Yahoo has confirmed that it is experimenting with anti-ad blocking software on a number of its Yahoo Mail users' accounts in an attempt to neutralize what is arguably the biggest threat to the online publishing industry. Under the terms of the experiment, the system locks out Yahoo Mail account holders when it detects they are using an ad blocker, and then requests that they disable the ad blocker. The story first emerged when when a number of US-based Yahoo Mail account holders posted reports on the Adblock Plus user forum.

The Church of England planned to run the spot before showings of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." But it will not run on Odeon, Cineworld or Vue screens following the decision by DMC, which manages the advertising for those chains. The ad is called "just pray" and opens on Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, walking through church grounds and beginning the Lord's Prayer in a voiceover. People from all walks of life in the UK then take up the prayer and each recites a verse.

ITV commercial has inked a new partnership with programmatic ad platform, RadiumOne. As a result of the deal, ITV will launch its Ad Sync + product that will link ITV's content to RadiumOne's viewer capability in order for brands to effectively target specific demographics. Available on a multi-device basis, spend will be directed using RadiumOne's engagement, sharing and viewing data -- over 30 billion sharing events per month.

Ofcom has scrapped rules forcing Sky to offer its flagship sports channels to rivals on discounted terms, arguing that the rise of competitors such as BT and increased availability of its channels means there is now plenty of choice for consumers. The media regulator introduced the so-called "wholesale must offer" ruling in 200, which forced Sky to offer Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 to rivals at a discount to its retail price, to ensure the satellite broadcaster did not abuse its dominant position in the market.

According to research from Unruly, the Android "friends furever" campaign by Droga 5 has been the most shared ad of the year so far. The ad features different animals playing together, such as a money and a horse, a dog and a whale, and a sheep and an elephant. It ends with the line "Be together. Not the same." The film has been shared 6.4 million times.

Ebay is introducing a new set of targeting tools that provide advertisers with more in depth personalisation as the brand hopes to become an industry leader in predictive targeting. The online marketplace brand is introducing two new Christmas-themed shopper segments for marketers, which eBay says will take its targeting "to an entire new level." The two audience segments, which will launch today, are 'Sales Shoppers' and 'Premium Shoppers.'

British Airways (BA) is looking to work its customer data harder with the hire of Creston Unlimited and its partner Aquila Insight to handle its customer relationship management (CRM) work. The move comes in the wake of a number of appointments to the marketing board this year as the airline seeks to put customer experience at the front and centre of its strategy.

The BBC should pay local newspapers to use their stories rather than fund extra reporters to cover local councils and courts, the head of one of the country's largest local news groups has told MPs. Ashley Highfield, the chief executive of Johnson Press, said he had been in discussions with the broadcaster about a "commissioning" model where it paid for their news and pictures to use on its platforms. He said he was wary of the BBC's suggestion of a network of 100 public service reporters, announced in September.

"Financial Times" journalists have voted in favour of taking industrial action in a dispute over proposed changes to the newspaper's pension policy. Almost 92% of members of the National Union of Journalists who participated in the ballot voted in favour of industrial action. There was a 66% member turnout for the ballot. The move follows plans by Nikkei, which is expected to complete its GBP844m takeover of the FT Group at the end of the month, to end the final-salary pension scheme.

The firm has described the new service as 'fluid TV', since it combines Internet TV and satellite viewing and allows viewers to watch how and where they want. A new Sky Q Mini box can sit elsewhere in the house and funnel live and recorded TV from the main box to a second TV set. There's also a Bluetooth-powered remote control and a WiFi hub that turns the set-top boxes into internet hotspots. The new Sky Q app will enable tablet and smartphone owners to watch live and recorded TV on their devices.