Welsh firm to bid for local news

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Welsh independent media company Tinopolis says it wants to provide news on ITV in Wales.

The Llanelli-based firm will bid for one or more of the pilot schemes for replacement ITV news services in Wales, Scotland and England.

The UK government is proposing using part of the TV licence fee to fund the service after 2013.

ITV has warned it will be unable to provide Welsh news - or regional bulletins in England - after this time.

Wales will be one of three pilot areas, along with Scotland and one English region, which are due to be in place from next year.

We don't want to get into a Stalinist situation where there's only one news provider, regardless of quality Tinopolis chairman Ron Jones

Tinopolis chairman, Ron Jones, said: "It's been clear for several months that it is a programme we will be tendering for and why wouldn't we? We will certainly go for Wales.

"We've got offices in Glasgow which means we might go for Scotland. With the English region, it depends which one it might be."

Mr Jones said Tinopolis had a lot of experience of working in news and current affairs.

"What we see around the UK is just the reality that the BBC is becoming the only news provider," he said.

"We don't want to get into a Stalinist situation where there's only one news provider, regardless of quality."

Tinopolis produces around 2,500 hours of drama, factual, sports and children's programming each year for more than 200 broadcasters worldwide.

It has been reported that other companies to express an interest in bidding for the pilots include ITN, the Press Association, Trinity Mirror and Guardian Media Group.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has now published a timetable for the process.

A selection panel will evaluate the bids and make a recommendation on the three winning bids in Wales, Scotland and the English region in March 2010.

Plans to use part of the TV licence fee to support news on ITV were announced by the UK government in Lord Carter's Digital Britain report.