NBC Universal could make an offer to acquire women's cable channel Oxygen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The seven year old channel, which counts Oprah Winfrey amongst its key backers, could be a good fit with NBC's other female-skewing properties such as the iVillage.com lifestyle and social networking website.

A spokesperson for the channel said that "options to maximise value for our shareholders, including private equity and strategic partners" were under evaluation.