Telewest is considering floating its joint pay-TV venture with the BBC, UKTV, according to Telewest CEO Adam Singer.

Speaking at last weekend's Edinburgh International Television Festival, Singer said the venture, which controls a stable of six cable TV channels, including UK Gold and UK Play, is valued at more than $1.47bn (£1bn).

Meanwhile BBC Worldwide and Telewest have also announced plans to extend UKTV, with Telewest agreeing to further, unspecified investment. Apart from new channels, the expanded venture will encompass web-sites based on BBC programmes, magazine brands, interactive TV services, digital text services and TV shopping services.

Rupert Gavin, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, said that the extension: "strengthens our existing UKTV joint venture and allows us to pursue our ambitious strategy for our commercial television channels and interactivity for the future".