Local television in the United Kingdom, described in legislation as Local Digital Television Programme Services (L-DTPS), provides a television station for a specific local area. Successful applicants are awarded a sole licence for their chosen area, and are expected to locate their studios within the same area. They broadcast on the

digital terrestrial Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

(DTT) system, as used by the national

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

service. The independent regulator,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

, invites applications in all areas where transmission is technically possible, and assesses proposals against the statutory criteria.

Availability

The multiplexes carrying the stations are operated by Comux, owned by the local TV broadcasters, with operations run by Canis Media. In England and Northern Ireland, the local channels were on channel 8 and in Scotland and Wales they were originally given channel 45; however, after a number of channel closures, channel 23 was used. Following the closure of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

, the local stations moved to channel 7 in England and Northern Ireland, and channel 8 in Scotland and Wales. Some local stations in England however are broadcast on Channel 8 for other reasons. Some stations are also available (in their local areas) via cable (Virgin Media) channel 159 and satellite (Sky) channel 117 (channel 134 in Wales because channel 117 is already occupied). Channels 168, 169 and 209 (previously 216) were used if a region wants multiple local TV channels on Sky before 1 May 2018.

Phase 1

In May 2012, Ofcom invited bids for local TV services in selected areas. In August 2012, 57 applications were received to provide these services. Bristol, Brighton & Hove and Grimsby attracted only one bid each. Plymouth and Swansea received no bids from potential broadcasters. † The owners of Birmingham licence City8 went into administration before the channel launched. The licence was re-awarded to another operator, Big Centre TV.

Phase 2

In March 2013, Ofcom announced that more areas had been selected to invite bids for local television services, in addition to re-advertising the previously un-awarded Swansea and Plymouth locations.

Local TV variations in 2021

As of February 2021, That's TV broadcast as a semi-national network (one which also uses the That's Christmas or That's New Year name over festive periods) with a local opt-out at 6pm for regional news, and a service streaming to the whole country via the

VisionTV VisionTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is currently owned by ZoomerMedia, a company ...

platform on channel 264 (which includes extra pop videos rather than the local news).

Local Television Limited Local TV Limited (formerly Made Television) is a local television network in the United Kingdom, operating eight stations serving the Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, North Wales, Teesside and Tyne and Wear areas. The stations a ...

has nine licences in the United Kingdom, eight branded as Local TV operating as part as the Local Digital Television Programme, while the ninth – Manchester TV on the Greater Manchester multiplex – is separately licensed.

References

External links

Indicative locations for local television multiplexes: Initial technical assessmentA new framework for local TV in the UK
{{Local television channels in the United Kingdom Digital television in the United Kingdom *