The figures, compiled by TV audience rating system Barb, for the week in the run-up to Easter showed that BBC1 grabbed 23.9% of viewing time, just beating ITV's 23.8%.
During the period surveyed, Sky screened the Arsenal-Manchester United football match, with 3.4m viewers tuning in to see the clash of the teams at the head of the Premier League.
Other high-rating shows including E4's 'ER' and 'Friends', and on Sky One the 300th episode of 'The Simpsons', which was heavily promoted by Sky, and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', the final season of which is now airing.
The figures are good news for the government, which is trying to switch homes over to digital by 2010. However, it raises questions about the BBC's funding via the licence fee.
ITV has already admitted that its share of the UK advertising market has dipped to 52% as a result of growing competition from digital services and, with audiences for multichannel increasing, it will make it harder to justify its charges for ad space.
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