British Tory MPs want regional newspapers to do local TV

Local newspaper companies could step in to produce local and regional TV news on ITV, the Conservatives said today in a proposal that would abandon the government policy to use the British TV licence fee for local media. Lord Carter's Digital Britain report 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 Conservatives proposals, produced by outgoing Johnston Press chairman Roger Parry as part of a review of creative industries, draws on the US and Canada where local TV companies succeed without the need for public subsidy.
(Ed comment: He is obviously not up to date on Canada)