BBC Local Video plans rejected

Plans from the BBC to launch new local news sites with a focus on video-based content would have a negative impact on the market, Ofcom and the BBC Trust have concluded.

The BBC had proposed to launch enhanced versions of its local websites that would be accessible on any internet-enabled device.

The service would have provided local news, sports and weather in 60 areas across the UK, with an additional five Welsh-language sites.

However, a Market Impact Assessment (MIA) from Ofcom and a Public Value Assessment from the BBC Trust, effectively the corporation's board of directors, have both rejected the plans.

The BBC, as a public-service broadcaster, faces tough restrictions about the kind of output it can offer in terms of the effect they could have on existing commercial services.

"We recognise the negative impact that the local video proposition could have on commercial media services which are valued by the public and are already under pressure," said Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust.

"Our decision today to refuse permission for local video means that local newspapers and other commercial media can invest in their online services in the knowledge that the BBC does not intend to make this new intervention in the market," he continued.

Ofcom's objections to the service were along the same lines.

"If the BBC Local Video services were launched, then annual revenues from existing commercial providers would fall by up to four per cent," Ofcom said in a statement.

www.ofcom.org.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust

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