Ofcom is inviting applications for licences to run local TV channels in eleven further locations across the UK: Barnstaple, Basingstoke, Derry/Londonderry, Gloucester, Guildford, Limavady, Luton, Maidstone, Plymouth, Reading and Salisbury.
The new invitation to apply follows the advertisement earlier this year of licences for Bangor, Cambridge, Middlesbrough, Mold, Scarborough, Swansea and York.
Ofcom has received ten applications for these areas and will award the licences in the coming months. It is possible that these services will be on air by the end of 2014.
Ofcom has already awarded 19 local TV licences, with the first channel, Estuary TV (Grimsby), expected to launch in November 2013.
Ofcom intends to advertise one more set of locations next year. Awarding licences in these different stages will minimise the length of time between applications being submitted and licence awards being made, Ofcom says.
The licences are for channels on the Freeview platform (i.e. digital terrestrial television), but the local operators may also wish to offer their services on satellite, cable and online.
The closing date for applications is Tuesday 7 January 2014.
