News International grabs SunOnSunday.co.uk domain

News International bought the sunonsunday.co.uk and thesunonsunday.co.uk domain names late last week, after they had originally been grabbed by unknown individuals as the phone-hacking scandal engulfed the News of the World Sunday tabloid.

The final edition of that rag was published yesterday. But it's understood that News International boss and one-time editor of the NotW, Rebeka Brooks, has already begun talking about plans for a new title called Sun on Sunday.

Such a move would simply turn the company's daily newspaper, The Sun, into a seven-day operation.

The News Corp-owned firm already owns thesun.co.uk domain, so some might wonder why NI hasn't simply stuck with that name, thereby consolidating its costs and strengthening an existing brand.

Rival rag The Daily Mail owns the biggest newspaper website in the UK, and tags its Mail on Sunday title on as a sub domain to dailymail.co.uk, for example.

Both sunonsunday.co.uk and thesunonsunday.co.uk were orginally registered by an individual under the name of Mediaspring on 5 July. However, Nominet's Whois records were updated on 8 July to show that the domains are in fact now owned by News International. ®