ITV UNVEIL NEW SPORTS CHANNEL

A NEW pay TV sports channel that will offer the very best in European club football and revolutionise domestic coverage for millions of fans has been unveiled by ITV.
The new ITV Sport Channel represents the first ever sports offering to break the Sky stranglehold on how Britons watch premium sport, and it has the strength, reputation and popularity of the country's most respected sports broadcaster, ITV Sport, firmly behind it.
Launching in August, the premium channel will be available through ONdigital which is to be renamed ITV Digital.
A top quality line-up including more than 150 live football matches each season will make up what is a major development in televised sport. There will be unrivalled live coverage from the world's most prestigious club competition - the UEFA Champions League, ground-breaking coverage of the Nationwide League and the excitement of The Worthington Cup.
The UEFA Champions League has become the pinnacle of competitive football in Europe and will provide the cornerstone of the new channel with unrivalled coverage of live matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the competition's 17-week format.
The new channel will combine live football with feature-led programming to give viewers the complete UEFA Champions League picture. Alongside the UEFA Champions League coverage, the ITV Sport Channel will also launch the most comprehensive commitment to the Nationwide League yet seen on British television. With a total of 80 live matches to be screened on Thursdays and Sundays, the new channel will raise the profile and extend the experience enjoyed by millions of followers of English football's original league competition.
Brian Barwick, ITV's Controller of Sport since 1998, will take editorial control of the new channel. He said: ''This is a fantastic development for ITV. The twin strike force of ITV's existing top class terrestrial sports coverage and a new dedicated premium channel is a winning combination." (CD)