Extra Pop Idol, hosted by Ant and Dec, has proved a digital winner

The success of digital channels has been attributed to the return of live Premiership football and extra Pop Idol coverage on ITV2.

The multiple digital channels now have an audience share of 25.1%, just ahead of BBC One's 24.4%, and the 23.1% for ITV1, figures for August show.

The yearly figures are expected to match ITV1's by the end of 2003, another major increase.

Currently they are 23.5% compared to ITV1's 23.6%.

At least three football games shown on Sky Sports since the new season started have drawn more than one million viewers. This is regarded as the benchmark for a high-rating programme on non-terrestrial channels.

Manchester United's Community Shield win over Arsenal on 10 August drew more than 1.35 million viewers.

'Not worried'

Nearly 800,000 viewers have tuned in to the extra Pop Idol footage on ITV2 every Saturday night as well.

The figures did not show the BBC's flagship channel was in trouble, a spokeswoman from the corporation told BBC News Online.

"These are figures for all the channels, so it is not comparing like for like," she said.

"We are not worried with BBC One's performance because year on year it is on target.

"But it also shows how important it was for the BBC to have a digital strategy and a portfolio of channels," she said.

BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball said the satellite service was only weeks away from signing up its seven millionth subscriber, compared with 6.1 million a year ago.