Buffy: A Sky One hit

BSkyB is planning to launch its third entertainment channel on Sky Digital later this year, the company has confirmed.

The as-yet unnamed channel will follow in the footsteps of Sky One Mix, which began in December and features selected shows from its main Sky One channel.

A spokesman said Sky had been encouraged by the success of Sky One Mix, which had helped boost the broadcaster's ratings by four-and-a-half percent.

"We're pleased with its progress, since it launched it has increased the combined ratings for it and Sky One itself," he told BBC News Online.

The spokesman added it was too early to confirm any further details of the new channel, such as whether it would include any new programming or simply use existing Sky One shows.

Home-grown

Media pundits are expecting Sky One to invest more in home-grown programming following former Channel 5 chief Dawn Airey's appointment as managing director of Sky Networks.

There has also been talk of Sky putting an entertainment channel on digital terrestrial service Freeview to compete with the likes of ITV2 and BBC Three.

But the spokesman said this was not part of the plan for the new channel.

"We have three channels on Freeview already, Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel, and we're happy with those at the moment," he said.