Local TV

London Live will provide full coverage of the Notting Hill Carnival next August.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/13/london-live-tv-station-launch

Well from the logos so far Local TV is looking as cheap as we feared it might.

London's first tv channel.... except for all the others

Surely ITV just isn't going to sit back and let local TV take the limelight in London at least - an ideal opportunity I'd have thought to look to launch a new flagship local series or two. There is a cost of course, but surely given the recent turnaround ITV could easily ringfence a few million quid for regional content around the country and show regional advertisers that they are still the place to go to for successful local TV advertising.

I can't remember when ITV London last aired regional advertising. Back in the days of Thames/LWT, it'd be common for a regional ad for the likes of World of Leather or Currie Motors.

London Live will (hopefully) air smaller retailers and chains who can't afford ITV's rates.

Affordable advertising was one of the main reasons 'local' was set up...it's a real opportunity for small businesses as long as the programming is a decent standard. If the idents are an indication, then project 'local' is in trouble...

As for ITV gaining some new Regional shows, I can't see it. I agree with your point about how they can still be the place to go for Regional advertising. However they won't even invest in a full 30 minute sub-Regional News programme at 6pm. Surely the Contract Rights Renewal agreement should be amended or scrapped with conditions such as non-News Regional programming for the English regions? Ofcom really should have looked at this closer in the recent Licence renegotiations though in my opinion.

How is it foolish, if they're making more money from what they are doing now?


Local advertisers could still go with ITV in London if they could afford it, I assume. You seem to be suggesting ITV should spend more on programming, to attract less in advertising revenue.

What you're saying doesn't make sense.

ETV Edinburgh to launch in June 2014 and GTV Glasgow to launch in August 2014...

http://www.allmediascotland.com/broadcasting/55056/hughes-named-editor-of-upcoming-tv-channels-for-edinburgh-and-glasgow/

Looks like these will launch as STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh as expected.

Looks like that story has been corrected now - they launch the other way round.

I've got to give you a Kudos rating for that post . Regional advertisers still advertise within the Central region so I guess it's the same for London. However I still feel ITV have something to give to Regional programming within their National based schedule (as stated previously I feel this should be sub-Regional News, a Political segment within a National programme and a Current Affairs programme) , even if they need the amendment of current regulation to achieve this. This will allow ITV to continue to challenge the BBC's services, alongside the more localised 'local' stations.

ITV need to think less about the cost and more about the opportunity again when it comes to regional content. If Local TV channels can see themselves running on a budget of £10-£15m before the BBC subsidy there has to be opportunities for ITV to dip their toe back into the water and just restore a bit of faith into it's own network without losing it money.

Sadly though they seem to be rather short sighted, like with the recent reduction in news requirements which really can't be saving them that much money at all.