The BBC said today it planned to start its new multi-channel digital television service in Britain by early November.
The BBC, which teamed up with Mr Rupert Murdoch's satellite service BSkyB and transmitter operator Crown Castle International to bid for the licences of failed ITV Digital, said in July when it won the auction it aimed to start the service in the early autumn.
The new service, called "Freeview", is expected to fill the gap left by the collapse of ITV Digital.
Mr Andy Duncan, BBC director of marketing and communications, said Freeview would be available to any member of the public who made a one-off equipment payment of about £99.
Freeview will also make the BBC's digital channels available to many more licence payers.
Crown Castle earlier today said it was on target to add three more channels to the line-up described on July 4th when the Independent Television Commission announced it was awarding the licences to the consortium.
The new service will offer genres such as history, with the new UK History channel, news from BBC News 24, Sky News and Sky Sports News, and children's programmes on CBeebies.