Department for Culture Media and Sport
The Government is committed to decentralising broadcasting to increase localisation.
Our goal is to license the first local TV stations from summer 2012, with 10-20 local services in operation by 2015.
We are consulting on potential changes to the regulations that apply to independent producers in the context of local TV. More information, including the consultation document which sets out the proposals, and the associated impact assessment which looks at potential costs and benefits, is available on this website.
A new generation of local television services across the UK is about to be created as we introduce new legislation and puts in place an innovative framework which will initially enable 20 genuinely local TV services to be broadcast on Freeview for the first time.
Over 300 responses to the framework for local TV consultation were received and after taking all of these into consideration as well as responses to the Local Media Action Plan consultation in early 2010, the Government will be using secondary legislation to:
Government has laid the enabling legislation and once passed this legislation will create a new statutory framework for Ofcom to license local TV. Ofcom will consult on its licensing process as well as the anticipated pioneer locations ahead of issuing an invitation to apply for to potential operators. We anticipate the first tranche of 20 local TV services being licensed in 2012, with the possibility for a further 24 to be licensed subsequently. Further information on the licensing process is available from Ofcom, who will run the process.
Visit our local television Q&A for further information.
The Media Ownership (Radio and Cross Media) Order 2011, which removes all local cross-media ownership rules, came into effect on 15 June 2011.
Removal of the rules paves the way for local newspaper, commercial radio groups and Channel 3 regional services to develop new business models that allow them to move more freely from platform to platform, enabling a strong and diverse local media industry.