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Sky would reach limit

Odd that Maggie Brown barely mentions the elephant in the room (Lonely broadcaster seeks similar for mutual profit, 31 May). How can Sky possibly increase its control over the TV channel market without triggering a competition inquiry? In non-premium content alone, Sky would own more channels than the BBC, ITV, C4 and Five combined, and all but a handful of the HD channels. I don't have anything against consolidation if it's needed, but surely regulators would have to look at separating Sky's content and platform operations in the same way as BT's retail and wholesale businesses.

[Ed: the deal was announced on Friday, subject to regulatory approval]

LexyBoy online

A click off for papers

Pay per click has been around since the dawn of time. Or at least the dawn of the interweb (Links in a chain, 31 May). Three problems as a newspaper model, however:

1. It's very efficient from a direct response perspective if you are an advertiser, but if you are a media owner, it's a bit nuts: your payment depends on a load of things outside your control.

2. You are kissing goodbye to brand-building display ads where an immediate click is not the advertiser's intention.

3. You are a newspaper. Your ability to connect with readers is all. Does establishing a business model where you only get paid when readers click the "exit" sign make sense?

tonybs online

Do the maths

A magazine editor happy to embrace the iPad et al! (A political suitor, 31 May). A magazine editor with an eye on a career escape route via "politics" and digital consultancy more like. GQ has actually lost 40,000 newsstand sales in the last couple of years and has (like others) masked the decline in its ABC via cheap subscription offers. (The data is all on

Now, my arithmetic is poor, but losing 40,000 full-price copy sales a month in the UK and imagining that a digital edition of a magazine is going to fill that financial hole is, well, optimistic. Selling 57,000 apps in the US in two and a half years? Oh yes, that's the future of magazines right there, Dylan Jones.

JimmyLoser online

Filter solution

Allow users to post under their "real" names or anonymously, and then give readers the option of filtering comments accordingly (Internet anonymity, 31 May). Problem solved?

sunshinestate online

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