Licence payers' £15m digital bill

THE BBC's plan to team up with Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB and run a free digital television service will cost licence payers £15m.

The alliance with Sky and transmitting company Crown Castle to bid for the licence, which became available after ITV Digital went into administration in March, means that the BBC's digital transmission costs will almost double.

Most of the money will be spent on transmission, though some will also be used to help market the service to users, for instance by funding helplines. Sky will provide some of the channels for the service if the bid from the Free to Air consortium is accepted.

The BBC currently spends about £20m a year to transmit its digital channels, which include BBC News 24 and arts and documentary channel BBC4.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director of strategy at the BBC, said: 'We have governor approval for this set-up. The board recognises the need for a fresh start in digital terrestrial television. The £20m we currently spend is not reaching many people and we think that the additional £10m to £15m will be money well spent.'

Sky, meanwhile, will be able to use its free channels on the new station to promote its main subscription satellite service and attract customers to its pay-TV channels.

The BBC is not planning to charge subscribers for its programmes and its involvement in the consortium will be non-profit making.