ITV buys Genes Reunited & Friends Reunited

[Rod Neep]

news today... Friends Reunited and Genes Reunited... (they have the 1901 census online now)... have just been bought by ITV for £275 Million

[Burrow Digger]

Didnt Genes Reunited just get sold to some other outfit?? OR am I thinking of some other group?

BD

[Mythology]

Does that mean the 1901 will start playing the theme tune to Coronation Street while you're waiting for it's search engine to come up with the "Go away, that's too much like hard work" message? ;)

[Peter Goodey]

"Didnt Genes Reunited just get sold to some other outfit?? OR am I thinking of some other group? "

Well, you might be thinking of ITV!!! :D

It's actually been public knowledge for at least three weeks now but the ITV Board has only just met to formally OK it.

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

I don't subscribe anymore to Friends Reunited, but I do to Genes Reunited, so if the sub fee goes up to more than a tenner, then I'm off! :)

Does that mean the 1901 will start playing the theme tune to Coronation Street while you're waiting for it's search engine to come up with the "Go away, that's too much like hard work" message? ;)

Or maybe they'll just show my favourite ad???? |jumphappy

[Burrow Digger]

"Didnt Genes Reunited just get sold to some other outfit?? OR am I thinking of some other group? "

Well, you might be thinking of ITV!!! :D

It's actually been public knowledge for at least three weeks now but the ITV Board has only just met to formally OK it.


So this is just the same news as before but now its official - right?? :)

[Peter Goodey]

"So this is just the same news as before but now its official - right?? "

That's right. It's only the official announcement of what was already in the press (the first mention appears to be a month ago).

Although it's worth bearing in mind that ITV's financial performance has been a bit shaky recently. They now have a strategy aiming for half their revenue to come from other than their flagship ITV1 channel. It may well be that the board's decision was a bit more finely balanced than just a rubber stamp.

Sadly it looks as if the cash-strapped ITV News Channel may be a sacrificial lamb.

[Chasing Caseys]

So what exactly does this mean, does it really matter who owns it ? :confused: . The only reason i can see a change of excitement for it is when it appears free ! and i would rather pay a quarterly sub to Ancespit as Mythology puts it than pay 5 quid a go on the official site. Like Dianne i dont sub to friendsre anymore because of the price increase and i have had enough school reunions in the past two years and know the emails of the school friends i want to keep in touch with ;)
ITV or channel 3 deserves all it gets,breakfast TV is rubbish !. I only have TV on in then morning for the news and travel and BBC beats it on all counts.

[coenmfam]

I wonder what people think of this BBC article

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4502550.stm

I love this quote from the article
quote
ITV has high hopes for the Genes Reunited strand within Friends Reunited. The site, which allows people to trace their family tree, has 46 million registered members.

now personally
comments like that worry me

Nev

[flyer]

With such huge sums of money being thrown around,I think If I was In to Genealogy I would be a little afraid the British Gov' would change the law,the same as Canada did in making ALL records open to the public(free).One countys laws quite often follows the other.Keep your ear close to the ground.

[Peter Goodey]

"ALL records open to the public(free)."

Most definitely not with our government (or, come to that, any other government that might follow in this country).

Anyway the costs involved were offset by closing down the ITV News Channel. This was a pretty poor service by any standards but on the whole I'm more disappointed by that closing than I would have been if Genes Reunited had gone belly up (not that it was in any danger of going that way).

[Guy Etchells]

Most of them already are open to the public and free.
Census, open to the public & free up to 1901.
BMD indexes, open to the public & free
BMD original registers, open to the public if still held by the local registrar (according to every relevant Act of Parliament since 1836) & free (since the 1968 Act)
Parish Registers open to the public (fee to pay) but many available through the LDS Church free.
Wills PCC wills at Kew free.

I could go on & on but I think the above shows that we have an abundance of family history material available in this countmessage=Most of them already are open to the public and free.
Census, open to the public & free up to 1901.
BMD indexes, open to the public & free
BMD original registers, open to the public if still held by the local registrar (according to every relevant Act of Parliament since 1836) & free (since the 1968 Act)
Parish Registers open to the public (fee to pay) but many available through the LDS Church free.
Wills PCC wills at Kew free.

I could go on & on but I think the above shows that we have an abundance of family history material available in this country free of charge.
If however one wishes to access such material in ones own home then there is a charge for that privilege.
This is the same as buying a magazine in a shop or paying for it to be delivered to your house.
Cheers
Guy

[flyer]

Thank you Guy good info,as a 72yr old novice i'm just taking baby steps,I dont mind at all paying for service,Its just when I try to get info on the dozens of British sites I run into blankwalls,my mother & father was never born, in fact runing my own name Ialso was never born or married,I must be just looking in the wrong place.I don't know about Canadian 1901 census if i type in my name today,I get date and what province i arrived at, where i am now,and am i still alive(aways a comfort to know),Ill keep plodding along.

[Peter Goodey]

Flyer

If your parents were born after 1901, the information should be there but is unlikely to be available through any automated search. I'd try searching yourself manually through 1837 online or some such site. Ancestrt for example is unlikely to be much help.