Guardian Media Group's small return on its regionals

Surprise at how little Guardian Media Group is getting from Trinity Mirror — just £7.4 million — for the sale of 32 regional newspapers, including its flagship Manchester Evening News.

The deal is costing the Daily Mirror publisher £44.8 million as it is writing off a long-term printing deal with GMG, worth £37.4 million. It is understood that at least one other bidder, a private-equity company, was interested but offered less money.

The sale means the Guardian has all but cut its historic ties with Manchester where the national title had its roots. No word on job losses but chief executive Carolyn McCall noted it is "a market that is likely to consolidate further". The sale comes as loss-making GMG decides if it must inject money into profitable but debt-laden magazines-and-conferences joint venture Emap to meet banking covenants.

Now Chelsea captain John Terry's lover Vanessa Perroncel has decided not to sell her story, here's a hypothetical question to consider if things had turned out differently: Would her PR Max Clifford have sold her tale to the News of the World given that he is in the midst of legal action against the red-top over alleged hacking of his mobile phone?

There seems little doubt the NOTW, which was behind the exposure of her affair with Terry, would have been interested at the right price. There are rumours the two sides talked.

But Clifford says: "I wouldn't have dealt with them. In the last three or four years. I haven't sold any stories to the News of the World [since falling out with ex-editor Andy Coulson]." He dismisses speculation that Terry paid off Perroncel for up to £800,000 as "nonsense" and maintains: "She hasn't done a deal, she hasn't been paid."

When MPs attacked BBC executives this week about stars' pay, much of the heat was taken by BBC Trust member Jeremy Peat, a former chief economist at Royal Bank of Scotland. He struggled to explain to the Public Accounts Select Committee why the Beeb shouldn't open up its accounts to the National Audit Office. Peat let slip that he is retiring at the end of the year, prompting Labour MP Alan Williams to say this meant there was "some hope" that the BBC might let the NAO in...

A test of loyalties at the British Screen Advisory Council, the lobbying group for the film and computer games industry, which is demanding that regulation and competition rules be relaxed for their sectors. The BSAC claims that, among other things, the media regulator Ofcom is no longer "fit for purpose" because its focus is on TV and broadcasting rather than wider audio-visual content. That's an interesting position for BSAC chairman Adam Singer to take given that the former Telewest boss also happens to be deputy chairman of Ofcom's content board. What must Ofcom chairman Colette Bowe think?

Good news for commercial broadcasters after the Department of Culture (DCMS) gave the green light to product placement. As expected, plugs for alcohol, tobacco or food high in fat, salt and sugar won't be allowed.

Product placement won't begin until later this year at the earliest as media regulator Ofcom must carry out a consultation. DCMS has already received 1480 responses, so expect more fierce lobbying.