STV to run local news pilot
Scottish ITV broadcaster STV is set to run a new local TV news pilot scheme alongside a consortium of media companies.
If the pilot is a success, outside suppliers would be able to take over from ITV companies and make their own local TV news bulletins in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions.
STV volunteered to run the pilot after Ofcom’s chief executive Ed Richards approved an independently funded consortia bid to replace ITV’s local news programming around the UK, saying the current system was “unsustainable”.
The broadcaster is now in talks with other Scottish media companies about a potential partnership to take over the production of its ITV1 local news programmes.
Rob Woodward, STV’s chief executive, said: “Someone has to do it and the ideal would be that you chose the discrete broadcaster of a devolved nation at the fulcrum of the issue.”
Woodward said he wants to get the scheme off the ground “as soon as possible” and hopes the government will back Richards’ local TV news consortia proposal when Lord Carter publishes his final Digital Britain report in the summer.
“The next stage is to know whether there is some transitional funding in the system, then we will know how to engage with this,” Woodward said.
If Woodward can get other media companies involved in the scheme, STV will not have to make drastic cuts to its news division.
Last year, media regulator Ofcom forecast that the cost to STV of meetings its PSB remit, including making local news bulletins for its Scottish audience and the annual fee it pays for the licence to broadcast on ITV1, would outweigh the financial benefits by 2009-2010.
Woodward added: “Our issue is now, its not a future issue. What we are saying is rather than cut back on news provision, only for it to be resurrected post 2012, let’s work something out in the interim.
“We are looking for some swift action which is why we support some kind of interim funding. That is why I confirmed today that STV would be delighted to be involved in any potential trial with other news organisations.”