Local TV could be ‘a glue that holds community together’, says Jeremy Hunt
Local television could be “a glue that holds the community together” according to UK culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.Speaking in Glasgow, Hunt claimed that there was “palpable enthusiasm “for the idea that further you got away from London, according to a report in The Scotsman.
Hunt has already identified 65 towns and cities across the UK as possible locations for the new TV services – nine of them in Scotland.
TV station in Tayside and Dunbartonshire are among those who have voiced interest in the scheme so far.
Hunt said the idea had much to offer the country. “I am a localist. I think that the UK is far too centralised and would solve far more of its problems if we harnessed the ideas of people in their own communities and give them more power to have effective local media to scrutinise local politicians”.
He pointed out that Canadian cities the size of Glasgow have profitable local TV stations and even a town the size of Fort William has a TV station that’s not profitable but is run by volunteers - “It’s the glue that holds communities together.”
Hunt said the cost of running a TV station would, for the first time, be cheaper than running a local newspaper, at an estimated £500,000, because the government was making part of its transmission spectrum available “pretty much free of charge”.
As reported last week by The Drum, Hunt has also called on the Scottish Government to match the UK Government's funding for local TV in Scotland, and called on organisations representing the south of Scotland to make their case for being added to the list of local TV locations for the project.