More selective News Corp coverage from The Oz? As hard as I looked through The Australian this morning, I couldn’t find any mention of the story that BSkyB may be forced to sell the 17% stake in UK TV network, ITV, which it bought to frustrate Virgin Media’s attempts to merge with ITV last November. The story was up on the Financial Times and Bloomberg websites last night, and the Bloomberg report made it into the Fairfax papers this morning, but not a mention in the business pages of The Australian. Is this another example of the selective news judgment applied in “premium” News Corp outlets (including the Wall Street Journal) that excludes the nasty news about Rupert and the company? To help readers of The Australian, here’s what the FT reported:

British Sky Broadcasting could be forced into a loss-making sale of its 17.9 per cent stake in ITV, the rival UK commercial broadcaster, after the Competition Commission ruled on Tuesday it was “against the public interest”.

The competition watchdog said the stake, acquired by BSkyB last year to thwart a potential merger of ITV and cable operator NTL (since renamed Virgin Media), “would be likely to lead to a substantial lessening of competition by giving it the ability to influence ITV’s strategy”.

It gave BSkyB and other parties until October 23 to submit their reactions to the ruling and until October 15 to comment on possible remedies, which included “possible divestment of the shareholding”. — Glenn Dyer

Gremlins in the Fairfax presses. Is Monday’s holiday at Fairfax’s Sydney newspaper headquarters to blame for two significant stuff ups? Yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald contained this short statement on the bottom of page 2: “Opinion page. Several thousand copies of yesterday’s Herald carried Saturday’s page 11, instead of the regular Opinion page. This was a printing error.” And then this morning’s Australian Financial Review ran the same Alex cartoon on the bottom of the Rear Window gossip page about the virtues or otherwise of Blackberry portable devices as yesterday. — Glenn Dyer

Ray Hadley v. Monica Attard, round two: A Hadley tragic provides this account from 2GB this morning – Hadley says Monica Attard “has a pot shot” at the media on Monday nights. He says her attack on himself and Alan Jones was “dripping with venom”. He says he received an email from someone who required a payment from Attard and who described her as “the rudest person he had ever spoken to”. Hadley says he sent a letter to Attard at Media Watch. He reads the letter. He says he received a response from the Stephen Collins, General Council of the ABC. He says the letter claims Attard does not know what Hadley was talking about. He says the letter claims if Hadley broadcasts material on the matter he will be defaming Attard. Hadley criticises Attard for criticising other people on Media Watch. Hadley wants to know Attard was rude to someone on the phone. Stay tuned.

And Johns Laws’ long farewell turns nasty. Have a listen here.

Poor ACP Magazines. Nothing has been the same at ACP Magazines since the barbarians moved in and John Alexander and his mate Ian Law, went off to bigger and better things. There’s no one left to sweat the small things, like the right closing day for jobs ads. A recent ad for a new editor at Foxtel magazine, which is printed and published by ACP Custom Magazines, listed the closing date for application as Friday, 29 September, but obviously no one bothered to check a calendar. If they did, they would have found that 29 September was Saturday. Hopefully ACP and Foxtel have found someone who can sweat those small things… — Glenn Dyer

Meanwhile at The Age online: let’s see, the RBA meets on rates, the continent teeters on the brink of ecological disaster, health is in turmoil … and oh yes, no one’s seen Mitzi since dinner.

Last night’s TV ratings
The Winners: Another one-sided night with no opposition at all for Seven. Ten and Nine both tossed in the towel with repeats or fourth string programs. As a result Dancing With The Stars swallowed an average 1.814 million from 7.30pm to 9.45pm. Today Tonight was second with 1.392 million, followed by Seven News (1.357 million), Home And Away (1.329 million), All Saints (1.253 million), A Current Affair (1.153 million), Nine News (1.143 million), the 7pm ABC News (1.119 million), Ten’s repeat of NCIS (1.073 million) and Temptation (1.032 million). Ten’s two Simpsons repeats at 7.30pm (944,000) and 8pm (951,000) were next. Numb3rs at 9.30pm on Ten averaged 847,000 and Nine’s repeat of CSI Miami had a miserable 686,000. The Sopranos, 481,000.

The Losers: For the second night in a row, Nine’s schedule from 7.30pm onwards. Like Monday night, it just wasn’t competitive, although Surprise Surprise managed to get around 200,000 more for the 7.30pm timeslot than Monday’s duo of no hopers.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Melbourne where Nine was stronger. Today Tonight won everywhere but Sydney and Melbourne, which was ACA‘s best effort for a couple of weeks. Ten News averaged 804,000; The Late News/Sports Tonight, 487,000. The 7.30 Report 764,000; Lateline 256,000; Lateline Business, 146,000. Nine’s Nightline, 290,000. SBS News, 177,000 at 6.30pm; 129,000 at 9.30pm; Insight, 291,000. 7am Sunrise, 412,000; 7am Today up to 293,000.

The Stats: Seven won with a share of 37.6% (36.6% last week) from Nine with 22.3% (25.3%), Ten with 21.5% (20.5%), the ABC with 14.0% (13.7%) and SBS with 4.7% (3.8%). Seven won all five metro markets and now leads the week 32.1% to 28.3%. In regional areas, a big win to Prime/7Qld with 37.8% from WIN/NBN for Nine with 22.5%, just ahead of Southern Cross (Ten) with 22.4%, the ABC with 12.0% and SBS with 5.3%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Believe it or not but last night saw an even bigger whacking for Nine than the appalling Monday night. Dancing With The Stars and All Saints were just too strong, but Nine didn’t help by scheduling another repeat of CSI Miami at 8.30pm. Crime Investigation Australia wasn’t on last night, instead To Hell and Back averaged 735,000, which was more than CSI Miami‘s derisory 686,000. Nine finished third for most of the night and only the million-plus audiences for the News, ACA and Temptation kept it ahead of Ten for second overall. Nine will now lose the week, a week when it should have used the huge winning margin of the NRL Grand Final to get home. Tonight there’s some interest with Spicks and Specks, The Chaser and Summer Heights High on the ABC from 8.30pm. Seven has RSPCA Animal Rescue and Medical Emergency, plus the the underwhelming Las Vegas and the turned around Prison Break. Nine has McLeod’s Daughters, RPA and Damages: not a bad line up. It’s the final RPA tonight. Ten has a new House off the satellite and a new series called Life (with an implausible storyline), but Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader will not sparkle at 7.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Network reports