Johnston Press confirms joint move for Scottish news content scheme

Published on Sunday 3 January 2010 20:47

JOHNSTON Press, publisher of The Scotsman, today confirmed it has joined forces with DC Thomson, the Herald & Times Group and independent TV producer Tinopolis to bid for a government contract to provide Scottish news for STV, the internet and other digital media platforms.

The group, which forms the Scottish News Consortium, is competing to run the Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) scheme, which has been devised as a long-term alternative to ITV regional news services.

The IFNC scheme was drawn up following the publication last year of the government's Digital Britain report, which proposed using a portion of the BBC's licence fee to pay for local news on ITV and for other important public service programmes on non-BBC news channels.

Scotland has been identified as one of the three regions to undergo a three-year pilot of the IFNC scheme. The other two are Tyne Tees/Borders and Wales.

A joint bid was first discussed by Johnston Press, DC Thomson and the Herald & Times Group last September. The final consortium also includes Tinopolis, producer of the BBC's Question Time.

John Fry, chief executive of Johnston Press, said: "This news consortium has tremendous strength and depth in communities throughout Scotland and I am confident that it can provide consumers with a significantly different and enhanced service."

Competing consortia are expected to learn of the outcome of the bidding process in March.

Tinopolis chairman Ron Jones said: "The Scottish News Consortium consists of the three strongest newspaper groups in Scotland, and the most distinguished producer of network television journalism. Together, we are confident we can provide Scotland with the news services it needs and deserves."