AddThis SmartLayers

Greg Dyke joins bidders for national TV ‘spine’

A group headed by former BBC director general Greg Dyke is to bid to run a national TV channel which would host local TV services.

He heads the Local Television Network which is understood to have agreed on Monday to submit a formal expression of interest in running the channel to culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The Local Television Network joins Channel 6, which announced earlier this month that it would bid to set up and run the national network channel as a backbone for local TV.

Last month Mr Hunt unveiled plans for a network of up to 60 local services, some of which are expected to be run by newspaper groups, supported by a national ‘spine’.

Mr Hunt published an Action Plan For Local Media at the Oxford Media Convention, inviting firms to register their interest in running the channel, which will carry local news and content, by 1 March.

In a speech by Mr Dyke last month, he argued local TV could be rolled out in up to 80 towns and cities across the UK, such as York – where he was speaking to an audience of media, business and government leaders.

And it emerged that Steve Hughes, managing editor of York daily The Press, had been in discussions about setting up a local TV station for the city.