Speculation abounds on the nuts and bolts of News International’s new Sunday tabloid

The Guardian puts its head above the parapet and declares: “The title will simply be called The Sun, with an identical masthead to the daily, and insiders have been at pains to make it clear that the newspaper is not a Sun on Sunday – but instead simply a Sunday edition of the newspaper that will have some specialist staff but without its own editor.

The paper reports that News International has begun a series of meetings with key advertisers and media agencies to attempt to secure millions of pounds in advertising.

And the meetings have shed some light on the vision that Rupert Murdoch has for the title, with a strong focus on sport – a key part of the successful News of the World formula – television, more features and a commitment to continue with investigative reporting.

The Guardian goes on: “The Sun's Sunday edition will be a more family-oriented product than its predecessor the News of the World, with a print run of about 3 million backed by a multimillion-pound ad campaign.

“However, the aim is also to offer female readers Fabulous magazine, which media agencies have been told to expect will move back to its original Sunday publication day. The Dear Deidre column will lose some of its sex focus to tackle more family-oriented issues at the weekend.

“It is expected that, as in the paper's Saturday edition, topless models will not feature on page 3.

“There is an expectation among the media agencies that have spoken to News International that a price war is on the cards – unconfirmed rumours have pointed to a limited promotional price of about 50p.”

The Guardian quotes one media agency executive as saying: "They [News International] have made it clear that they want to get back to being the market leader - to even go beyond the level that News of the World was selling.”

The News of the World sold 2.67 million copies in June 2011, the last full month before its closure, according to figures from the ABC.