It will be available from November on digital terrestrial TV and via satellite and the company is negotiating with cable companies to give their customers access.

Film Four will show what Channel 4 is calling "the cream of modern independent cinema" between 1800 and 0600 daily.

Channel 4 and Film Four will join hundeds of others on satellite

Trainspotting and Four Weddings and A Funeral, both of which received backing from Channel 4, will be among the films shown.

Films from other independent directors like Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodovar and the Coen Brothers are also promised.

All films shown will be uncensored, and will be shown before they appear on terrestrial television. The company also promises to give an outlet to films which have not made it to UK cinemas.

Michael Jackson, Channel 4's chief executive, said he wanted to establish a new sort of film channel showing "the brightest and best of modern British film," alongside the most interesting new movies from Europe and America.

"The channel will complement, not imitate, the sort of mainstream Hollywood output associated with existing pay movie channels," he said.