York would be ideal location for local TV station (From York Press)

Greg Dyke: York would be ideal location for new generation local TV station

7:00pm Monday 10th January 2011 in News By Stephen Lewis

University of York Chancellor Greg Dyke in an audio mix room at the department of theatre, film and television

YORK would be an ideal city in which to launch one of a new generation of local TV stations, former BBC boss Greg Dyke said tonight.

Speaking to an audience of media, business and government leaders at the University of York, Mr Dyke said cities like York were poorly served by existing regional TV.

“Because of the transmitter network half of York gets a news service from Leeds, the other half gets a service from Newcastle,” he said. “Neither is aimed specifically at York.” Yet with 200,000 people in York itself and another 200,000 in the surrounding area, there was real potential for a truly local TV station to work, Mr Dyke said.

Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce next week whether the Government will accept the recommendations of the Shott report, which suggests setting up a network of new local Freeview television services across the country.

Mr Dyke, who is chairman of the Local Network Television Advisory Committee and Chancellor of the University of York, urged Mr Hunt to back the report – and to go even further. The Shott proposals could result in the new ‘local’ stations being concentrated in large regional cities such as Leeds that are already well covered, Mr Dyke said. What was needed was a network of genuinely local TV stations.

Experience had shown that the more local a TV station, the better its ratings. “We think he (Shott) doesn’t understand the potential in cities like York,” he told his audience at York University’s new Department of Theatre, Film and Television.

“We believe local television can be made to be viable in cities like these... and that, arguably, the interest in local news and local features is greater in smaller cities.”

Representatives from a number of organisations in York, including Science City York, the city council, The Press and the University, have already held meetings looking at the possibility of setting up a York TV station.

Sir Ron Cooke, the university's former vice-chancellor, said:“York might make an excellent pilot location. It has an audience of a suitable size, a significant number of organisations that could contribute and a real appetite for improved community relations.”

Steve Hughes, editor of The Press, said: "A local TV station for York would be an exciting proposition and definitely something we would be interested in exploring."

* Shott report: Read more about the future of television on the Department for Culture Media and Sport's website