Hunt is on for local TV sponsor
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is seeking a commercial sponsor to kickstart plans for a nationwide network of local television stations.
Hunt is to publish an interim report tomorrow,which will outline the conditions needed to create up to 12 city based broadcasters.
Such services could be launched on the Freeview platform from 2012, each broadcasting for a few hours per day.
Advertising revenue alone is not projected to be sufficient to sustain these services however and there is no public money available to support the scheme.
Instead Hunt is believed to be considering proposals that would mirror Barclay’s sponsorship of London’s recently inaugurated bike hire scheme.
A final report on the matter is expected to be published in December.