This summer's Digital Britain report paved the way for new independent regional news consortia funded by top-slicing the BBC licence fee.

Now a host of regional press publishers are looking to put together bids to run TV news services in their areas.

They include Northcliffe Media in the South West, MEN Media in the North West, Johnston Press, the Herald and Times group and DC Thomson in Scotland, and Independent News and Media in Northern Ireland.

ITV has already made clear its intention to pull out of regional news, with regulator Ofcom anticipating that the current regional licence-holders will face a collective funding shortfall of up to £64m by 2012.

In the South West, Northcliffe Media has joined a consortium bidding to run the regional TV news services based in Bristol and Plymouth, where the company already has substantial newspaper interests.

Steve Anderson-Dixon, NML's managing director for the South West and Wales, said: "Our newspapers and websites have a unique relationship with readers and users and the prospect of being able to extend that on to television is exciting.

"Our focus has always been to make local matter more and to support local communities to make a difference. I look forward to us further strengthening that relationship by giving people across the West Country truly local news on television."

Meanwhile the three Scottish newspaper groups are set to team up with existing broadcaster STV to run the Channel 3 news service north of the border.

Tom Thomson, managing editor of the Newsquest-owned Herald and Times Group, said: "With almost a thousand journalists between the three groups we can certainly bring enhanced localness."

In Northern Ireland, IN&M, publishers of the Belfast Telegraph, are already in talks with Bob Geldof's television production company Ten Alps over a joint bid to run an independently funded news service there.

Michael Brophy, chief executive of IN&M (NI) said: "The combined strengths of these two great companies is both clear and effective. The Belfast Telegraph is perhaps Northern Ireland's most respected brand, bringing with it the editorial strength of the largest newspaper news-gathering network in the province and a long history of fairness, excellence and sound judgement."

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