Ofcom is now inviting Expressions of Interest for companies interested in running a local TV channel in the following locations:

Aberdeen
Ayr
Bangor
Barnstaple
Basingstoke
Bedford
Bromsgrove
Cambridge
Carlisle
Derry/Londonderry
Dundee
Guildford
Hereford
Inverness
Kidderminster
Limavady
Luton
Maidstone
Malvern
Middlesbrough
Mold
Plymouth
Reading
Salisbury
Scarborough
Stoke on Trent
Stratford upon Avon
Swansea
Tonbridge
York

Full details: http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/tv-bro.../local/phase2/

cant help but think, they should wait for the others to get up and running first.

They are doing it as one lot, I mean why wait, the Government needs the money after all

government may want the money, but if im putting my money up, I might wish to see that the others are viable, before I invest in my local area.

With no guaranteed space available if the 700MHz band is cleared, they might not want to have a lot of local tv channels with licences extending very far into the clearance period.

It will all end in tears! Just can't see how local TV will be viable in the main UK cities let alone the smaller ones and large towns.

There was a short debate about local TV on the North West edition of The Sunday Politics with ex Channel M presenter Andy Crane last Sunday morning. The chances of the Manchester or Liverpool stations being viable didn't look good, the Preston station even less so. Only the media departments of Salford, Liverpool and Warrington universities seemed enthusiastic. It was claimed that Channel M failed because it could not provide accurate audience figures and that BARB will provide those this time. Canis Media have suggested a centralised playout centre located in Birmingham, maybe they would like to set up a network when all the stations have gone pop like Globals Heart rebranding of several local radio stations.

Not even the main UK cities?! How do you explain the existence of local tv channels in other countries like Italy and Spain? Even the smaller towns in those countries have local tv channels, like in Parma in Italy where I lived for a couple of years. So are you telling me that while a small Italian town can have three local tv channels, big UK cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow etc can't?

But surely, what might be viable in one local area might not be so in another, especially as these areas don't seem to have been chosen with any local demand, viability or markets in mind.

And as they were seemingly the brainchild of one Mr Jeremy (H)unt, it is also possible that most will be an abject failure anyway.

The UK, and the UK TV market, are not likely to be comparable to those which exist in other countries.

I agree that local TV should be viable in the large cities, London certainly. HOWEVER it maybe too late for it to be traditional TV, local TV may well best serve viewers either on demand, or online.

It's not even about covering large towns and cities, only large areas that happen to be close to a main transmitter. Some large towns and densely populated areas are left out because they can't easily be covered without also covering large unrelated areas. Other towns only have partial coverage because they are served by multiple transmitters.

That applies to my town - ignored due to those coverage issues, whilst a neighbouring town gets one (even though it is debatable whether the area covered reaches the same number of people).

This is one reason why I am sceptical as to its viability.

They've been chosen due to:
a) availability of spectrum and
b) somebody having expressed an interest to either the DCMS consultation or the later Ofcom consultation (for the former, both companies interested in running a service, and individuals)

There were further areas on the original list that have been left out as there was no demand for such a service from any company or individual.

even if you are lucky enough to get the channel where you live, who is to say people will view the channel? I mean with so many channels on offer, why bother with a local tv station. I dont know anyone who would choose a local tv offering over say Sky One, Sky Sports, films (inc DVD, BluRay, Online), and countless others.

Sounds too limited to me.

it will be a total waste of time here, what the hell are they going to talk about or show and also who is going to pay for it?

It will fail simple as that before it even starts, who the hell want to watch Tv about this boring city anyway, it will just be more propaganda for the council.

the question is what unique local content can a small city, (or even large town) provide its viewers, and is TV even the best way to provide that content.

I would argue that beyond reading the local paper, and providing local council information, not much. Ok so come time for local elections, it may come into its own, but quite where all the good local talent is going to come from for this, is anybody's guess.

Best case, this ends up looking like the TV version of BBC local radio, or it ends up in the hands of local university's, with students eager to prove themselves.

There certainly isnt anything local commercial radio can bring to the mix, meanwhile local papers may worry about competition for advertising, this assuming that your local chip shop, really wants to run a TV ad, much cheaper (in terms of ad production costs) to place an ad in the local paper.

The other option of course, is the US model, where local people can buy air time, for themselves.

Whatever can or can not be provided in terms of content, I am far from convinced that TV is the way to go, online seems the best bet, and that will only be a sort of local YouTube, largely piggy backing off the local newspaper website,

Looking at my local paper, I might like to do a follow up video about this article, and have it air on my local TV station, but really people wont tune in for it, it needs to be online, where people will see it. People wont watch my interview the people behind this on TV, but those with an interest may well share it around the web.

meanwhile, just look at the quality of that article, its dreadful, I found much more interesting and worthwhile information on Twitter and the companys website.

Another joy of online, is the comments section, and on the localised level, it may well be possible for those comments to have genuine input into future productions. This is much harder with TV, but if you offer people a local TV channel to serve them, alot will expect it to be alot more responsive to comments than regional TV news currently is.

In terms of content, you could end up inviting the leader of the local weight watchers group on, or maybe giving some air time to something like the Greeniveristy

http://www.greeniversity.org.uk/sear...::Peterborough

where local people teach skills to other local people.

Its almost needs to be the extra thing, to add to something that a local service is already running, rather than the usual top down service.

It makes little sense to argue that local television is needed and then to only make it available in certain locations. If it is needed at all, it is needed everywhere, not just in areas conveniently close to a transmitter mast.

The idea is flawed.

Probably not far from the truth.

It's been done before and failed. In IW we had TV12, relayed Sky News when off air (over half the day). It failed and was taken over by Solent TV, also failed even though it got on to satellite and the Sky EPG (er local or what). Portsmouth and Southampton both also had local stations which failed.

I assume that's Bangor North Wales and not Bangor Northern Ireland ?

It will be from Llandonna, so yes, Wales.

It could prove interesting if opened up to new talent as a platform to broadcast small productions that are independently produced, perhaps an extension of university media work sort of thing?. It could prove a good training ground for people new to the broadcast industry?

I honestly can't think how we could fill broadcasting hours with general local information to be honest so lets see how the stations are used.

People keep using that argument but I would ask why would we not watch local tv channels just because we're "British". Besides, we value regional news programmes and if the BBC were to cut back on regional news and ITV completely dropped theirs, viewers are bound to be driven to the local tv channels which would provide a much more localised service than anything we've ever had from the BBC and ITV.

I agree with that. I believe OFCOM had hinted to Jeremy Hunt that IPTV would the way forward in the long term for local tv. I know not every area has space on their local transmitters for a local tv channel so an online tv service would be the best way forward for every area.

The point is, how it is funded. UK local TV is expected to be a commercial profit making venture. To attract advertising and sponsors you need to have an audience. Local TV will be competing in a multi-channel world where other channels will have far more engaging programme content.