BUZZ-UTV Media: sale talk lifts stock

** Northern Ireland's UTV Media (LSE: UTV.L - news) continues to climb a day after it said it may sell its TV franchise

** One of only two independent broadcasters in the ITV network, UTV rises 8 pct, with more than a day's average volume traded in the first hour and a half

** Stock second best performer on the FTSE All Share Media Index

** Belfast Telegraph reported on Saturday that UTV was due to sell its television division to ITV Plc (LSE: ITV.L - news) in a multi-million-pound deal (http://bit.ly/1Jesiem)

** Peel Hunt analyst Alex Degroote said on Monday that a sale could fetch between 100 mln stg and 125 mln stg ($156 mln and $195 mln)

** An ITV spokesman declined to comment on what he termed as speculation

** UTV said on June 23 that it saw a deeper-than-expected FY loss at UTV Ireland, its new Republic of Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) channel, as audience growth stalled

** Stock has fallen 2.6 pct between June 22 and Friday's close

** ITV's stock was up 2 pct at 0844 GMT (Reuters Messaging: noor.hussain.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)