The other day I read a good article in The Economist about Now, the Hong Kong television service delivered over PCCW’s broadband lines. Its success is being taken for a model by broadband companies around the world.

But there was this curious statement: “Another partner is China Netcom, which plans to launch TV services based on Now’s model in two Chinese cities with populations of 6m or so, comparable to that of Hong Kong. China has 100 more such cities, notes [PCCW finance chief Alexander] Arena.”

I know China has a lot of big cities that I haven’t heard of, but 6 million inhabitants is a lot even on a global scale. There must be something wrong in that statement. Sure enough, a quick Google search reveals there are 32 Chinese cities with populations greater than 2 million. I recognize that some of these statistics may be outdated in fast-moving China, but some subeditor on St James’s Street should have caught that howler.