New Director of BBC Sport appointed

As ever: yes.

Viewers get Freeview precisely because they want digital TV, but resent having to pay for Sky/Ntl to get it. It's a service heavily plugged by the BBC (which they've been warned over, yet continue to do) and so anyone adopting it is obviously a primed BBC viewer from the start. As such, it's natural that they go to a BBC news service rather than a Sky one. The same can be said for Sky News on Sky Digital.

The fact remains, as the Guardian have revealed this week, even BBC bosses think the channel is a load of sh...

Amen.

That would imply that new DTT viewers manage not to find Sky News on their box.

I find this difficult to beleive. The first thing most viewers do is to hop through each of the available channels to see what they can get.

But I may not be privvy to some focus groups who say different.

Not at all, Mr Scott.

I'm simply implying that Freeview viewers are naturally more conservative when it comes to channel choices... if they really wanted lots more channels and alternative sources to choose from, they'd go for Sky or cable. As it is, it seems that most people go Freeview because they think ''oh, I can get those extra BBC channel, ITV2 and E4, and that'll do me''.

As such, it's only natural to assume (which is all I am doing) that FV. viewers are more likely to stick with what they know - i.e. BBC and ITV news. AFAIK, even the ITV News Channel does/did until they got rid of it in most places better on Freeview than Sky News. I find it pretty hard to believe that anyone who sat down and compared ITVNC to Sky would conclude that the stuff that was coming out of Gray's Inn Rd. was better than that eminating from an industrial estate in Middlesex, but that's not reflected in the viewing figures.

Anyway, I still imagine that Sky is the more viewed of the three. Whenever I go to my gym, sit waiting in Argos, walk into an office building or pub, 9 times out of 10 it is not the BBC and ITV news that's coming on to the screen.

Sorry Cat you at struggling there even by your standards. It's not free view who are skewing the market. How do you have the gaul to accuse the BBC of cross promoting when News International flood all of their publications with cross promotion. Have you never seen Private Eyes BSpyB.

When viewers are given a clear choice between three channels they choose News24. Maybe because it doesn't have statements such as Suicide Bomber shot dead at Stockwell!.

Oh and don't believe all you read in the Guardian. It's as reliable as a Tony Blair address to Parliament..

Actually it's called 'Eye Sky', so presumably you've never read it. And News Int/Corp is a commercial enterprise, and it'd be a daft operation if they didn't cross-promote. The BBC (supposedly) is not, so it shouldn't. As for a few choice mentions in the Sun every week, I hardly think it compares to the sort of impact that the hourly ''get freeview, it's bloody great, you know'' tosh that comes out across every single one of the BBC's outlets, 24 hours a day.

Viewers aren't given a 'clear choice' either on Sky Digital or Freeview, and I'm more than prepared to go out and find some data proving to you that there has been a direct correlation between Freeview take-up and increase in News 24 viewing figures.

Are you really stupid enough to think that such a sweeping statement as ''when viewers get a choice, they choose News 24'' can possibly explain it? Perhaps you are, I don't know.

It really is no coincidence that Freeview viewers go overwhelmingly for News 24, and Sky Digital viewers go overwhelmingly for Sky News.

Whilst I don't doubt your assertion, I'm personally perplexed why Sky News wouldn't at least see a reasonably significent improvement on their figures - even allowing for the BBC's mega-promotion of DTT.

I'm now on cable multichannel, and although Sky news has the first position on the EPG I still tend to key in the Beeb.

I'm sure it's just sod's law, but nearly every time I browse to Sky News they are at a commercial - and it does my nut in.

There is nothing to prevent the BBC cross promoting its services. They are all funded by the license fee and free to air, so they would be doing a disservice to the public should they not cross promote. I think you are getting confused by the fact the BBC should not promote its commercial activities such as the Radio Times.

At least the BBC are honest about it. The Sun is full of puff pieces promoting sky masquerading as news articles. And it's not 24 hours a day on every single BBC outlets. If that was the case there would be no programmes. You exaggerate rather, but then have never been known for the accuracy of your sweeping statements.

The figures are quite simple. More people now have access to all news channels, and the majority chose News24. Unless you are disputing the Barb figures.

What have you got against Freeview apart from the fact Murdoch doesn't rake off a profit from the top. The more freeview succeeds, the weaker Murdoch's position becomes. So roll on freeview.

Isn't it the case though that the BBC News 24 is now often ahead on reach, but Sky News still beats it on share (albeit not by a huge amount).

What happens is that casual viewers of news watch the BBC for a short period, but (the fewer) heavier news viewers watch Sky News for longer.

There is no doubt that Sky does best on the Sky platform, and the BBC does best on Freeview.