And here is the news from the BBC: It's moving to 10

The BBC's nine o'clock news, the main daily bulletin, is to move to 10pm from next year.

The BBC's nine o'clock news, the main daily bulletin, is to move to 10pm from next year.

The move will be confirmed tonight by BBC director general Greg Dyke when he gives the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival.

Mr Dyke will also shock his audience by admitting that he has "toyed with the idea" of turning the BBC into a subscription service.

However, he will add that he has now consigned that idea to the dustbin as he has become convinced that the BBC must be "free to air" in the digital age.

In an impassioned speech about the need to maintain public service broadcasting, Mr Dyke will say that we have to ensure that there isn't a digital underclass. A subscription service might have deprived sections of the population of key BBC services.

The move of the BBC's flagship bulletin from 9pm to 10pm has been fiercely debated within the corporation, and only in the last few days has Mr Dyke decided it would definitely be included in his speech.

It signals a victory for those within the corporation who have argued that with ITV vacating the 10pm spot, the BBC should move its main news programme to a time which will give it greater scope for mid-evening dramas, films and comedies at a peak ratings time - ironically much the same argument used by ITV when they moved their news from 10pm to 11pm.

In June, the BBC chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, told the House of Commons' Media, Culture and Sport select committee that a move to 10pm would be allowed only if it would produce more viewers.

It is possible that when the BBC moves its bulletin it will end up head to head with ITV, which has been ordered by the Independent Television Commission to shift its news back to an earlier time. ITV will challenge the order in the High Court.

Also tonight, Mr Dyke will give more detail about the move towards BBC1, 2, 3 and 4. It has been widely leaked that the present digital channels BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge will become BBC3 and 4, with Choice becoming a youth channel and Knowledge an arts and education channel.

Of greater interest will be how Mr Dyke sees BBC1 and 2 developing.

There has been unease expressed by the Secretary of State for Media, Culture and Sport, Chris Smith, by the select committee and, privately, by some BBC governors about reports of BBC1 becoming largely a general entertainment channel with factual programmes moving to BBC2.