<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.0.6556.0">
<TITLE>BBC Local TV trials launched</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">(From BBC's Ariel online)</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">You are currently looking at 18 Mar 2005 13:24 - Daily news</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><BR>
</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT SIZE=5 FACE="Times New Roman">Local tv news trials launched</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The BBC is to pilot a new local television news service, designed to serve individual cities and counties around the UK. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The trials will start in September 2005 in five different areas of the West Midlands.</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Speaking at a CBI event in Birmingham, Mark Thompson announced that the pilot scheme would create different kinds of local television news on broadband and satellite tv, on cable and mobile phones.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The pilots will run in Herefordshire and Worcestershire; Stoke and Staffordshire; Shropshire; Coventry and Warwickshire; and the BBC WM editorial area, including Birmingham. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The director general said: ‘They will be as local as our radio services, serving individual cities, conurbations and counties.’</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">A rolling interactive service running on satellite tv will be available at fixed points within each hour, accessed via the red button. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The same sequences of up to ten minutes' duration will also be available ‘on demand’ via the web, broadband tv and possibly mobile phones.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Thompson added: ‘Our aim is to create a new model of local television, centred on news, information and community partnerships and we will work with public, private and voluntary sector partners to build and sustain the pilot service. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">‘We will also aim to use our viewers' own contributions in new ways, and one producer in each area will work exclusively on developing networks of local contributors and community correspondents.’</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">For the past three years nations and regions has been working increasingly with the latest video cameras and computer editing systems, enabling more journalists to go out on the road and cover more stories for regional news output.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">‘The potential of this new technology can now be harnessed’, said Thompson. ‘We'll put small teams of journalists into each area to record many more stories - and we'll be able to use them all.’</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">If the trials work out and governors give the green light, the BBC hopes to introduce around 60 similar services across the UK as a key part of its Out of London strategy.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">This strategy was first outlined in Building Public Value, the BBC's manifesto for the next Charter period, published in June 2004.</FONT></P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><FONT COLOR="#808080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">--------------------------</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Ian K. Fergusson</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></FONT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Wingdings">n</FONT></B></SPAN><B><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN></B><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> Manager, Press & Publicity</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Wingdings">n</FONT></B></SPAN><B><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN></B><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> </FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">BBC Bristol</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> / </FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">BBC West & Southwest</FONT></B></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Room 20, Broadcasting House, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2LR, England, UNITED KINGDOM</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">T</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"> (+44)-(0)117-974-2109 </FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Int.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"> 0142109 </FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">MOBEX</FONT></B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">071-42109</FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">M</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"> 07736-481172 </FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">F</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"> (+44)-(0)117-923-7147 </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">ian.fergusson@bbc.co.uk</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN><A HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice"><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><U></U><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B> <FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Wingdings">n</FONT></B></SPAN><B><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN></B><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"> </FONT></SPAN><A HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature"><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"> </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><I><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Coming soon from BBC Bristol.....</FONT></I></B></SPAN><B><I><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN></I><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN></B>
<BR><B><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=1 FACE="Wingdings">n</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN></B><SPAN LANG="en-gb"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial"></FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Europe: A Natural History: Starts Feb 15th, BBC FOUR</FONT></B></SPAN>
</P>
<BR>
<BR>
<br>http://www.bbc.co.uk/<br><br>This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain<br>personal views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically<br>stated.<br>If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system. <br>Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in<br>reliance on it and notify the sender immediately. Please note that the<br>BBC monitors e-mails sent or received. <br>Further communication will signify your consent to this.</BODY>
</HTML>