Cities in local TV running revealed

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt today announced the 65 locations which are in the running to launch the local TV services which he has championed.

The towns and cities - which have been chosen because they have the appropriate transmitter coverage - will be whittled down to around 20 by the end of the year.

Each of the areas will now be asked to make the case for why their town should be among those awarded a licence by Ofcom, with the first wave due next year.

The Government is also canvassing opinion from potential operators about which locations are likely to make the scheme a success.

Mr Hunt said: "We need to decide which areas are best placed to pioneer the new service.

"These new, local TV services will be a fundamental change in how people get information about their own communities, and how they hold their representatives to account.

"I want people to be able to watch television that's truly relevant to them, about what's happening where they live and featuring the people they know."

Mr Hunt will host a series of events in major cities around the country to discuss issues and explain how local TV could benefit communities.

The identified locations are:

:: Aberdeen

:: Ayr (includes Kilmarnock)

:: Bangor

:: Barnstaple

:: Basingstoke

:: Bedford (includes Sandy)

:: Belfast (includes Lisburn)

:: Birmingham (includes Greater Birmingham area, part of Wolverhampton, Walsall and Dudley)

:: Brighton and Hove

:: Bristol

:: Bromsgrove

:: Burnley (includes Nelson and Colne)

:: Cambridge

:: Cardiff (includes Newport and Bridgend)

:: Carlisle

:: Carmarthen

:: Derry/Londonderry

:: Dover (includes parts of Folkestone)

:: Dundee (includes Arbroath and Perth)

:: Edinburgh (includes Dunfermline)

:: Elgin

:: Falkirk (includes Stirling)

:: Glasgow (includes East Kilbride, Motherwell and Paisley)

:: Gloucester (includes Cheltenham)

:: Greenock (includes Dunoon)

:: Grimsby (includes parts of Hull)

:: Guildford (includes parts of Woking)

:: Haverfordwest

:: Haywards Heath (includes Heathfield and Uckfield)

:: Hemel Hempstead (includes parts of St Albans)

:: Hereford

:: Inverness

:: Keighley

:: Kidderminster

:: Lancaster (includes Morecambe and Heysham)

:: Leeds (includes Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield and Wakefield)

:: Limavady (includes parts of Ballymoney and Coleraine)

:: Liverpool (includes St Helens, Widnes, Wigan and Wirral)

:: London (includes Greater London area)

:: Luton

:: Maidstone

:: Malvern

:: Manchester (includes Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Stockport)

:: Middlesbrough (includes Hartlepool and Stockton on Tees)

:: Mold (includes Denbigh and Ruthin)

:: Newcastle (includes Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland)

:: Norwich

:: Nottingham

:: Oxford (includes Abingdon and Didcot)

:: Plymouth

:: Poole

:: Preston (includes Blackpool)

:: Reading

:: Reigate (includes parts of Crawley)

:: Salisbury

:: Scarborough

:: Sheffield (includes parts of Rotherham)

:: Shrewsbury

:: Southampton (includes Eastleigh, Fareham, Winchester and parts of the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth)

:: Stoke on Trent (includes Newcastle under Lyme)

:: Stratford upon Avon

:: Swansea (includes Llanelli)

:: Telford

:: Tonbridge (includes parts of Tunbridge Wells)

:: York

PA