Stella Artois and ad agency Lowe have parted company after 26 years.

Stella is understood to be set to hold a pitch to handle the lucrative Stella Artois contract. Lowe will not take part in this pitch, however.

The partnership, which won acclaim for its stylish Jean de Florette-style ads, was forged when Sir Frank Lowe founded the agency in the 1980s.

Stella’s parent company InBev recently handed the advertising contract for its new 4% ABV Stella Artois variant to rival firm Mother.

This year also marked the end of Stella Artois’ 30-year sponsorship of the eponymous tennis tournament at the Queen’s Club.

Lowe came up the idea for the sponsorship, but the Stella brand name has been dropped from the association in recent years, due to the lager’s perceived links with binge-drinking culture. The company has elected to promote the “Artois family” of beers at the tournament instead.

Amid accusations of it fuelling the nation’s binge-drinking problem, Lowe drew on the continental roots of Stella Artois in its ads, to maintain its premium brand image.

The agency still retains the global advertising account for InBev’s Becks beer brand.

Mediaphilia will miss the cinematic Stella ads. Not that watching Frenchmen gad about in a whimsically stylised provincial France has ever made us want to rush out and buy a pint of Wifebeater. But perhaps that’s just as well.

The Format Recognition and Protection Association (Frapa), which polices copyright on television formats, called the memo “unacceptable”, saying it “effectively gives permission to ABC’s producers to copy ‘the underlying premise’ of a show without licensing the format”.

The memo in question was sent by Howard Davine, executive vice-president of ABC Studios, the network’s production arm, and later leaked to an American media industry blog.

Frapa, which is based in Cologne and represents over 100 TV production companies internationally, has had no response from the ABC network or its owner Disney.

“Frapa and the international TV production industry have waited in vain for ABC and/or Disney to respond to Howard Davine’s memo which, if authentic, is unacceptable both creatively and commercially,” a statement from the group’s board said.

“Frapa believes in, and fights for, the intellectual property of formats. Frapa believes that formats belong to the people who create them and that they should not be used unlawfully by any third party, even one as powerful as ABC.”

David Lyle, president of Fox Reality and founding member of Frapa’s steering committee, added: “If ABC and Disney refuse to repudiate the contents of the Davine memo, then producers in both the US and around the world might note their silence and help themselves to the ‘underlying premise’ of Hannah Montana.”

The memo, sent to ABC executive producers and show-runners, urged them to “carefully scrutinise” whether licensing foreign formats was “necessary or appropriate”.

“What is often overlooked, or not fully appreciated, are the complexities associated with negotiating format deals, coupled with the fact that often-times what is appealing in the format may be nothing more than a general underlying premise, which, in and of itself, may be no reason to license the underlying property,” Lavine wrote.

LA-based ABC Studios have declined to comment formally, although sources have said the memo had been “completely misinterpreted”.

Elsewhere, formats are being legitimately reproduced to fill scheduling gaps left by the WGA writers’ strike. American network NBC has begun production on a US version of the popular Australian sitcom Kath & Kim, which will star Selma Blair. Although we’re not so sure the Yanks will be as good as “yewsing yewmour” as the Aussies.

You-Know-Who: Who-Knows-When?

Horrendous news for all Harry Potter fans…

The new Potter film ‘Harry potter & the Half Blood Prince’ has been delayed – until July 17, 2009.

The film was due to be in cinemas on November 21st this year.

The 100-day WGA writers’ strike earlier this year has meant that many studios’ films won’t be ready in time for the summer season, so Warner Brothers has pushed Potter back to bolster next summer’s weakened schedule.

Warners president Alan Horn said in a statement that the development of next summer’s tentpole films has been affected for all major studios:

“We are still feeling the repercussions of the writers strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films – changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of,” Horn said. “We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tentpole release for midsummer.”

The studio also confirmed its adaptation of the final book ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ will still be released in two parts, as planned. The first part has been scheduled for November 19th, 2010.

We’re probably never going to get over this. For the next 11 months, we’ll be watching the trailer over and over and trying to recreate the film in our imagination…

Veteran: Dave Pearce

Dance DJ Dave Pearce is to leave Radio 1, after a shake-up of the station’s late night schedule was announced.

Pearce, who presents Friday night’s Dance Anthems show, has been a fixture on the station for the past 13 years.

He is to be replaced by fellow Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules, who switches slots.

Also leaving is DJ Eddie Halliwell, who joined in 2006, to be replaced by DJ Kissy Sell Out with a new rock and rave show on Thursdays.

The changes, which come into effect in October, will help the station ‘champion the very best in new music and new DJ talent,’ said Ben Cooper, Radio 1′s head of programmes.

Other changes in the schedule see Kutski will be presenting new hard dance and hardcore show at 1am on Saturday mornings.

Kutski will be followed by another new show, 1Xtra DJ MistaJam’s 1Xtra Mixtape, at 3am.

Newcomers Heidi Van den Amstel and Jaymo & Andy George join the rota of presenters on the In New DJs We Trust slot at 2am on Friday mornings.

Both Kutski and Kissy Sell Out have previously hosted Radio 1′s In New DJs We Trust.

Best of all, we’re pleased to hear that self-proclaimed ‘big dawg’ Tim Westwood’s show is being extended by an hour, from 9pm to 1am. BLASTIN’ OFF REAL BIG!

Frustrated: Wang Wei, secretary general of the Beijing organising committee.

 A leader of Beijing’s Olympics committee has criticised sections of the international media for coming to China solely “to peek, to be critical, to dig into the small details and find fault” in the country’s human rights record.

Wang Wei, the secretary general of the Beijing organising committee, expressed his frustration during an IOC-Bocog press conference, when journalists repeatedly demanded to know whether a single Chinese citizen had been granted permission to use the three Protest Parks set up for the Games.

Wei claimed twice that he had not been given figures from the Office of Public Security, followed by his exasperated outburst.

“After 30 years of reform China has developed greatly,” he said. “People enjoy more freedom. People are living a good life. Everyone is happy. That’s a fact. Of course there are exceptions, like in any other country. But they need to take the legal process and procedures to resolve any issues. We cannot allow this country to be in chaos.”

“There are a few people who have come here to peek, to be critical, to dig into the small details and find fault,” he added. “This does not mean that we are not fulfilling our promises [over human rights to the IOC]. The whole country can see how can China has developed; how China has genuinely welcomed the world to enjoy everything with us.”

After awarding the Olympics to Beijing in 2001, the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, said he hoped that hosting the Olympics would improve China’s human rights record. However, today Wei denied that his country had made similar promises. “I did not say that China would promise to do whatever with the Games in China,” he said. “I think the Games will open up the horizon about China. People will see better what China is about.”

During the press conference, Channel 4 journalist Alex Thomson repeatedly asked the IOC whether it was “in any way embarrassed” by the Chinese government “lying through its teeth”, and the “manifest failure of the Chinese government to keep their promises” to improve human rights and press freedom.

The IOC communications director, Giselle Davies, avoided answering Thomson’s questions directly, claiming that “We have to note that there have been enormous steps forward in a number of areas”. She went on to say she was “very proud about how these Games are progressing”.

“I’m not asking about how well the Games are being run, or how wonderful the Games are,” replied Thomson. “Are you embarrassed by China? I don’t think anyone thinks you have answered the question.”

Davies insisted: “The Olympic Games is largely about the athletes and they have given us extremely strong feedback about how things are going.”

Thomson did not ease off the pressure: “We’re not getting anywhere are we?” he said. “Are the IOC embarrassed about the Chinese governments record on human rights? One more chance?”

“We have to note the enormous steps in the wider area,” side-stepped Davies. “The world is watching and the IOC is appraising.”

‘Appraising’ with emphasis placed especially on praise, perhaps.

Jade Goody is reportedly set to take part in the new series of Indian Big Brother. It will be a third appearance on the series to add to her repertoire, after BB3 (in which she originally shot to ‘fame’), and last year’s disastrous Celebrity Big Brother.

The Indian version of the show – ‘Big Boss’ – will ironically be fronted by Shilpa Shetty, whom Goody was accused of racially bullying during Celebrity Big Brother in January last year.

Goody will be paid £100,000 for her appearance in the show which starts filming this weekend, according to today’s Sun.

‘She was really upset about everything that happened after the scandal last year. She really wants to clear her name and prove to everyone that she’s not a racist,’ a source told the paper.

Goody’s actions on Celebrity Big Brother, which included calling Shetty ‘Shilpa Poppadom’, resulted in more than 50,000 complaints to Ofcom and put Channel 4 in turmoil. The race row also led to street protests in India, where effigies of Goody were burned.

‘Big Boss’ is expected to last three months, and will see 12 Indian celebrities take part.

This Christmas Goody will play the wicked queen in Royal Theatre Lincoln’s pantomime of Snow White. If Jade’s a method actress, she should have plenty of life experience to draw on – though hopefully this won’t include her appearance in India.

Although groggy, Mr. Blackwell was reportedly able to recognise his partner Robert Spencer’s presence at his bedside.

The 86-year-old is reportedly suffering from septic shock, and is being treated with antibiotics.

The Sunday Times’ relaunch and £3m marketing campaign boosted sales of the paper by 11,000 copies in July.

The Sunday Times redesign, which saw every newsprint section printed in full colour, was backed by an advertising campaign featuring Peter O’Toole, alongside offers such as a 2-for-1 meal deals at Pizza Express.

The ads also promoted articles in the paper about Uma Thurman and Amy Winehouse (who, paradoxically, Londoners are most sick of hearing about, according to a recent poll).

Last month the paper sold an average of 1,159,231 copies each weekend, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations. This was up 0.95% on June but down 0.84% on July 2007.

In June last year, the Independent on Sunday also underwent a redesign, ditching the traditional multi-section Sunday format in favour of one big paper section and one big magazine, and selling at a promotional price of £1 per issue.

However, the new figures show the Sunday paper was down 7.36% since July 07, and down 4.35% on June, selling 200,451 copies on average each weekend.

It seems only time will tell the longevity of the Sunday Times’ extensive lead in the market, and whether readers will grow as indifferent to full colour page layouts as they have to the saga of Amy and Blake.

Anyone for a Pizza Express? (We fancy the Sloppy Giuseppe.)

A worker sorts papers at a distribution centre: 150 million people read a newspaper every day in India, compared to 97 million Americans

With falling revenue, circulations and share prices, the American news industry seems to have entered the apocalypse.

Mass redundancies across the sector mean the industry now has its smallest workforce since 1984 – last year alone 2,400 journalists left newspaper newsrooms, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Charles Layton, of the American Journalism Review, foresees that ‘we may begin seeing, pretty soon, big American cities with no daily newspaper.’

However, as US newsprint finds itself entering a recession, the news industry is booming overseas. India’s burgeoning economy in particular has paved the way for a similarly booming news industry. Circulation of Indian newspapers has been growing steadily, and new titles are appearing all the time.

Western magazines such as Vogue, Rolling Stone, FHM, and Maxim have already launched successful Indian editions. Raju Narisetti, formerly editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, now edits business title Mint in the country, employing several journalists from the U.S.

Growth is even greater in the non-English media, as provincial India becomes more literate and has more disposable income. In broadcast, the industry’s newfound economic strength means that TV channels can poach the best journalists from print by offering salaries as high as $180,000 a year.

But all this growth means that demand is expanding faster than labour can keep up. While some American papers are cutting their freelance budgets, India is a freelancer’s goldmine: there are more stories than there are writers or time enough to report them.

Young journalists in particular are flocking the country, attracted by the assignments, salaries and fast-track career advancement they wouldn’t get at home in the West. Editors such as Pankaj Paul of the Hindustan Times have even been head-hunting in the US’s top graduate journalism schools, looking for candidates to work on Indian titles.

Naturally, everything goes in cycles, and it surely won’t be long before the Indian press cools down, or the US industry finds a more viable business model. But, for now, India is making history before our eyes.

Overexposed: Amy Winehouse

A recent poll has revealed that nearly half of all Londoners are bored of news stories on Amy Winehouse.

Forty-eight per cent of the 1,000 Londoners surveyed were bored of news on the troubled singer according to the poll, conducted via Facebook by Rainier PR.

News on Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid turned off 20% of the capital’s population. Meanwhile, only 8% of those surveyed found news of the credit crunch boring.

So Amy Winehouse is more boring than economic recession. The silver lining of the credit crunch? Less money to spend on Amy Winehouse CDs. And hopefully for Amy, less money to spend on crack.