Ofcom has begun the second phase of Local TV planning, inviting companies to put forward their cases to run stations for Salisbury, Basingstoke, Guildford and others.
Would-be broadcasters will need to have submitted applications to Ofcom by January 7, 2014 with all channels required to show at least seven hours of original programming a week.
Based on the schedules we’ve seen from the likes of Made in Cardiff and Your TV Manchester, we can expect mixtures of local news, reporting and sports broadcasting from Local TV channels.
Read our guide to Local TVOfcom has already awarded licences for 19 Local TV channels and will now seek submissions for a further 21.
The second phase of Local TV bidding will eventually see 30 towns and cities getting their own channels. In order to streamline the process, Ofcom is will be announcing bids in stages to shorten the time between applications being submitted and awards being made.
The first 11 locations where Ofcom is inviting applications are Barnstaple, Basingstoke, Derry/Londonderry, Gloucester, Guildford, Limavady, Luton, Maidstone, Plymouth, Reading and Salisbury.
The final 10 Local TV locations will be Aberdeen, Ayr, Bromsgrove, Carlisle, Dundee, Falkirk, Inverness, Kidderminster, Stoke on Trent and Stratford upon Avon.
Local TV channels in England and Northern Ireland will be broadcast on Freeview channel 8 and Freeview channel 45 in Scotland and Wales. As services like BT Vision, TalkTalk TV and YouView use the digital terrestrial signal, they’ll be able to pick up Local TV channels too. It’s not currently clear where Local TV channels will see on the programme guides for Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat.
Leave a Reply