Regional news magazine publisher Steve Egginton has launched a new internet on-demand TV channel, Mendip TV, in a bid to put his money where his mouth is after claiming print media would sink without an online presence.

The former ITV West head of news says the development is the culmination of three years of work with software specialists to create what he describes as a "cutting-edge interactive video platform".

Steve, who famously told the Society of Editors annual conference that newspapers would sink if they stuck to ink, said: "The novelty of simply showing video isn't enough. We are talking about a sophisticated audience who are used to navigating around the internet, not people who passively sit and watch."

He and former TV planning editor Mark Adler launched Mendip Times, a free, quality monthly magazine, two years ago, it ran to 36 pages and had a print run of 10,000. The magazine now has 52 pages and a print-run of 18,000.

Steve said: "The success of the magazine has been astonishing and while it will continue to grow to serve increasing numbers of advertisers and readers, the real excitement will be in the explosion of internet TV."

Mendip Times has been accessed in full via the internet since its launch, Egginton believes this multi-media approach is a template for the future growth of local media.

He said: "Thanks to advances in print and video production and the roll-out of broadband I think we are about to see a new golden age of local media run by local people, offering services across a variety of platforms, accessed by a broader spread of consumers."

On Mendip TV viewers have various options to switch to any number of sites, while pausing the video, through a slider panel at the side of the main player, as well as viewing related articles from Mendip Times, or accessing the Mendip Times site itself.

The software, developed by Ji-Tu TV, can also be used in a wide range of other applications and is capable of supporting a complete TV schedule and archive service.