Just thought it would be worth posting the statement of support Wired Sussex delivered in favour of the bid as it outlines what we believe are some of the key opportunities that Brighton TV could deliver to the city:
“Wired Sussex is an active supporter of Brightonʼs bid for a local TV licence. It is well known that Brighton has a booming digital and media sector, with strengths in TV production, web, gaming and music. A local TV
service will help support the growth of that sector in two crucial ways. First, it will provide an additional avenue through which those who want to make a career in the media industry will be able to obtain experience and skills.
There is no substitute for practical workplace experience and Wired Sussex would be delighted to ensure that our highly successful media internship model is embedded within Brightonʼs local TV operation.
Second, it will enable the city to accelerate the process of delivering expertise in convergent media activity. The success of Brightonʼs media sector lies in its ability to innovate and to do that across the old media
boundaries, generating new ways of engaging audiences and new commercial models. A local TV operation would be an important part of the process of making that happen and growing Brightonʼs reputation as the
place where new business thinking happens.”
Phil Jones, Director, Wired Sussex
I wonder if anyone would care to comment on the sequence of events to follow the Ofcom announcement? It appears to me that, from the wording of the press release, first, a bidder for the national multiplex licence to transmit these new local TV services is required, in order to operate the transmitters ("the minimum rollout requirement for the local television multiplex licence that Ofcom will advertise"). Then, naturally, local licencees to provide the programmes will be sought? Certainly, because Ofcom state that, in all the proposed locations, they "consider there is a potential local service operator", someone has already made a strong case for sustainable television in Brighton & Hove, very much as the blog post above would indicate.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering the same thing as well John. Of course, local TV for Brighton would not be a new thing - Nynex operated such a channel in the mid 90's
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