This month, the Government has announced plans for a network of local TV stations for around the UK, but is there demand?
If plans go ahead, the proposed local TV services are expected to be available on Freeview Channel 8, and each station would broadcast local programming for at least one hour a day. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is aiming to fast-track licences out across the UK to get these stations on-air as soon as possible, with the aim being for companies to be able to set these up for the cost of setting up a local newspaper.
Traditionally, there’s been little interest in local TV services here in the UK. It’s a big thing in the US, but previous attempts at local TV haven’t always been successful, as those that remember Live TV in the 1990s can attest to. Given some of the problems being faced by the local community radio stations in the UK, you have to wonder whether there’s a) the market, and b) the money, to make local TV worth it.
Would we be in danger of seeing what’s happened to local radio, where large companies have snapped up local licences to form a network of near-national services? Or do you think there’s a need for a daily TV service broadcast from your town or city each day… and would you watch?
The UK regulator OfCom has announced a list of 65 areas that could find themselves with a local TV service as early as 2012. Here is the list, by region:
Midlands
Birmingham , Bromsgrove, Hereford, Kidderminster, Malvern, Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Stoke on Trent,Stratford upon Avon and Telford
North East
Middlesbrough and Newcastle
North West
Burnley, Carlisle, Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester and Preston
East of England
Bedford, Cambridge and Norwich (Alan Partridge need not apply)
South East
Basingstoke, Brighton and Hove, Dover, Guildford, Haywards Heath, Hemel Hempstead, London, Luton, Maidstone, Oxford Reading, Reigate, Southampton and Tonbridge
South West
Barnstaple, Bristol, Gloucester, Plymouth, Poole and Salisbury
Yorkshire & Humberside
Grimsby, Keighley, Leeds, Scarborough, Sheffield and York
Scotland
Aberdeen Ayr, Dundee, Edinburgh, Elgin, Falkirk, Glasgow, Greenock and Inverness
Wales
Bangor, Cardiff, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Mold and Swansea
Northern Ireland
Belfast, Derry/ Londonderry and Limavady
So, are you interested in local TV? Would you be interested in local community TV? Or is the idea insane? We’d love to get your comments!
I thought we already had it in London to a degree, we get London News after the main news and
I live in Wiltshire so my nearest stations would be either Bristol or Sailsbury, both around 25 miles away. The local ITV and BBC are both based in Bristol and very rarely stray as far as Wiltshire so I think in my case the new stations would be pointless. Perhaps local stations based on county areas rather than large towns/cities would be better. My overall view: forget it.
I thought we already had it in London to a degree, we get London News after the main news and I thought the same happened in other areas. It would depend on the content and how interesting and useful it was. If it was only on air for an hour a day one would have to record it to watch at a convenient time and then it be a matter of finding the time. We have so much media to watch already so, unsure.
This would be a dedicated TV channel, not just a news programme. May include news, interviews, sport, local affairs, politics… andything local
Does enough happen of interest?
I live in Wiltshire, a 5 minute browse of the local paper is more than sufficient.
I cannot see many smaller regions wanting this, although may be of interest in larger urban areas with local info, what’s on, special offers etc.
To my mind, this is better served with IPTV, not broadcast services, especially when multicast linear IP channels are utilised
Taunton in Somerset had its own TV station for about a couple of years – wasn’t all that good – in its first year, it mostly carried Sky News and QVC for hours at a time – or a bulletin board. They had a local news programme at 6 – at one point, it came on at 6:30.
After > a year, they took their news from the now-defunct ITV News Channel and featured programmes that mostly featured movie clips – Movies, Games & Videos and Cinema, Cinema, Cinema, plus programmes they made themselves. At night and weekends, everything was automated – things invariably went wrong and were never corrected – subsequent repeats also went wrong.
They even did “radio programmes” – put DJs in a “radio studio” environment and had them playing pop records – whilst the records were playing, viewers would see the bulletin board – bloke who did the afternoon show played classical music.
I already ignore local radio & the local newspaper (which has just gone from daily to once a week, so I am obviously not the only one ignoring it) so the idea of local TV leaves me completely cold. Some of the rubbish I have seen shown on US programmes (real & fictional) as being from local stations hardly fills me with confidence either. I just see this as a complete waste of everybody’s time & money & I am mystified as to why the Govt seems to be so keen.
Watta bout Milton keynes then.
Its suppose to be the city of the 21st century.
Mark thompson (Present dir gen – BBC)Supposedly said abt 7 years ago that BBC 3 counties radio would develop into a 3 counties tv aswell for Herts,Beds & Bucks & would be probably moved from its present location in Luton to a new base in MK so.
As always, none of this applies to rural Lincolnshire. Rubbish broadband, no cable, huge aerials needed to receive Digital, poor mobile signal, bad road network. If it was not for the fact that this area is so beautiful, I would move.
Never mind local TV: we have more than enough awful channels as it is. Every new programme is repeated a hundred times. They are seen on one channel, then repeated on another version of the same channel, and another. Sometimes 2 or 3 times a week. Digital TV is the biggest con-trick ever inflicted upon the British people. When we had only 3 channels, we had much more entertainment.
Many of us living within 10miles of Barnstaple would prefer a FreeView service rather than playing at Local TV.
Incidentally, until very recently Barnstaple had a local ITV News studio! Cheaper to have kept that for just an hour a day “local”??
Was not going to rant again, but then I recalled something more about this whole Digital broadcasting setup.
Did you know that something as simple as a TREE can upset, or even switch out, your digital signal? Quite true; if you have a large enough tree between your digital antenna and the transmitted signal, the band is so tight that it interferes with your signal. This comes from a professional, not just an antenna erector, but a very good mate who carries out work for local governments and large organisations, networking and laying out TV/audio networks. Apparently, as the branches and leaves of a tree are always in movement, the tight band of a digital signal is confused and cannot operate properly. As all of the country will soon be completely digital, perhaps you have the right to have that tree removed. Despite all the tree-huggers on your local Council!
At a time when natural energy resources are getting more expensive and scarce, Government should be set on reducing the numbers of tv and radio stations broadcasting pointless material instead of increasing them.
Should at least be worth giving it a try out.
Local radio seems popular
Perhaps – so long as it genuinely reflected local interests! No – if it were to become a vehicle for political campaigning: There is too much of that already. Perhaps local worship services could be includ4ed in the mix?