Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the commercial value of local television.

Local TV is a relatively new market that has enhanced UK television with quality local news and programming, adding value to the broadcasting industry and increasing plurality in UK news provision. Currently there are 34 local television services on air in the UK.

Ofcom reported 1732 hours of first-run local programming broadcast by local TV services in 2015, of which 734 hours were first-run local news and current affairs programmes. This equates to just over 33 hours per week of first-run local programming and around 14 hours per week of first-run local news and current affairs.

In 2016, reported revenue sources for the sector included advertising (56% of total revenue), BBC funding (30%), Non-commercial income (6%), and other commercial revenue (8%).