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The two are said to be in advanced talks that are due to be concluded by next week. The sale will almost certainly result in the station's closure.

Live TV was notorious for creating the News Bunny, topless darts, lunch box volleyball and the weather in Norwegian. The station has failed to make a profit since it launched four years ago, and it lost £9 million last year.

The closure of the station is likely to result in 270 staff being made redundant, including Tiffany the stripping city tipster. The News bunny got the chop sometime ago.

The station was launched by Janet Street-Porter, now editor of the Independent on Sunday, and former Mirror Group deputy chief executive, Kelvin Mackenzie. Street-Porter departed acrimoniously soon after launch leaving Mackenzie in control.

MacKenzie, the former editor of the Sun, resigned unexpectedly from Mirror Group in June last year in order to head up a consortium bidding to take over the UK radio station, Talk Radio.

Live TV had planned to launch a network of city-based stations around the UK. Two were launched, Edinburgh and Liverpool, but they were both closed last year.