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Local TV in London: London Live could be live by September 2013

What’s new for Local TV in London?

London Live could be live by September 2013 

London Live. That’s the name of London’s forthcoming Local TV station so Londoners, get used to seeing this on Freeview channel 8.

Ofcom awarded the licence to the London Evening Standard-owned proposition which aims to bring breaking news stories and locally produced content to the capital.

As well as broadcasting on Freeview, London Live also have plans to roll out ‘hyper local’ news to 33 boroughs, taking local to the next level. This extra content will be delivered via broadband connections, meaning while residents in say Chelsea and Clapham will be able much of the same content, there will be additional stories and reporting tailored specifically for those areas.

London Live could be live by the end of September if trials of linear TV and IPTV broadcasts go according to plan.

February 7, 2013

Local TV in London: London Live could be live by September 2013

Previous news stories about Local TV in London


Who are London Live?

London Live is the name for London’s forthcoming Local TV channel. It’ll be broadcast on channel 8 on Freeview and plans to provide separate ‘hyper local’ news feeds to 33 areas of London via broadband connections.

London Live is owned and run by the London Evening Standard. As such, it draws on the editorial resources of the paper, meaning that local news will be the primary focus of the channel.

As well as news, programmes featured will include current affairs, cooking, fashion, shopping and design. A ‘100 per cent focus’ on London is promises, with broadcasts of repeats kept to a minimum.
What will be on London Live?

As London Live will share resources with both the London Evening Standard as well as the Lebedev-owned Independent, we can expect fresh London-centric news stories to be the mainstay of output.

London Live’s indicative schedule document submitted to Ofcom shows that it expects 28 per cent of the content balance to be weighted towards news.

There’ll be political coverage including live GLA debates and current affairs discussions, live broadcasts of the Standard’s own annual Theatre Awards, at least one new drama and one new comedy show a year and a chance for new film-makers to be given airtime.

Rolling public transport and road traffic news will be broadcast at peak commuter times and London Live will have the ability to disrupt schedules to cover major news stories as they break.

As well as this, current affairs, community and culture programmes will dominated, alongside a dash of entertainment and repeats. London Live is committed to keeping repeats to a minimum, promising to keep the total repeat rate under 50 per cent.


Where will London Live cover?

London Live will broadcast on Freeview channel 8 and will also serve 33 distinct regions of London with extra local content delivered via broadband connections (IPTV).

The Freeview signal will reach out to the majority of London’s 8.1 million residents who can receive the digital terrestrial signal from the Crystal Palace transmitter.

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When will Local TV be coming to London?

Local TV in London: London Live could be live by September 2013Currently London Live plans to launch at the end of September, with a trial period of the IPTV elements going live earlier in the month.

This date is subject to change and will be dependent on Comux making sure that the infrastructure is ready to go and London Live’s trials being a success.

It’s not yet known what the minimum requirements for streaming IPTV content are. Given that services like BBC iPlayer and Netflix will work on speeds around 2-3Mbps, we can expect that if you’re capable of getting these download speeds you should be okay.


What’s Local TV all about?

Local TV is a project aimed at bringing an extra local station to a number of UK cities. At least 19 cities will be covered under the first phase of the launch, with the potential for more than 28 cities to be served by Local TV stations in the future.

Will I have to retune my Freeview box?

Local TV will be coming to Freeview channel 8 when it launches in London, but it will be on a new frequency with two other new TV channels. So you’ll need to retune your Freeview set-top box or TV set to get London Live when it launches.

Can I get Local TV on Sky, Virgin Media or Freesat?

It’s currently not clear where Local TV channels will be appearing on Sky’s programme guide and how viewers will be able to get it.

Virgin Media is in favour of delivering a local TV through an app on its TiVo boxes, providing access to local TV streams from all over the country.

Sky and Freesat are a challenge for local TV channels, because it will be very expensive and wasteful to purchase satellite capacity for multiple channels. Every local channel will reach the whole country because satellite transmissions can’t be focussed onto smaller areas, even though they only need to reach a small area.

It’s possible that the Local TV channels will be delivered over broadband using Sky On Demand and the new Free Time from Freesat.

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