[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by Felim_Doyle

Again with the BBC and the licence fee!

I knew what you meant, Alan: better content on the channels that we already have and more channels on VM that are already available from other providers.

I agree that it's odd that the government are proposing these local channels at a time when the mainstream UK channels are struggling and local newspapers and radio stations are going under. We have Mix 96 as our local radio station in Aylesbury but the counterpart in High Wycombe, owned by the same group and formerly broadcasting on two frequencies, went under a few years back having made a loss year after year due to lack of advertising revenue.

Maybe it was because High Wycombe is in the catchment area of other stations that don't reach Aylesbury but it seemed odd that a major town like that couldn't support a local radio station but a town like Luton is expected to support a TV channel. If we are to have local channels they should be capable of operating self-sufficiently or perhaps with a small public service grant but not as satellites (non-orbiting ) of the BBC with their civil service mentality and employment terms. The BBC already has regional TV and radio to look after they don't need more responsibility or more funding.

They have a strong presence in terms if regional radio, but weak in terms of regional tv (really all they have is a few regional programmes)