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The Trust said it should bring "greater clarity" to the direction, parameters and strategy of BBC Worldwide's activities in the UK and overseas.

It went on to say that it plans to make changes to BBC Worldwide's remit "to establish a more contained focus for its operations".

However, the Trust insisted that none of these plans impairs its ambition that BBC Worldwide "should maintain and develop its commercial vigour and strength".

"In our view, this is perfectly compatible with a challenging remit and clearer parameters for its operation and strategic focus," it concluded.

Last July, the BBC Trust launched a review of BBC Worldwide's mandate, strategy and governance arrangements. This aimed to establish whether any changes in Worldwide's remit were needed, and to consider concerns expressed by others in the media market about the impact of BBC Worldwide.

Since then, however, the Trust said the debate about BBC Worldwide has broadened "to take in the new question of whether it has a role to play in sustaining a second public service broadcasting entity".

The Trust added: "In our view, it would be wrong for the Trust to take decisions based on its current review until this new question about BBC Worldwide has been resolved."

However, it decided to publish its interim conclusions today to inform this debate.

The Trust said that rather than reach final decisions on the future role for BBC Worldwide ahead of the broader public policy debate - led in large part by Lord Carter's Digital Britain report - "we will now work with the BBC executive to assess more fully the potential benefits for audiences emerging from partnership options that the BBC and Channel 4 are currently developing".

The Trust concluded: "We will return to the question of BBC Worldwide strategy as soon as there is sufficient clarity around the nature of the partnership options for the Trust to reach fully informed decisions."