,629m)
· Online, Pay & Interactive up 23% to £188m (2014: £153m)
· Total ITV Studios revenue up 33% to £1,237m (2014: £933m)
· 25% growth in Non-NAR to £1,664m (2014: £1,327m)

Sixth consecutive year of double digit profit growth
· Adjusted EBITA up 18% to £865m (2014: £730m)
· Broadcast & Online adjusted EBITA up 16% to £659m (2014: £568m)
· Studios adjusted EBITA up 27% to £206m (2014: £162m)
· Adjusted PBT up 18% to £843m (2014: £712m)
· Adjusted EPS up 20% to 16.5p (2014: 13.8p)

Strong cash flows funding investment and increased shareholder returns
· International content business strengthened by further acquisitions including Talpa Media, Twofour Group and Mammoth Screen
· Given our strong performance the Board is proposing a final dividend of 4.1p, giving a full year dividend of 6.0p per share, ahead of our previous guidance
· Reflecting ITV's strong cash generation and the Board's confidence in the business, it is also proposing a 10.0p special dividend, equivalent to £400m

Positive outlook for 2016
· Expect another good year in 2016 with continued revenue growth across both businesses
· Over the full year we expect to outperform the television advertising market
· Euros football will impact phasing of ITV Family NAR, with Q1 flat while Q2 should be positive
· Online, Pay & Interactive will again deliver double-digit revenue growth
· ITV Studios will deliver double-digit revenue and profit growth, driven primarily by recent acquisitions
· We continue to see opportunities to invest across the business, organically and through acquisitions