A range of ideas was launched by the BBC yesterday to generate £120m for the commercial sector, including sharing its iPlayer and bringing the service to television screens.

But Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan responded to the proposals by saying that apart from a partnership with BBC Worldwide suggested by Ofcom, he could see no tangible financial benefit to Channel 4 in the plans.

The proposals come during watchdog Ofcom’s review into how to plug the Public Service Broadcasting gap.

It has been mooted by the regulator that one funding source for Channel 4 could be for it to take control of some or all of BBC Worldwide.

Ofcom has set out analysis suggesting that by 2012 Channel 4 could need extra funding of up to £100m to deliver its existing remit.

But speaking in London yesterday, BBC chairman Sir Michael Lyons said the proposition that BBC Worldwide might be taken away from licence fee payers was “pretty extraordinary”.

He added that BBC Worldwide was not a “portable cash machine” for the Government, the regulator or anyone else to “wheel around”.

Sir Michael said people came up with “fanciful ideas. The danger is they detract from what’s do-able”.

BBC director-general Mark Thompson described BBC Worldwide as an “artery of value. If you cut the artery you end up with a catastrophic loss of value”.

But giving his response to the proposals in a statement, Mr Duncan said the assumption about the benefits of iPlayer were inaccurate.

“Based on our considerable experience of selling advertising around on-demand viewing, we’ve given the BBC clear feedback that their assumptions about the commercial benefits of a link with the iPlayer are inaccurate,” he said.