STV makes news by going 'hyper-local'

STREAMLINED Scottish broadcaster STV is to tackle the local advertising market with the roll-out of a digital network serving nearly 300 communities across Scotland.

Dubbed STV Local, the service will launch in the third quarter of this year with the aim of providing what STV chief executive Rob Woodward describes as "hyper-local" content including news, sport, reviews, jobs, entertainment and business listings. Viewers will access this information either online or via mobile telephones and other digital devices.

Woodward, who last week announced the long-awaited disposal of STV's Pearl & Dean cinema advertising arm, says the service will provide a "wealth of ultra-local information" such as public notices and news from sporting clubs, schools and other neighbourhood organisations. Content will be organised by a series of "community editors" whom STV is currently recruiting.

The move will pitch STV into direct competition with local newspapers across the country that have traditionally catered to these micro-markets. Many of these publications already offer their own online services.

"There are some similarities," Woodward said, "but we are looking at it in a co-ordinated way, rather than on a title-by-title basis. It is a very new, very different type of service, and it will reposition STV in the market."

The move comes as the BBC scales back on its local web ambitions to placate concerns that the licence fee-funded organisation is stifling competition. Last month, BBC director general, Mark Thompson, unveiled a "contract for local" that set out commitments and limits for the BBC's future expansion.

Observers say the move makes sense for STV, which has been re-shaping its business after the previous management's failed attempts to create a multi-media conglomerate. The sale of Pearl & Dean was the last in a series of disposals since Woodward took the helm three years ago at the company formerly known as SMG.

Woodward remained coy about how much STV will invest in its local digital programme, saying only that it will be funded from existing cash flow.

Last month, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport awarded the contract to provide the Scottish news shown on STV to the Scottish News Consortium (SNC), made up of Johnston Press, publisher of Scotland on Sunday, together with DC Thomson, the Herald & Times Group and independent TV production company Tinopolis.