Tories would scrap plans to top-slice licence fee
LONDON - The Conservatives have announced plans to create local media companies that would produce regional newspapers along with TV news if the party wins the next general election.
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The Tories proposals were produced by outgoing Johnston Press chairman Roger Parry as part of a review of creative industries. The plans are at odds with Lord Carter's Digital Britain report, which proposed using about £130m a year from the licence fee from 2013 to fund a series of independent consortia to provide local TV news.
The Party said it would abandon the government policy to top-slice the licence fee. Instead around 80 local media companies delivering TV, print and online sevices to regional and local communties would be created. The policy aims to deal with the funding shortage facing many regional media companies.
The review draws on a model used in the US and Canada where local TV companies operate without using public money. The new media companies, known as LMCs, would be funded through local advertising and commercial services.
A typical LMC would cover a single city or group of towns and combine the media formats of local television, radio, print and websites according to the report.
Ofcom would have to auction up to 81 local TV licences to allow independent media companies to produce local content. The report acknowledges that this could lead to local media monopolies but claims this will not lead to any loss of plurality or disadvantage local advertisers.
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