BBC Director General Greg Dyke has described reports that the BBC is planning to privatise its commercial arm BBC Worldwide as "complete rubbish".

"We have argued strongly against it and were pleased that the government's consultants, PKF, agreed with us," he said.

Worldwide includes the Radio Times, Teletubbies merchandise, video and overseas programme sales and the internet service beeb.com.

A spokesman said that the BBC's preferred approach was to raise additional investment through joint ventures and partnerships at the level of Worldwide's subsidiary businesses.

"The discussions on beeb.com fall into that category," he said.

BBC Worldwide Chief Executive Rupert Gavin said: "It has been known for some time that we have been seeking a minority partner for our commercial internet business. But there is no question of selling off any of BBC Worldwide itself."

The Sunday Times had reported that the corporation was planning the privatisation to raise extra money for its programmes.

Last week, an above-inflation increase in the licence fee was agreed. It will go up by £3 to £104 from April.

However, the increase falls short of what the BBC said it needed to fund a full digital service, new channels and programme improvements.

Commercial success

Worldwide is valued at about £3.1bn. It reported pre-tax profits of £20m last year, while beeb.com is estimated to be worth £1.3bn.

With the current almost insatiable appetite for all things related to e-commerce, the site is already reported to have attracted informal interest from possible US buyers.

beeb.com was launched in 1997 to provide entertainment information, but has since switched its emphasis to e-commerce.

By April all its sections will be dedicated to commerce and purchasing. It currently has some 15 million page views a month.

Its most popular sections include Top Gear, Holiday and Top of the Pops. Customers can get information about cars and holidays and make purchases via the site.

Shortly after beeb.com's launch, BBC Online was also launched. It is a separate publicly-funded news and information service of which BBC News Online is a part.