Scottish cities should get own TV news channels, say Tories

Published on Wednesday 27 January 2010 21:57

SCOTLAND'S major cities should have their own television news stations, shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.

Under a Conservative government, a broadcasting model would be encouraged that would see Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness producing their own channels to deliver local news, he said.

On a visit to Edinburgh, Mr Hunt criticised the current government's approach to the media sector, claiming that regulations preventing any single media group from owning newspapers, radio stations and television channels in the same geographical area were restricting the development of local television.

"The media industry is going through a massive transition, mainly caused by technology and the internet," Mr Hunt said.

He said rules were preventing media operators from following their audiences to the different news platforms such as television, the internet, and mobile phones.

"These days, people get news on their mobiles, they get it on their PCs, on the radio, on TV. But the regulations prevent media operators from following consumers from one platform to another, because they say you can't have a significant stake in more than one platform.

"The (Labour] Cabinet's plans simply set the current system in concrete and they don't allow for the new business models that we need to emerge. Why doesn't Scotland have a TV channel for people who live in Edinburgh? A city the size of Dundee in America would have a clutch of local TV stations and people are very hungry for local news."

He added: "Bear in mind that the cost of producing TV is reducing dramatically with the technology. You can set up a TV newsroom with less than 100,000."

His vision of all-encompassing regional news outlets involving local radio, newspapers and websites with city-based franchises was welcomed by David Rushton, director of the Scottish-based Institute of Local Television.

Dr Rushton said: "This is quite possible to deliver, given Scotland's transmission capability. But we have to make sure that we don't concentrate too much on urban areas to the detriment of rural Scotland. We can develop a system of local television that can be just as much for rural regions as it is for cities."

Mr Hunt confirmed that a Conservative government would not support the current UK administration's plans for regional news schemes that would see publicly subsidised consortia bid to run pilots for replacement ITV regional news bulletins in Scotland, Wales and England.

Companies pitching for the contracts include News at Ten producer ITN, broadcasters UTV and STV, owner of The Scotsman Johnston Press and fellow newspaper groups Trinity Mirror and Newsquest, and news agency the Press Association.

Mr Hunt said:

"I think the trouble with subsidy is that choice is then determined by ministers rather than by the public."