A BBC spokeswoman said: "We hope that Neighbours will stay with the BBC, but no programme is indispensable and it has to come at the right price for the corporation."
The BBC is currently locked in talks with the distributor of the show Fremantle, part of the RTL Group, which is understood to have tripled the price of each episode of the soap from £25,000 to £75,000.
Both ITV and Five are believed to be keen to acquire the long-running Australian series, with Five looking at the series as a possible double-header with its popular Australian series 'Home and Away', which is broadcast on weekdays at 6pm.
The deal with Fremantle would value the soap, which brings in an average audience of 7m, at more than £20m a year, a figure the BBC is not willing to pay.
George McGhee, the director of acquisitions at the BBC, said: "If a deal is not reached in the very, very near future, we will withdraw the money and move it elsewhere."
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