A MERSEYSIDE television news channel has been placed in administration and a buyer is being sought.

Staff from Bay TV have received a letter from Skelmersdale-based administrators Refresh Recovery explaining that while the situation is assessed the station will continue to operate as usual.

Peter Howell from Refresh Recovery told the Globe today: “We are in the very early stages at the moment.

“The company was placed in administration on August 18 and at the moment it is business as usual.

“The hope is to sell the business and we have a few offers lined up.

"We are hoping to make an announcement next week - but any option would also need to be agreed by Ofcom.

“At this moment in time there are no plans for redundancies but this is a very fluid situation and could change in 48 hours.”

Bay TV chief executive Chris Johnson said: “The station is operating as normal and we will continue to work closely with administrators.

“I am absolutely certain there will be no break in transmission and this time next year there will be still be a Liverpool news channel.”

Bay TV operates from its headquarters in Windsor Street, Toxteth, and broadcasts video news and a selection of live programmes covering Liverpool, Wirral, Cheshire and Halton on Freeview Channel 7.

The company was established in 2011 and has been broadcasting since December 2014.

It currently employs 16 staff.

So far 20 Local TV stations have been established in the UK with another 11 arriving this year and a further three to come in 2017.

They benefit from millions of pounds of BBC licence fee money which was used to launch the transmission network - the pet project of Jeremy Hunt when he was culture secretary under the last coalition government.

However proposals to scrap their funding were set out in the BBC white paper published earlier this year and there will be no additional cash for the fledgling network beyond the original £40m earmarked.

The stations sell content to the BBC and around £5m was set aside to cover these costs.