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Ofcom has issued a progress update on local TV, two years since the first licences were awarded. 

Local TV is a new form of broadcasting, enabled through legislation passed by Parliament in 2011. Ofcom is responsible for licensing local TV stations on digital terrestrial TV and has now issued 30 licences across the UK, to a wide range of different organisations, small and large (see table below).

Six local TV channels are now on-air, having broadcast some 6,400 hours of local programmes to a potential audience of six million across the UK, while more than 10 stations are preparing for launch before February 2015.
Two years on from awarding the first licences (in Grimsby and Brighton), the channels now on-air are:

• Estuary TV, Grimsby (broadcasting from November 2013)
• Mustard TV, Norwich (broadcasting from March 2014)
• London Live, London (broadcasting from March 2014)
• Notts TV, Nottingham (broadcasting from May 2014)
• STV Glasgow, Glasgow (broadcasting from June 2014)
• Latest TV, Brighton & Hove (broadcasting from August 2014)

A second phase of licensing is already under way and there is continued interest from potential applicants in launching channels across the UK. In July, Ofcom invited applications for new local TV channels in seven areas - Aberdeen, Ayr, Carlisle, Dundee, Forth Valley, Inverness and Stoke on Trent.

Licensing local TV

Local TV licensees are varied in type and size, reflecting the diverse nature of the UK demographic and geography. Licensees range from not-for-profit community ventures to new commercial partnerships between local newspapers, TV production companies and educational institutions.

In awarding local TV licences, Ofcom conducts a thorough assessment of the bids to select the one that best meets the requirements set by Parliament, such as meeting the needs of the local area.

Bidders must demonstrate that they would be financially sustainable and provide evidence that funding is in place, or would be if their application was successful. When awarding a licence, Ofcom carefully considers these factors and makes the best decision it can on the available evidence. 

However, the nature of awarding licences for a new type of service in a competitive media market means that it is very unlikely that all channels will succeed. This is an inherent feature of the nature of awarding a large number of licences for a new service across very different parts of the UK. 

We note that the holder of the Birmingham licence has gone into administration. The administrator is looking to transfer the licence to another party that could launch the service (which would require Ofcom’s consent). If this proves not possible, Ofcom would re-advertise promptly the licence in Birmingham.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Local TV licences awarded so far: 

   Basingstoke: That’s Basingstoke	Guildford: That’s Surrey	Nottingham: Notts TV
   Belfast: NvTv	Leeds: Made in Leeds	Oxford: That's Oxford
   Birmingham: City TV Broadcasting	Liverpool: Bay TV Liverpool	Preston: YourTV Blackpool & Preston
   Brighton & Hove: Latest TV	London: London Live	Reading: That's Reading
   Bristol: Made in Bristol	Manchester: YourTV Manchester	Salisbury: That's Salisbury
   Cambridge: Cambridge Presents	Maidstone: KMTV	Scarborough: Yorkshire Coast TV
   Cardiff: Made in Cardiff	Middlesbrough: Made in Teesside	Sheffield: SLTV/Sheffield Live
   Edinburgh: ETV	Mold: Bay TV Clwyd	Southampton: That's Solent
   Glasgow: GTV	Newcastle: Made in Tyne and Wear	Swansea: Bay TV Swansea
   Grimsby: Estuary TV	Norwich: Mustard	York: The York Channel

2. The requirements for local TV services laid out by Parliament can be found here.