THE LOCAL TV station which had been proposed for Bromsgrove will now not go ahead.
The town was one of 13 locations where proposals had been put forward for. Others in the Midlands included Kidderminster, Gloucester (incorporating Malvern) and Stratford-upon-Avon.
But this week Ofcom announced, after careful consideration, it would not be advertising or re-advertising the local TV licences.
It all began in August 2011 when we revealed on our front page that Bromsgrove was initially one of 65 areas in the UK which had been earmarked for one of the Government’s Local TV Stations.
In December the town was one of 21 excluded from the final list but was told it could be in the next tranche of Local TV stations.
In 2013 Bromsgrove was then named Comux’s proposed second group of 28 towns and cities.
In 2015 Made In Birmingham was among the Local TV stations which started and now broadcasts on Freeview and on channel-lists offered by other digital TV operators.
On April 20 this year a consultation was held by Ofcom on the provisional decision not to advertise or re-advertise the licences and that has now been confirmed.
Ofcom’s statement released this week stated: “In light of the significant financial challenges that the local TV sector is facing, we provisionally concluded that it would not be appropriate to advertise local TV licences in these areas and hold Comux to this part of its obligations.
“This decision will release Comux, the party responsible for providing the transmission infrastructure for local TV, from its current obligation to build the transmission infrastructure in these locations.”
