Local TV news shake up is great news for Cumbria

Today saw what could be a landmark decision for the media and the future of television news in Cumbria and the North East.

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw announced the preferred bidders for three independently funded news consortia (IFNC) pilots in the Tyne Tees/Border region, Scotland and Wales.

The Government is planning to run pilot schemes to deliver new ways of providing local TV news in future years.

The groups will receive Government funding totalling £47m over two years, and will provide local news content across the web, mobile, and other new platforms, along with the TV slot currently occupied by ITV regional news.

For our region that means that the franchise to produce the news on channel three has been awarded to consortium that includes Cumbrian Newspapers and is led by the Press Association, Ten Alps and Trinity Mirror.

It may never happen because there’s the small matter of an election and the Conservatives are set against the idea.

But if it did it would be great news for Cumbria and our region.

Our bid – News 3 – included strong commitments to increase the amount of news from Cumbria and would see journalists from across Cumbrian Newspapers contributing to the daily news,

And I think it will mean more TV news about Cumbria than was produced by dear old Border in the “good old days” of Lookaround.

There are exciting ideas too about how News 3 will link with local websites and community groups.