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Media Brief

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Torin Douglas Torin Douglas | 10:25 UK time, Thursday, 27 January 2011

I'm the Â鶹Éç's media correspondent and this is my brief selection of what's going on.

BSkyB has reported a 26% jump in profits, as it reached 10 million customers. Pre-tax profits rose to £467m in the last six months of 2010, with revenues up 15% to £3.2bn. The Â鶹Éç reports earlier this week, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he intended to refer a bid by News Corporation for BSkyB to the Competition Commission, but not straight away.

Scotland Yard has reopened its investigation into phone hacking after the News of the World passed on "significant new information" alleged to implicate one of the paper's top executives. The paper has sacked its assistant editor (news), Ian Edmondson. The Rupert Murdoch is in London to deal with the phone-hacking scandal and his corporation's bid for complete control of BSkyB.

The Â鶹Éç has seen documents relating to the interior designer Kelly Hoppen, which suggest that phone-hacking may have been going on at the News of the World as recently as last year. She is the stepmother of the actor Sienna Miller; both are taking action against the paper.

The William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, faced growing criticism from within the Conservative party over the cuts he has imposed on the Â鶹Éç World Service. The Â鶹Éç said they would cost the network 650 jobs and 30million listeners.

I analyse the scale of the World Service cuts and their likely impact. Peter Horrocks tells me: "Our lifeline services in countries like Somalia and Burma - where there is no other source of independent information - are being maintained, but there will be parts of the world which will no longer be served by the World Service."

the Foreign Office is "shirking the challenge of finding cost savings in its own backyard".

The the presenter Richard Keys has resigned from Sky Sports in the wake of the row over sexist comments he made in a series of off-air recordings.

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have been named the best entertainment presenters at the National Television Awards for the 10th year running, reports the Â鶹Éç. The Britain's Got Talent hosts thanked voters in a live video message. Bruce Forsyth was presented with the special recognition award. There were prizes for EastEnders, Waterloo Road, The Inbetweeners and the X Factor.

The Â鶹Éç's newspaper review says the reopening of the police inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World features on many front pages. "The next turn of the screw", is the Independent's headline, with the tabloid finally having abandoned its "rogue reporter" claim. The Daily Telegraph says officers are braced for an investigation lasting up to two years, costing millions.

Links in full


• Â鶹Éç | BSkyB reports big jump in profits
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• Â鶹Éç | Phone hacking probe by Met faces scrutiny
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• Â鶹Éç | Critics warn of major impact of World Service cuts
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• Â鶹Éç | Ant and Dec scoop 10th National TV Award
• Â鶹Éç | Newspaper review

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