Scottish broadcaster STV has put in bids to run local TV services in three more cities, adding to its Edinburgh and Glasgow licences.
The bids were revealed on Friday as Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, released details of the bids for licences advertised in the summer to run local TV services in seven locations in cities and towns across the UK.
STV put in applications to deliver local TV in Aberdeen, Ayr and Dundee. The other locations to receive applications included Carlisle, Inverness and Stoke on Trent, from That’s Media, Moray Firth Media Trust and The Television Centre, respectively.
However, Ofcom has not received any application for broadcasting in the Forth Valley area.
Bobby Hain, the director of channels at STV, said in a statement: “We have demonstrated our ability to engage with local communities and deliver relevant, local content across STV’s multi-platforms.”
He added, “STV believes that, working closely with our education partners, we can successfully deliver compelling services in these three additional areas across the 12-year licence.”
The broadcaster proposes to deliver local news and current affairs content. Its partnership with further education colleges and universities will provide access to media students, who will have the opportunity to learn and train in a live TV environment, the company says.
Scotland’s first local TV station in Glasgow, which is delivered in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University, launched in June this year. STV Glasgow, transmitted as a digital Freeview channel, reaches a monthly audience of more than 500,000 people in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, with 60% of the transmission area tuning in at some point since launch, according to the company.
STV Edinburgh will launch in early January 2015 in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University.
Ofcom has now awarded 30 local TV licences and 10 local TV stations are now broadcasting.
The full details of the applications comes as the regulator has been forced to extend the deadline for the broadcast launch of local TV in Birmingham after the licence winner BLTV collapsed into administration in the summer with debts of £170,000, before getting on air.
London Live, the Lebedev-owned local TV service for the capita which has endured a difficult six months since launching in March, secured permission from Ofcom at the second attempt earlier this month to cut its local output.
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