Sir Howard Stringer, like all good music moguls, adores a diva. The Sony chief executive is a fan of Natasha Bedingfield, it is reliably said, and he is not above using her songs as ringtones. Such influence by the Sony BMG artist bodes well for Bertlesmann, the other half of the Sony BMG partnership. Within the record company, everybody expects Sir Howard to buy the Germans out when the shareholder agreement allows a sale in mid-2009. Sony BMG's results are improving, too. Net profit in the year to March was up $111 million to $178 million, as cost-cutting delivered.

With the announcement of a rights issue by Johnston Press, the question being asked by many is which media company will be next. Speculation has been focusing on Yell, which reports its full-year results next week, although sources close to the company insisted that a cash call is unlikely. However, we have reasons to be sceptical. How often have companies said that a rights issue was not on the agenda, only to change their minds weeks later? Yell, facing strong competition from Google, has endured a fall in its market capitalisation of 62 per cent in the past year.

The video games industry may be booming, but it is questionable whether it would be so successful without a strong film industry. Screen Digest said that analysis by Vivendi Games, the French games publisher, showed that 67 per cent of the all-time top 200 films, based on worldwide box-office takings, have been adapted into video games. For the top 30 titles, this proportion rises to 90 per cent, indicating that there is a clear relationship between box-office success and the adaptation of films into games. Although these games may sell, have any of them actually been any good? We like Lego Star Wars, but that's about it.

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