BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch has halted plans to launch 'Channel 6', a proposed new free-to-air offering, according to reports.
BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch has halted plans to launch 'Channel 6', a proposed new free-to-air offering, according to reports.

The satellite giant had been expected to launch a new channel on digital terrestrial platform aimed at young adults, in the next few months.

But according to today's The Times , Murdoch has now decided that the broadcaster should concentrate on its main objective of building its platform and subscribers.

The millions that would have been spent on the channel will now be invested in putting on more subscribers and getting more revenue out of existing customers.

Sky previously admitted that it would turn its Sky Travel Freeview channel into a Channel 6 proposition if the current strong take-up of DTT continued.

Sky chief operating officer Richard Freudenstein told delegates at the Royal Television Society's Cambridge convention that DTT's success, post-ITV Digital, had made the plan a realistic proposition. Freeview is in around 2 million homes.

He said: "Assuming that the number of Freeview homes grows [at the current rate], Sky Travel would evolve".

Freeivew continues to sell well with an estimated 40,000 of them being sold a week and it is estimated there are three million homes with the service. Sky has three channels on the platform already with Sky News, Sky Travel and Sky Sports News.

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