Phil Redmond created the ground-breaking Grange Hill and Brookside

Phil Redmond, now chairman of Mersey TV, told Tessa Jowell he would run it with its current remit intact for the next 10 years.

But media watchdog Ofcom has said the the commercially funded public service broadcaster will not be privatised.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said there were no plans to sell the channel.

Axed

He added that primary legislation would be required for the station to be sold off, which the government was not intending to introduce.

Brookside was axed in 2003 after its ratings slumped from a peak of seven million to just 1.5 million.

Redmond also brought teen soap Hollyoaks to Channel 4 and created Grange Hill, the school-based drama serial which was first broadcast on BBC One in 1978.