The newspaper reports that the British Broadcasting Corporation is preparing  a bond issue to help fund future productions.

The publicly funded broadcaster is thought to have hired Barclays and Lloyds to work on a bond deal. If it presses ahead, a debt issue could run to hundreds of millions of pounds and be launched within weeks, the Times reports.

The BBC would use the proceeds of any debt issue to finance its commercial division, BBC Worldwide. Profits from BBC Worldwide are channelled back into the BBC, which has a public service remit.

Any capital raising done in this way would be used to fund its commercial operations, the BBC confirmed.