It is understood that the interactive TV portal, 4Active, will function as an interactive homepage and an entertainment vehicle.
4Active could also fill Channel 4's empty slot on the Freeview platform, the free digital terrestrial service being launched by the BBC, Crown Castle and BSkyB, and is one of a number of broadcast options being considered by the broadcaster.
Channel 4 is reported to be in talks with specialist agencies, as well as Sky, about the development of the portal.
The broadcaster has sunk millions into pay-per-view channels E4 and FilmFour and has struggled to make them profitable. Audience figures for E4 shot up in the summer when the station ran 'Big Brother' across its schedules, but these quickly dropped away after the reality programme ended.
It has had difficulties in recouping its investment because of low subscriber figures. Channel 4's chief executive Mark Thompson has said that he expects E4 to break even by 2005.
Thompson, speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, argued for a publicly owned Channel 4, backed by taxpayers' support if necessary, as the best guarantee of creative programming in the future.
However, a recent survey in the trade press showed little enthusiasm for a channel funded in such a way.
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