THE boss of a commercial TV station in Hampshire has this message for potential buyers: "It's up for sale - at the right price."

MyTV Network chairman Patrick Trant set the record straight after Southampton's business rumour mill went into overdrive following two recent events.

The hares were set running when MyTV Network, a free terrestrial station which operates out of Southampton and Portsmouth, held an extraordinary general meeting.

A resolution was passed allowing its directors to be given the authority to sell the business as a going concern if necessary.

Mr Trant, who runs a successful construction company, insisted this was a technicality, and that any business would be up for sale at the right price.

MyTV Network was not advertised as being on the market, he stressed.

A few days after that meeting five people, including presenter Mark Stewart, 44, were laid off at the Southampton station. He now runs his own production company.

Mr Trant, told of the rumours about the future of MyTV Network, admitted: "It is up for sale - at the right price."

Business South has since learnt that two parties have expressed an interest in buying the channel 29 station.

Southampton TV was launched at a cost of £480,000 in October 2002 from Sir James Matthews Building, Above Bar Street.

But the local community station, funded by commercial advertising, hit the headlines for a number of reasons.

A spate of redundancies, made against a background of financial difficulties, ended with an employment tribunal earlier this year.

Seven former employees, based at Portsmouth, successfully argued they had been unfairly dismissed.

The workers, who had previously been paid redundancy, described the findings as a "moral victory."

MyTV Network company secretary Rob Horgan told the Southampton tribunal in July: "The business is technically insolvent.

"It is on a precarious footing and totally reliant on sales. The watershed is imminent."

Industry experts say community TV stations across the UK are notoriously difficult to run at a profit, with many going to the wall.

Southampton Institute graduate Mr Trant, who runs Trant Construction, based at Rushington, near Totton, was said to have genuine regard and affection for staff past and present.

He was also said to be unhappy by media coverage of the tribunal, describing it to friends as "one-sided".