[comtv-l] Scottish cities should get own TV news channels, say Tories

[CMA-L]

Published Date: 28 January 2010 by Tom Peterkin
Source: http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Scottish-cities-should-get-own.6020848.jp

Scotland's major cities should have their own television news
stations, shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. Under a
Conservative government, a broadcasting model would be encouraged that
would see Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness producing
their own channels to deliver local news, he said.

On a visit to Edinburgh, Mr Hunt criticised the current government's
approach to the media sector, claiming that regulations preventing any
single media group from owning newspapers, radio stations and
television channels in the same geographical area were restricting the
development of local television.

"The media industry is going through a massive transition, mainly
caused by technology and the internet," Mr Hunt said.

He said rules were preventing media operators from following their
audiences to the different news platforms such as television, the
internet, and mobile phones.

"These days, people get news on their mobiles, they get it on their
PCs, on the radio, on TV. But the regulations prevent media operators
from following consumers from one platform to another, because they
say you can't have a significant stake in more than one platform.

"The (Labour] Cabinet's plans simply set the current system in
concrete and they don't allow for the new business models that we need
to emerge. Why doesn't Scotland have a TV channel for people who live
in Edinburgh? A city the size of Dundee in America would have a clutch
of local TV stations and people are very hungry for local news."

He added: "Bear in mind that the cost of producing TV is reducing
dramatically with the technology. You can set up a TV newsroom with
less than £100,000."

His vision of all-encompassing regional news outlets involving local
radio, newspapers and websites with city-based franchises was welcomed
by David Rushton, director of the Scottish-based Institute of Local
Television.

Dr Rushton said: "This is quite possible to deliver, given Scotland's
transmission capability. But we have to make sure that we don't
concentrate too much on urban areas to the detriment of rural
Scotland. We can develop a system of local television that can be just
as much for rural regions as it is for cities."

Mr Hunt confirmed that a Conservative government would not support the
current UK administration's plans for regional news schemes that would
see publicly subsidised consortia bid to run pilots for replacement
ITV regional news bulletins in Scotland, Wales and England.

Companies pitching for the contracts include News at Ten producer ITN,
broadcasters UTV and STV, owner of The Scotsman Johnston Press and
fellow newspaper groups Trinity Mirror and Newsquest, and news agency
the Press Association.

Mr Hunt said:

"I think the trouble with subsidy is that choice is then determined by
ministers rather than by the public."

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