Local TV project under fire

The BBC moved into the local TV market this week with the launch of a trial in the West Midlands.

Over the next nine months, six areas will each be able to watch a tailored service of news, travel and weather on digital satellite or broadband internet.

But the venture isn't without its critics, especially among those already operating in this field, such as local newspapers.

Muscle in

They argue that the BBC is using the licence fee to muscle in on a market that is vital for their businesses to survive.

David Holdsworth: "A golden opportunity"

"We believe that there is a huge demand for local news," explains David Holdsworth, head of BBC West Midlands.

"But until now technology hasn't made it easy to satisfy that demand for television viewers. Technology is rapidly changing and there is now a golden opportunity to offer television news at a level that is more local that the current regional system."

Special licences

Local people will also be encouraged to get involved in the project, and BBC staff will be on hand to help them put together their own material for broadcast.

The BBC is not alone is moving into this sector - ITV has just launched two broadband channels in Hastings and Brighton.

But it's not just the big broadcasters who are targeting a local audience. There are more than a dozen TV channels operating on special licences in places such as the Isle of Wight, Belfast and Leicester.

Felixstowe TV: Filling a gap

And many more people are setting up community news services on the internet. Chris Gosling runs Felixstowe TV in Suffolk, which gets 25,000 hits a month.

"We've got regional newspapers, we've got regional TV, we've got fairly local radio and I think doing something like this with TV serves a very useful purpose," he says.

"I think we have problems as things get larger, companies get larger, organisations get larger. We have problems with getting ordinary, important stuff over to local ordinary people."

Experiments

So why is the BBC moving into a market that seems to be served on a number of levels - through radio, print and community outlets?

Pat Loughrey: Demand for the service

"We have conducted some experiments in Hull on the broadband that exists there," says the director of nations and regions, Pat Loughrey, "and the single most attractive offer we had was very simple, very straightforward local TV news. And now in the West Midlands we're looking to explore that on a rather larger scale."

But local media businesses such as Norwich-based Archant - which has a growing stable of newspapers, magazines and websites - say the BBC is using the cushion of the licence fee to skew the market.

"What's happening in the local newspaper market is that the internet's come along and it's taken away revenues," explains Ian Davies, Archant's business development director.

We see this as a place we need to be... for the survival of local media businesses Ian Davies, Archant

"Newspaper groups are having to do more things, to get involved in the internet, in local magazines, in local television, in local mobile services, all those sorts of things. We see this as a place we need to be - need to be, not want to be - for the survival of local media businesses in the future.

"Many newspapers companies have tried to do local television in the past but things have moved on and it is getting close to them being able to do it now.

"But they have to be commercially viable to be sustainable from the revenue you generate. The BBC doesn't have to do that; it only has to enable itself to spend money it has generated from the licence fee."

Collaborative

Pat Loughrey acknowledges that the BBC should be mindful of its impact on the market, but points out: "There are 1,300 local newspapers in the UK. There are between 60 and 70 possible services offered by the BBC. I don't think that is unfair competition.

"We are offering the same degree of localness as our local radio network. We are also determined to maybe break past habits and be more collaborative with and supportive of local newspapers."

But Ian Davies says that misses the point: "There are 60 local TV services being created by the BBC; there are fewer than 60 local TV services being created by the newspaper sector and the newspaper sector needs to be in that space."