Letter: Regulating the skies

Sir: S. J. Taylor's article on the media page ('Kelvin: from top yob to top job', 26 January) wrongly describes BSkyB as 'an unregulated medium bounced off a satellite somewhere outside the powers of Parliament'. For the record: BSkyB's channels are licensed by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and fully regulated under UK law. So are literally dozens of other ITC licensed channels 'uplinked' to international satellites from Britain.

Ms Taylor need not worry that 'Somebody somewhere is going to have to figure out how to regulate the skies'; there is no shortage of regulatory minders for satellite TV. Besides the ITC, whose detailed programming and advertising rules we obey, BSkyB is subject to the jurisdiction of the UK's Broadcasting Standards Council and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, the office of Fair Trading, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the European Commission and many other regulatory bodies.

Yours sincerely,

RAY GALLAGHER

Director of Public Affairs

British Sky Broadcasting

Isleworth,

Middlesex

26 January