The BBC continues to grab the lion's share of television audiences but there has been mixed success for its digital channels, the latest figures have shown.

BBC One tops the league of estimated audience share figures compiled by the Independent Television Commission, with an overall audience share of 26.4%, slightly down on the previously figure of 26.8%.

The 16 ITV networks saw their combined share fall from 26.7% to 23% for the six-month period up to June 2002, although the previous data was based on a 12-month period.

BBC News 24, which has recently been criticised by a government commissioned report for not giving value for money, has seen its audience rise from 0.2% to 0.3%.

BBC News 24: Slight boost in figures

Its main rival Sky News has also see the same rise, putting the two rolling news stations on an equal footing.

There was good news for the BBC's digital channel for young children as it has grabbed 0.4% audience share since it was launched in February, making it the biggest channel for the pre-school age range.

But CBBC, which is aimed at six- to 13-year-olds, has fared less well since it began at the same time and has so far failed to attract enough viewers to register in the data.

Channels which receive less than a 0.1% share are not included in the figures.

Dip

Channel 4's figures have gone up from 9.6% to 9.9% while Channel 5's has shot up from 5.7% to 6.4%.

Channel 4's sister channel E4 has seen its audience share rise considerably from 0.3% to 0.9%.

But BBC Four, the corporation's arts channel, has also yet to register an average 0.1% share since it was launched in March to replace BBC Knowledge.

Digital entertainment channel BBC Choice has seen a dip in its audience share from 0.6% in the previous period to 0.3%.

The corporation is still waiting for a government decision on whether its plans for BBC Three, aimed at young adults, will be given the go-ahead.

It has been told it must now wait until at least September to hear whether it will be allowed to replace Choice with BBC Three.