BBC director general Mark Thompson came to Glasgow to talk about the BBC's much-feared ultra local TV service and came armed with an olive branch - and his wallet, writes Stephen Brook.
Let's make a deal, he in effect told local newspaper editors.
Thompson pledges to work with local and regional newspapers on its planned "ultra local" service, offering local news via the internet and via digital TV, and even suggested the BBC might pay local companies for content!
Ears pricked up from the local editors in the room.
But Thompson was incredibly sketcy on the details and admitted they have not been worked out. Some newsgathering would be sourced from local newspaper newsrooms, Thompson said, but he didn't know how much.
If the ultra local services go ahead, it will most likely be with local partners - the very same newspapers companies so worried by the BBC plans.
"If we go ahead with our vision for local TV, the scale of what we offer will be limited," Thompson said. There would be about ten minutes of local content a day.
Thompson said that the term ultra local was a mistake. Each local service would hit areas that service 1m people. A much larger catchment than most local newspapers so not a direct threat to them.
In the West Midlands local trial the BBC worked with Press Association and Trinity Mirror to provide content and similar agreements could occur and the BBC wouild pay for content from local newspaper providers for its local services.
"For newspapers who want to add sound and moving pictures to their web offering a partnership with the BBC could make a lot of sense," he said.
There is no certainly the BBC local service will happen. It will have to go through the market impact assessment, commissioned by the trust and carried out by Ofcom. Only following that and a favourable result of the public interest test would it go ahead.
But Thompson was clear on how the BBC would proceed. He sees the BBC as an upstanding and well-behaved web citizen. "We don't want to be on the web, we want to be part of the web".
