The BBC plans for a rival to the Sky service, which was unveiled by chief executive James Murdoch last week, came to light in an interview with Andy Duncan, BBC director of marketing, in the Independent on Sunday.
Duncan said that talks with other broadcasters about a rival to the Sky service have been going on for sometime, but was only one of the options that the BBC was pursuing.
"If there is competition in these areas, it's good for consumers in terms of pricing and choice," Duncan told the paper.
The BBC has rejected talk that Sky's "Freesat" will be a rival to Freeview, the BBC, BSkyB and Crown Castle digital terrestrial service, and has instead said it welcomed the service.
As well as pursuing talks about a possible rival, Duncan said that the BBC was also talking to Sky about how the two might work together on Freesat.
Duncan said that the BBC had originally been in talks, along with other broadcasters, about forming a consortium with Sky to launch the service, but that Sky decided to go it alone.
The BBC said that as well as talks with Sky, conversations have also been held with ITV, which lost £1.2bn with the collapse of its digital TV platform ITV Digital.
"We are in discussion with BSkyB about how we might work together. We would bring our brand credibility and support and could link the venture to a public service marketing campaign," Duncan said.
News of the BBC's plans follows the warning issued by former BBC chairman Gavyn Davies about the power that Sky wields in the marketplace. He said that it could potentially wreck ITV's future, laying it open to a foreign takeover.
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