Scottish newspaper groups discuss joint bid for STV news

Published on Friday 18 September 2009 22:11

THREE Scottish newspaper groups said yesterday they are discussing a joint bid to provide news on STV and enhanced local digital content on the internet.

The government's Digital Britain report in June suggested using 3.5 per cent of the licence fee – 130 million a year – to pay for ITV local news and other important programmes on non-BBC channels.

It has proposed Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) with public funding as part of a three-year pilot, which has included Scotland as one of three regions which will be subsidised to compensate for the loss of advertising revenue as a result of the digital switchover.

Johnston Press – owner of The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday – the Herald & Times Group, which owns the Herald in Glasgow, and Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson, are discussing bidding for a three-year Scottish IFNC pilot, as proposed by media regulator Ofcom.

Herald & Times Group managing editor Tom Thomson told a Royal Television Society (RTS) convention in Cambridge yesterday that if the proposal went ahead, the alliance wanted a clear and transparent process in judging bids and a genuine competition for funding.

He said the three companies had almost 1,000 editorial staff spread across Scotland and would seek to work with a partner with video expertise to meet the criteria set for bids.

Meanwhile, STV said that in partnership with ITN, it would be seeking pilot funding for a one-hour 6pm bulletin incorporating international, Scottish and local news and other enhanced coverage.

And ITN chief executive John Hardie warned against creating a "patchwork quilt" of local news services to replace those on ITV.

He said: "A patchwork system will most likely be out-funded, out-produced and massively outperformed by the BBC."