HOLME Moss radio mast may be sold.

Energy group National Grid Transco is considering buying the 150-acre site as part of a network of 3,500 mobile phone and broadcasting masts.

National Grid, which owns the country's electricity and gas supply network, is in talks to buy Warwickshire-based Crown Castle International.

Crown Castle bought the BBC's TV and radio towers business in 1997.

Financial pundits have valued that business at £1.1bn.

National Grid already has its own mobile phone masts division, Gridcom, which has around 1,400 sites hosting leading mobile companies.

It is thought to be interested in selling its UK division so it can focus on its mainUS business.

The 740ft Holme Moss mast was the first TV transmitter in northern England when it was built by the BBC in 1951.

It stopped transmitting TV pictures in 1985, but still beams radio signals to millions of homes.

It also provides a relay point for mobile phone operators.

The current mast - replacing the original - was built in 1984.

Atrocious weather meant the old mast could not be dismantled until 1986.

The move to buy the mast comes as National Grid considers final offers from potential buyers for parts of its gas pipeline business.

* Work started on the mast in 1950

* The 750ft structure was switched on on October 12, 1951

* Engineers used 140 tons of steel - held together by 27,000 nuts, bolts and washers in the original mast

* The mast is twice the height of St Paul's Cathedral (left) and four times higher than Nelson's Column (right)

* It beamed TV and radio to millions of homes in a 50-mile radius, across Yorkshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire

* The mast station was fitted out with showers and bunks for BBC staff stranded on Holme Moss by Arctic weather.