Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, has said today that the corporation's governance and regulatory body is planning to tighten the remit of its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, to focus on exploiting "the intellectual property of the BBC".

Lyons also gave the clearest indication yet that the corporation would welcome a partnership with Channel 4 involving BBC Worldwide and possible joint ownership of the UKTV subscription channels business.

Interviewed by MediaGuardian contributor Steve Hewlett on BBC Radio 4's The Media Show this afternoon, Lyons said the BBC Trust was conducting a review of BBC Worldwide and was likely to recommend that tighter limits be put on the scope of its commercial activities.

"The work isn't completely finished but it is pointing to the fact that the remit of BBC Worldwide should be narrowed to focus on the intellectual property of the BBC," Lyons told The Media Show.

BBC Worldwide has been criticised by rival media organisations, including Guardian News & Media, which publishes MediaGuardian.co.uk, which claim it has gone beyond its remit and is competing with them in areas in which it is not supposed to operate.

Rival companies have been particularly critical of BBC Worldwide's acquisition of a 75% stake in travel guides publisher Lonely Planet for a reported £75m in November 2007.

At a Commons culture, media and sport select committee hearing in November BBC Worldwide was branded an "out-of-control" juggernaut by Lyn Hughes, the editor and publisher of independent travel magazine Wanderlust.

Lyons also told Radio 4's The Media Show today that a partnership with Channel 4 to safeguard the future funding of non-BBC public serice content now looked "very likely", but cautioned that it could take time to put together.

He added that Channel 4, which had been seeking to take a stake in BBC Worldwide, had recently changed its position and become "much more serious about finding a partnership solution".

"It would have to be a partnership that adds value and doesn't just transfer value. As far as I'm concerned BBC Worldwide is not owned by Ofcom nor by the government but by licence fee payers," he said.

Last week it emerged that the BBC and Channel 4 were talking about a partnership that could include the latter buying Virgin Media's 50% stake in UKTV, which operates subscription channels including Gold and Dave. BBC Worldwide owns the other 50% of UKTV.

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