Local television: long-running soap or reality show?

More than five years ago, the BBC announced plans for a local TV service. I remember it well as I helped to run the pilot scheme, setting up six TV stations for a nine-month trial in the West Midlands.

The BBC's efforts were met with anger from newspaper groups. They claimed their ever-declining markets for local news were being ripped away from them. They were delighted in late 2007 when the BBC dropped its plans as part of a cost-cutting round.

So I was intrigued by the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's new plans for local television. If they work, they promise, once again, to change radically the face of local news.

A dedicated city television channel providing news, entertainment and information would not only affect newspapers but seriously challenge both the BBC's dominance of regional television and the ITV regions, which have been in sad decline for many years.

At the Oxford Media Convention, Hunt announced that the Government is to invite bids to run local TV stations. Licences will be awarded before the end of 2012 and the service will be up and running soon after that.

This makes a reality of what Hunt has long been an advocate: a network, or spine, of local stations across the UK. 

"For consumers, what this will mean is a new channel dedicated to the provision of local news and content," Hunt said, "one that will sit alongside other public service broadcasters, offering a new voice for local communities with local perspectives that are directly relevant to them."

He was echoing comments he made during an LSE event last week, filmed by the BBC College of Journalism.

The initial plan is for ten to 12 city-based stations. If these are a success, more will follow. This falls short of the original ambition, which had been to create a network of up to 80 stations. It was revised following a report by Nicholas Shott's working party, which suggested a plan on that scale would be unsustainable. 

Even with the current, more modest scheme, there are a number of questions which need to be addressed. Not least, if there is a business model and a need for local television, why isn't it happening already?

Today, it would be relatively easy and cheap to set up an online video channel providing this service, whereas the infrastructure and running costs of a more traditional television channel will be hugely expensive. The revenue from television advertising is falling, so where will that money come from?

Hunt has spoken admiringly in the past about US television with its tradition of local, city-based stations. If they work there, then why not here? Well, the US has a far more federal system of media and government which allows these channels to flourish. Can the media environment of Sheffield, Bristol or Sunderland really be compared with that of Miami, Chicago or Los Angeles?

And, to end where I began, there is the question of local newspapers. A strong local media producing excellent journalism is a vital part of the democratic process. In theory, the idea of local TV can only add to this landscape. But local newspapers are likely to be no more welcoming today than they were when I was involved in the BBC's local TV experiment.

There are still many questions over when - or even whether - the dream of local TV will become a reality.