Ads-only TV channel on the way

It's the ultimate in commercial television - a channel devoted entirely to ads.

An extension of the concept of home shopping channels, it will initially be dedicated to interactive ads, enabling viewers to buy stuff from their armchairs. But in time it could include ordinary commercials broadcast on other channels and classic ads from the past, such as the PG Tips chimps.

The putative new channel was dreamt up by Zip Television, a fledgling company which says it has the support of several multinationals, including BT, Unilever and Gillette.

Andrew Howells, a managing partner in Zip, said it would at first be a "virtual channel" that could be accessed by Sky Digital viewers via the red button on their remote controls.

"In time, we'd hope to be able to give viewers somewhere, for example, where they could access all the Budweiser ads there have ever been, which is something I'm sure a lot of people would like," he said.