A television channel dedicated to local news programming is set to be launched in Edinburgh, it has emerged.

Although TV company Local Edinburgh’s signal can currently only reach about 1000 city households, Hertford-based Local Broadcasting Group expects to have the station up and running within months.

Backers claim "Glasgow-centric" Scottish Television has long neglected the east coast and expect tens of thousands of viewers to tune in daily when transmission problems are sorted out.

Local Broadcasting Group development director Geoff Bush today said: "Our plan is to launch a proper city-based news channel for Edinburgh. People are interested in what’s going on locally.

Capital Bias

"We’ll offer an Edinburgh-based channel rather than STV which tends to focus more on Glasgow.

"It won’t be like BBC News 24 or CNN and be live from the studio 24 hours a day, but it will be updated regularly."

The free terrestrial channel is to feature local news, sport, current affairs and chat shows as well as some advertorial programming.

A series of ten 15-minute-long newscasts will be repeated several times each day and backers claim the stations can become "the local newspapers of the new century".

The firm acquired the so-called Restricted Services Licence to broadcast on Channel 52, which previously was used for arts programmes, and currently operates a text-based news service on the frequency.

While Mr Bush admits that "technical difficulties" linked to the firm’s transmitter at Craigkelly in Fife are preventing it from being picked up across great swathes of the city, he is confident that the problems can be overcome by early next year.

Channel Change

It is understood that Local Broadcasting Group is in negotiations with the Independent Television Commission to change channels - a move which could provide coverage to more than 90 per cent of homes in the Capital.

Mr Bush added: "Our aim is to transmit in Edinburgh on a channel everybody can receive."

A sister station in Stirling is scheduled to hit the airwaves by late next month with others also in the pipeline for Aberdeen, Inverness and Perth.

The firm purchased the licence from Channel 6 Television Ltd last December, when founder and former Queen Margaret University College lecturer Dave Rushton decided to focus on a new music and entertainment station in Dundee. Since its June launch, Channel 6 can now boast a Tayside audience of up to 80,000 at any one time.

It is understood that Mr Rushton sold the licence over concerns that reception problems limited viewer potential in the Edinburgh area.

Local Broadcasting Group has admitted it needs to raise at least £40 million from investors to fund its 50 stations across the UK. But the firm believes its network will eventually draw an overall audience of up to four million daily.

Scottish Lacklustre Denials

Scottish Television officials today denied that the network provided lacklustre coverage of issues outside of Glasgow.

A spokesman added: "Scottish Television, in particular its news, is recognised throughout the industry as being one of the most regionally diverse that is available on the ITV Network, and continually outperforms its BBC equivalent.

"It’s positive to see more and more of these stations springing up. They serve a much different market than STV and Grampian and we can only welcome more diversity to broadcasting in Scotland."

Louise Welsh, a lecturer at Napier University’s School of Communications, welcomed the new players on the media scene but warned their success is likely to hinge on sound financial backing.

She said: "Local radio works so there’s no reason why local TV can’t work. STV has quite a strong presence in Edinburgh as do BBC Scotland although they’re not strictly what you’d term a local TV station.

"I’d be hopeful the quality is good enough to keep it going. LiveTV had its bash at surviving in Edinburgh and it failed, so it’s important for whoever comes in next to invest enough money to make it attractive to viewers."