Your TV has won the licence to launch a local TV station in Manchester.
The bid – fronted by former BBC trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons – plans to create a channel broadcasting 24-hours a day, seven days a week, from September this year, with 90 per cent of that content said to be local.
Your TV Manchester is one of the most ambitious local TV plans to date – with plans for total staff of 63, of whom 54 will be full-time. The planned staff roster includes 10 video journalists, seven producers and five sport producers.
Although YourTV had planned to launch a network of stations across the UK this is the first franchise the channel has won. It lost out on winning the London bid to the Lebedev-backed ESTV Ltd.
So far 16 local city TV licences have been awarded out of 21 which are up for grabs as part of Government plans to create a new local TV broadcasting network on Freeview channel 8.
The losing bidders for the Manchester local TV licence were: Made Television (Made in Manchester), Manchester City Region TV (MCR), Manchester Digital Media (Manchester News Channel) and Metro8 Manchester.
There is no mention in the Your TV bid document about whether the new channel will be working with the Manchester Evening News.
The last local TV station for Manchester, Channel M, was closed in 2010 following the sale of the Manchester Evening News from Guardian Media Group to Trinity Mirror.
Your TV is waiting to see if its applications to win local TV franchises in Leeds, Liverpool, Preston and Blackburn are successful.
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