Sky Right of Reply

James Murdoch has had a response published in The Guardian to a generally positive leader article they published on the Sky KPIs released the other week.

One of the points that James Murdoch makes is worth repeating:

Sometimes this means we do things differently from other broadcasters. For example, we chose not to launch a quiz TV channel, and we use participation TV as an enhancement to the viewing experience rather than a money-making venture in its own right. Public trust in TV has never been higher on the agenda, and Ofcom has commended Sky's approach and suggested that others could learn from our example.

I am in the process of writing about the current participation TV saga, but it noticeable that Sky and Virgin Media are really the only companies who are not having their names dragged through the mud. The companies that actually have a direct billing relationship with their customers seem to take customers a lot more serious than the rest.

Anyway, I have my own confession on an erroneous flippant comment I made the other day which annoyed more than one of my readers:

Also, it doesn’t specific how much of the amount is basically taking money out of one pocket and putting back in another with spending on own channel TV adverts and NewsCorp publications.

The shareholders of BSkyB and NewsCorp are different (although at least one family appears on both share registers) and I’m sure that any investment made by BSkyB in adverts in NewsCorp publications is done on a purely commercial and arms length basis.

Apologies for any offence caused.