Hunt: ‘Very exciting moment’ for local TV

Jeremy Hunt has been championing local TV on BBC radio, saying there will not be a shortage of content to fill airtime.

In four years time, the culture secretary wants to see 50 locations in the UK with their own TV channels.

The first 20 stations are expected to start broadcasting in 2013 for a minimum of an hour a day.

Speaking to the BBC, Hunt complained of a “market failure” – dating back to 1955 when ITV was set up “on a regional basis not a local basis” – which hasn’t allowed local TV to work.

Previous attempts to set up local television stations in the UK have failed and there are still doubts that stations wouldn’t attract enough money from advertisers to survive.

But Hunt says there is a “huge demand” now, talking particularly about local news. He used the televised leaders’ debates during the general election to demonstrate how local TV could have a big impact on local democracy.

“Anywhere outside of the London broadcasting establishment you find tremendous excitement for this,” he said.

Listen to Hunt’s local TV plans here (via the BBC’s Local TV: Will it be worth watching? article).