VIRGIN MEDIA is carrying out a review of its TV channels that could lead to a sale of some or all of the division.

The cable company has appointed Goldman Sachs to examine the operation, which owns digital channels including Trouble, Bravo and Living.

The move appears to mark an about-turn for Virgin, which tried to buy ITV to bolster its pro-gramming content only 15 months ago. That plan was blocked when satellite rival BSkyB bought a 17.9% stake in ITV. Sky is 39% owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Sunday Times.

An outright sale of Virgin Media Television could raise £800m, analysts estimate. Five owner RTL, Sky and NBC Universal would be interested in buying it.

However, it is understood that Virgin has yet to decide on a sale. It may retain parts of the division, which has annual sales of £366m, and even search for acquisitions of its own.

The most likely course of action is that it will try to find a buyer for the jewel in its crown, the half-share in UKTV which it owns in partnership with BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm.

UKTV owns channels such as UKTV Gold and UKTV History. Because its borrowings are capped at £350m, BBC Worldwide does not have deep enough pockets to buy out Virgin, but a change-of-control clause gives it approval over any new partner.

Meanwhile, Virgin is thought to be keen to retain and add to its portfolio of shopping channels.

The company considered a sale of its content arm, then called Flextech, when NTL merged with Telewest in 2005 to create Virgin. But the plan was vetoed by the board, chaired by Jim Mooney.

Observers think Virgin could slim down further by hiving off its business-telecoms arm to concentrate simply on offering consumers pay-TV, broadband, telephony and mobile.

Cable & Wireless has been linked in the past with the business arm, which has annual sales of £642m. However, its emphasis on small-business provision means it is no longer a close fit with C&W, whose boss, John Pluthero, is focusing on larger corporate contracts.

Virgin has had to reinvent itself after the credit crunch killed hopes of a private-equity takeover. An indicative offer from a consortium led by Car-lyle, the private equity group, was priced at $33 a share last summer. The shares closed in New York at $15 on Friday.

Virgin has made fast broadband its “hero” product, adding 111,000 subscribers in the last quarter. But a significant amount of uncertainty persists.

Neil Berkett, who has led the company since Steve Burch left last August, is still only chief executive on an acting basis. Virgin Media declined to comment. ITV is in talks to withdraw from the cinema advertising market, in a deal that will hand the company’s loss-making Carlton Screen Advertising over to Cine-world and Odeon, its two major contractors.

The broadcaster, which has replaced Simon Shaps as head of television after a disappointing run of ratings, announces full-year figures on Wednesday.

Advertising income at flagship channel ITV1 is expected to be down 2% so far this year, but is slightly up when the contribution from digital channels is included.

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