Independently Funded News Consortia

Last updated

Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) were proposed as independently set-up groups providing local and regional news within various regions of the United Kingdom. The structure was proposed by Ofcom in January 2009 to respond to the reduction in provision of regional news programming by the existing Channel 3 license-holders, including ITV. [1] The consortia were to be formed of existing interested local parties, such as local newspaper groups and agencies. [2]

In November 2009, the Culture Secretary announced pilots for provision of regional news programming via a number of IFNCs in the nations of Scotland and Wales, as well as in the English Channel 3 regions of ITV Tyne Tees & Border. [3] Some consortia had already expressed an interest in operating independent news provision in one of the pilot areas. [4] Before the 2010 general election, the Department of Culture, Media and Sports had selected three consortia for Scotland, Wales and the Tyne Tees/Borders: Scottish News Consortium (consisting of Johnston Press, Herald and Times Group, D C Thomson, and Tinopolis), Wales Live (UTV and NWN Media), and News 3 (Trinity Mirror, Press Association, and Ten Alps) respectively. [5] If the pilots had been successful, it was expected that a national roll-out in 2012-13 might be funded through use of part of the existing television licence fee. [2]

The Conservatives opposed IFNCs, proposing instead to have city-based TV companies. [6] In May 2010, following the establishment of a Conservative-Liberal Democrats governing coalition, plans to establish IFNCs were dropped in favour of the rollout of "super fast broadband" to rural areas. On 8 June 2010 Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed this change of priorities. [7] The move was criticised in Wales by the Heritage Minister and the Institute of Welsh Affairs chair. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV (TV network)</span> TV network in the United Kingdom

ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition and reduce the current monopoly to the then BBC Television. ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV1</span> British free-to-air television channel

ITV1 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for the central and northern areas of Scotland where STV provides the service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Tyne Tees</span> ITV television franchise for North East England

ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchisee for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Border</span> ITV region for Cumbria and South Scotland

ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, the Scottish Borders and parts of Northumberland. The TV service previously covered the Isle of Man from 26 March 1965 until 15 July 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV plc</span> British-based media company

ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.

Television in Scotland mostly consists of UK-wide broadcasts, with regional variations at different times which are specific to Scotland. The BBC and ITV networks both began broadcasting in the country during the 1950s. There were further expansions in the early 1960s with the arrival of Grampian, Border and BBC2 television.

<i>ITV News Tyne Tees</i> British regional television news programme

ITV News Tyne Tees is a British television news service produced by ITV Tyne Tees & Border and broadcasting to the Tyne Tees region.

The history of ITV, the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies "Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955.

ITV1 HD is a British free-to-air high-definition public broadcast television network operated by ITV plc, the company which is contracted to provide 13 ITV1 services across the UK. ITV1 HD simulcasts them in high-definition. ITV1 HD is available to view in England, Wales, Scottish Borders and the Channel Islands on Freesat via channel 103, Freeview channel 103, Sky channel 103, Virgin Media channel 103 and in Switzerland on SwisscomTV.

Analogue terrestrial television in the United Kingdom was originally the method by which the significant majority of viewers in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man received television. Analogue terrestrial television broadcasts have fully ceased in the UK with Northern Ireland being the last region to have ceased transmission analogue terrestrial television broadcasts. Northern Ireland switched off the last analogue television signals, making all of the United Kingdom only capable of receiving digital television, in the early hours of 24 October, 2012. It has been completely replaced by digital terrestrial television and other non-terrestrial means as of the end of 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Tyne Tees & Border</span>

ITV Tyne Tees & Border is the producer of regional programming for the ITV Tyne Tees and ITV Border franchises. Between 2009 and 2013, the two regions were merged into a single region. Since 2013, each region receives its own regional service, but both services use the same studios and presenters.

<i>Lookaround</i> British regional television news programme

ITV News Lookaround is a British television news service produced by ITV Tyne Tees & Border and broadcasting to the ITV Border region.

Wales Live was to be the new provider of regional news on the former HTV Wales version of ITV Wales & West. It is a part of UTV and NWN Media's successful IFNC bid to provide regional news in Wales that was accepted by the Culture Secretary, Ben Bradshaw. The news would be issued across all media, including television, newspaper, radio, and online news applications. The radio stations Swansea Sound and The Wave, were also included in the contract made by the two other companies. The Wales Live provider beat out the opposition of Tinopolis, ITN, and Media Wales to become the preferred provider for the area. The director, Michael Wilson, has stated that he expects the pilot to be running by October 2010.

This is a list of events in Scottish television from 2013.

This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV.

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Yorkshire Television. It has provided the ITV service for Yorkshire since 1968.

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Tyne Tees Television. It provides the ITV service for the North East of England.

This is a timeline of the history of Border Television. It provides the ITV service for most of Cumbria in England and the southern parts of Scotland.

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Meridian Broadcasting. It has provided the ITV service for the South and South East of England since 1993.

This is a timeline of the history of regional news on the British television network ITV.

References

  1. ↑ "Ofcom unveils public service broadcasting blueprint for the digital decade". Ofcom. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  2. 1 2 "Digital Britain: Attitudes to supporting non-BBC regional news from the TV licence fee" (PDF). 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  3. ↑ "Regional news pilot for Tyne Tees and Borders". DCMS. 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-12-23. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  4. ↑ "Trinity Mirror to Bid for IFNC Pilot". 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  5. ↑ Luft, Oliver (8 June 2010). "Jeremy Hunt deals final blow to IFNC plan". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 2 November 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  6. ↑ McCabe, Maisie (22 January 2010). "Oxford Media Convention: Tories will abandon Independently Funded News Consortia". MediaWeek. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  7. ↑ "Measures to boost local media". Culture.gov.uk. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  8. ↑ "ITV local news pilot schemes scrapped". BBC Wales. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.