Local TV in North Wales

So OFCOM have announced they are looking for bidders for local TV channels in Bangor and Mold (North Wales).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21771308

Why these towns? Why not Wrexham, Cardiff, Swansea...? Seems slightly odd!

Have you read the link?

The areas chosen are partially down to where there are available frequencies.

The second batch were announced today and some of the other locations do seem a little odd...
Aberdeen, Ayr, Bangor, Barnstaple, Basingstoke, Bedford, Bromsgrove, Cambridge, Carlisle, Derry/Londonderry, Dundee, Guildford, Hereford, Inverness, Kidderminster, Limavady, Luton, Maidstone, Malvern, Middlesborough, Mold, Plymouth, Reading, Salisbury, Scarborough, Stoke on Trent, Stratford upon Avon, Swansea, Tonbridge and York.

Bromsgrove, Stratford, Malvern, Kidderminster and Hereford stand out as not only being some of the smaller conurbations in the list, but they aren't that far away from each other either. I doubt they could all sustain separate TV stations unless they were all run by the same company.

There is a group in Stratford and one in Hereford, who are very keen I believe.

Not sure about the other towns though.

I think the idea is probably for the smaller stations to be not for profit and run by colleges and the like. As has happened in Grimsby.

Ayr I have to question. I wonder if stv will bid for dundee, inverness and aberdeen.

Yes, they're too small. Really, regions along the lines of BBC Local Radio would make more sense.

Didn't realise Mold was on that list when I was looking for Wrexham - that might just about get to me but considering there is still a very big question mark over whether those launching in bigger cities will survive some of these in smaller towns look very questionable indeed. I do think in these areas it would be better to have a larger regional service, but perhaps with requirements for more locally based sub opts.

I do think these areas should have probably not been put out to tender until we had some sort of idea how the stations in bigger areas were faring.

What's odd about it? Not everything revolves around London and Manchester you know!

And those cities have already been catered for, in this process.

I know that. Sheffield and Manchester as well as Milton Keynes (Channel S, Channel M and MKTV, respectively) have had local channels before (all now defunct). London has had London TV for years (not sure if it's still going or not) and other cities have tried their own channels. Coventry and Warwick for example have their own channel broadcast from the University of Warwick (not sure what platform, will have to ask around - might be only online).

As other posters have stated, it's probably a good idea to read further than a headline before posting... The process for Cardiff and Swansea took priority, and even a quick scan of the article would show you that Cardiff's local channel has been in development for a while.

I agree with what others have said though, that slightly larger regions would have been a better way to go. Though one of the related articles states that Made in Cardiff will broadcast to a wider region, so maybe that's the plan with all these channels? So the Bangor channel may end up broadcasting and catering to Anglesey, Caernarfon etc. (if there are any bidders!)

London TV wasn't a local TV channel, it was a promotional tool for Visit London. I think the idea was for it to appear in hotel rooms etc

London has never had a 'local' TV station like the RSL ones of the past. It had a cable news service - Channel One and the original Live TV was partially local for London. The local license for London has been awarded to the owners of The Evening Standard as 'London Live' (a name that was almost used twice, once by Live TV and then by the BBC)