Ofcom has awarded a 12 year licence to run London’s new local TV service to the Evening Standard.
The channel is one of 21 new local TV services being awarded by the regulator and will be available on digital terrestrial TV services such as Freeview and YouView.
Ofcom says the channel will cover around 4 million homes, the largest reach of all the new local TV services.
On Twitter, Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev said he was “thrilled” to win the licence and said he was “determined this will change London for good.”
The Standard’s bid, made through subsidiary ESTV Limited, beat four other bidders to the licence.
A statement setting out the regulator’s decision said the Standard’s bid had “demonstrated the greatest understanding of London’s diverse communities by putting forward proposals which would allow representation of those communities whilst not excluding others as a result.”
“ESTV’s proposals also provided important opportunities for close local community involvement, taking into account, in particular, its proposals for IPTV services in each London borough which would be included in its programming commitments. ESTV was also in a particularly strong position to launch and maintain its proposed service, given its proposals for promoting and marketing the channel.”
